Masters Leader Board: Rory McIlroy, Alvaro Quiros Share First-Round Lead

Rory McIlroy and Alvaro Quiros fired matching seven-under-par 65s to take a two-shot lead over Y.E. Yang and K.J. Choi after the first round of the 2011 Masters Tournament.

But as with any opening round of a major championship on the PGA Tour, enthusiasm over the leader board should be kept to a minimum. There are 30 players under par and as the pressure builds heading into the weekend—especially at Augusta—experience and consistent play typically find their way to the top.

Nevertheless, McIlroy and Quiros were impressive under nearly ideal playing conditions today. McIlroy started strong and never looked back during a bogey-free round.

Quiros combined his blistering length off the tee with some great putting to produce what might have been one of the best rounds of his life. He stumbled with a bogey at the 14th (ironically playing as the easiest of the par 4s today), but followed it with birdies on three of the last four holes to tie for the lead.

My gut feeling is that neither McIlroy nor Quiros will continue at this torrid pace, but they certainly put themselves in a position to survive a bad day moving forward and still be in the hunt come Sunday.

McIlroy carded a 63 in the opening round of the British Open last year only to implode and shoot 80 the next day.

Quiros has never made the cut at The Masters and his best score at Augusta prior to today's round was 75. Barring something bizarre, like a disqualification, he'll be playing the weekend this year. But he has a lot of work left. And he knows it.

"My target tomorrow is make the cut," Quiros said during his post-round presser. "It would be stupid to think about shooting 65 again because it's not my way. It could be just one good round of golf. So to avoid that, I want to think about the next shot that I'm going to have, which is the tee shot on the first hole."

Defending champion Phil Mickelson is just five shots back. He shot a two-under-par 70 with his only bogey of the day coming at the 18th hole. Tiger Woods was just one more shot back. He managed a one-under-par 71. Both players kept themselves in position to make a run at the top of the leader board.

Anyone ten shots off the lead is still very much in the hunt for this championship.