JT Poston made light of tricky, windy conditions to take a one-shot lead at the Memorial Tournament as the world’s top two Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler struggled.

McIlroy had no form on the fast putting surfaces as he signed for a 74, which included three bogeys and a double-bogey having taken five shots to get down from 112 yards out at the par-four 13th.

The Northern Irishman’s chances of getting back into contention look slim as he is 10 strokes behind Poston, as is Scheffler who admitted he “could have shot 90” after a level-par 72.

Poston’s seven-under round of 65 was four shots better than any other player in the field at Muirfield Village in Ohio.

placeholder image — Rory Mcllroy is ten shots off the pace at the Memorial Tournament as JT Poston leads

First-round joint leader Tommy Fleetwood went backwards with a 73 to drop to fourth, five off the lead.

“It was pretty brutal, actually. I still think I got a good score out of that today. I made a bogey on one and six, where I didn’t really feel like I had done anything wrong whatsoever,” he said.

Scheffler’s bid to win for a third successive year remains alive thanks to three birdies in his last six holes having recorded three successive bogeys from the eighth and escaped with a par after a shank out of a bunker at the fifth.

“Overall it was a tough day, I felt I could have shot 90. I may be a lot of things but I’m not a quitter,” he said.

“That’s maybe some of the worst I’ve hit it in a couple years out there and I still managed to shoot even par around a golf course that requires you to strike the ball really well.”

US PGA champion Aaron Rai and fellow Englishman Alex Fitzpatrick are in a share of ninth on one under after rounds of 70 and 71, alongside Ireland’s Shane Lowry who had five birdies but also a pair of double bogeys and two bogeys in his 73.