Rory McIlroy back in his Arnold Palmer Invitational comfort zone

ORLANDO — If you’re surprised to see Rory McIlroy at the top of the leaderboard in the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, you haven’t paid a lot of attention at McIlroy’s history at the event.

McIlroy, the 32-year-old Northern Irishman, shot a scorching 7-under-par 65 Thursday to take a three-shot lead over the morning wave of tee times.

He won the tournament in 2018, has four finishes in the top-6 and, in the seven times he’s played it McIlroy has finished out of the top-11 only once (a tie for 27th in 2016).

“I think you turn up at any golf course where you’ve had success, and automatically you’re going to have some confidence coming in,’’ McIlroy said after carding six birdies and an eagle to set the pace over Adam Scott, Graeme McDowell, Will Zalatoris and Sungjae Im, all of whom shot 4-under from the morning wave. “I’ve shot some really nice scores here. I think the last couple of years I’ve opened up the tournament really well with scores similar to what I shot today.’’

Indeed, McIlroy shot 66 last year en route to a tie for 10th after an ugly final-round 76 and he shot 66 in 2020 en route to a tie for fifth after also shooting 76 on Sunday.

McIlroy was paired with Scott, who he said inspires him with his silky swing.

“Any time I play with Adam, it’s a good pairing,’’ McIlroy said. “We chat about all sorts of stuff. I feel like we’ve got quite a bit in common. Anyone could watch Adam Scott swing the club all day long. He’s got a nice rhythm. If he feeds off me, I certainly think I feed off him a little bit too.’’

Scott sounded like the feeling is mutual.

“I like playing with Rory,’’ he said. “I really enjoy watching him play. He’s a guy I can watch play and get positive swing thoughts for myself. I love watching him swing a golf club. I think almost everyone in the world would say that. Generally, he can lift my level of golf, especially when he’s playing the way he did today.

“He drove it well, but I thought his speed, his putting was beautiful today. You’ve got to hole a few putts to get to 7-under around here. I thought all of his game looked really good. And of course, when he throws a driver at 330 (yards) in the fairway, that’s a nice spot to start coming into a green from.

“His driving is so impressive when he’s hitting it straight like today, it’s easy to kind of make any course look fairly simple from there.’’