RORY McILROY made the ideal start to his bid for a long overdue fifth major title with a flawless opening 65 in the 124th US Open at Pinehurst.

Two days after reconciling with his wife Erica and dismissing the divorce petition he filed last month, McIlroy outshone playing partners Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele to share the lead with Patrick Cantlay on five under par.

The world number three holed from seven feet for a birdie on the fourth, chipped in from short of the green for another on the next and birdied the 10th, 16th and 18th to equal his lowest opening score in the US Open.

Masters champion Scheffler and US PGA winner Schauffele could only shoot 71 and 70, respectively.

McIlroy, who started the 2011 US Open, 2012 US PGA and 2014 Open with a bogey-free round and went on to win all three, said: “I went through a run there for a while where my starts at major championships weren’t very good.

“Probably got myself a little too worked up at the start of the week.

“But back to the [US] PGA I opened with a five under there at Valhalla. Even going all the way back to this tournament last year, I opened with a low one. It wasn’t quite as low as Rickie [Fowler] and Xander, but it was nice to open up with a low one and feel like you’re right in the tournament from the first day.

“Certainly the major championships that I’ve won or the ones that I’ve played well at, I’ve always seemed to get off to a good start, and it’s nice to get off to another one.

“My short game was good early on. I chipped in at five and had a really good up and down on six and on eight. But apart from that, I think I hit every other green. It was a really controlled round of golf.”