Open Championship: Thursday quotes

See what Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Matteo Manassero and Sergio Garcia made of their first rounds in the 143rd Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club

Rory McIlroy shot a six-under-par 66 to lead the Open Championship after the conclusion of the morning rounds, with Tiger Woods, Matteo Manassero and Sergio Garcia all starting well at Royal Liverpool.

Below, see what McIlroy, Woods, Manassero and Garcia made of their efforts.

Rory McIlroy:

- "Anytime you shoot 66 at the Open Championship, you're going to be pleased. We had perfect scoring conditions out there this morning. There wasn't much wind early on. The wind started to pick up a little bit on the back nine. But there were plenty of opportunities to make birdies and I was able to take a few of them. Another great start and I'm looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow.

- "When you go back out on Friday after a good score, you know what you can do on the golf course. So you're going out with some expectations compared to when on Thursday you're going out with not many. I think I've just got to approach it like that, and start off trying to hit solid shots the first few holes and play my way into the round, just like I did today."

- "I did get terrific support, even though I support Man United! The support out there was really great. And hopefully I can give them a lot more to cheer about over the next few days."

- "There's nothing like the atmosphere of an Open Championship. It is different. The crowds are so enthusiastic and knowledgeable, it's just a pleasure to play in front of them."

"Today was just a real solid round of golf. I hit it into the spots I needed to, took my pars on the tougher holes, made three birdies out of the four on the par 5s, and just picked a couple more up when I could."

Tiger Woods:

- "Well, I knew I could do it. I'm telling you guys it was so important for me to play at Congressional. The fact that I was able to recover every day, and the fact that I was stronger, more explosive the more days I played. I'm only going to get better from that point. And I'm getting stronger, I'm getting faster, I'm getting more explosive. The ball is starting to travel again. And those are all positive things. It felt good to be back out there competing again."

- "I need to get everything a little bit better. That's the case all of time, anyways. But at Congressional I made just some terrible mistakes mentally. My decisions weren't very crisp and I wasn't decisive enough. Today was totally different. And consequently I shot a better score."

- "With the forecast the next couple of days supposed to be iffy, guys aren't going to go really low here. We're going to be bunched. It's the type of golf course where the scores are going to be bunched. And you look at the scores, there's a ton of players between 2- and 4-under par. And that's kind of the way this championship, I think, is going to unfold."

- "I felt good. I felt good about a lot of things I did out there today. Especially coming back after that start I had today, to fight myself back into the championship. I feel pretty good about it."

Sergio Garcia:

- "Today was beautiful, and it was the perfect day to enjoy it. The weather doesn't get much better than that."

- "At the end of the day I realise that I'm out there trying to do my best. Obviously some days I feel it better than others. But if I'm doing my best I can't ask myself for anything else. Obviously if I'm throwing shots away, not carrying anything, then I can be disappointed with myself. But like I said, if I do my best, even if sometimes it doesn't go that great, there's nothing else you can do."

- "It's only the first day. There's so many things that can happen out there. It would be nice to put myself in a position to have a solid chance on Sunday, like I did a couple of times, and like I did in 2006 here. But still it's only the first day. So we're going to go a little step by step and hopefully keep shooting good scores, depending on how the weather is, and then see."

- "I love The Open so much. After the Ryder Cup it's my favorite tournament to play. You always come with a different frame of mind here, even if you're struggling little bit. I enjoy the people out there. It almost kind of feels like a Ryder Cup, when people start shouting, "Come on, lads!" and things like that. Those are things that you don't hear that often and it's good to hear this week."

Matteo Manassero:

- "It's just the perfect start. As you all could see out there it was calm. It was just a really nice day to get off this Open Championship. So birdies were out there, but this golf course it's not easy. So you have to play really solid. You have to play smart a few times just to take your par and go. And then maybe possibly attack if you're playing well."

- "I feel this is a really good golf course because to have the possibility of making birdie, birdies in general, you have to take some risks."

- "I knew that my game was there, but obviously I always think that a good game with zero confidence, it's not going to go very far, anyway. So I did need something to happen before this Open to at least cheer me up a little bit. And last week [Scottish Open] was really nice for me."

- "I feel like, especially if it's windy, this golf course exposes itself on the par 5s. You can birdie the par 5s. the par 5s are definitely the biggest birdie chances. And if you can take many of them, throughout the week, at the end of the week it's going to be important."

- "I like Royal Liverpool. It's fair, flat, where you hit your shot it's going to roll on that line. So you don't have many surprises. So it's a golf course that I like. If I ever win an Open, I don't think I'll win it on a golf course that I don't like. So the fact that I like it, it's already a good thing."