On a day in which play was suspended twice due to inclement weather, three players found the conditions to be quite nice at the Memorial Tournament’s first round, each posting rounds of 65 (-7), good enough for first place.
While Justin Rose sat alone atop the leader board for most of the afternoon, both Geoff Ogilvy and youngster Rickie Fowler were able to match Rose’s 65 to create a three-way tie for the lead.
“You always hear guys saying the course fits my eye. It certainly does,” said Rose, the 2008 Memorial runner-up. “I like all the tee shots, and the greens are so pure here that, if you do get a putting stroke going, you’re going to make some putts.”
Despite each player posting the same score, Fowler’s performance was especially impressive having played the course for the first time ever just two days ago.
“It’s the first time I’ve been inside the gates. Tuesday morning I played 18. Played nine on Wednesday morning,” said the PGA rookie. “So I’m pretty stoked to go out the first tournament round and put up that number.
Following the leading threesome are five different players tied for second including World No. 2 Phil Mickelson who has a chance to claim the No.1 spot with a win this weekend.
Absorbing much rain over the past few days, the greens at Muirfield have become much softer, giving players the opportunity to challenge the pin locations.
And that’s exactly what they did on the sixth toughest course on tour from a year ago.
“I felt like the course was in great shape and without much wind and soft conditions,” Mickelson said. “There were a lot of birdies out there. But it was a good start.”
While Mickelson is sitting pretty at 5-under, current No. 1 Tiger Woods struggled to get much of anything going, shooting even par, seven shots off the lead, on a course he has dominated over the years.
“Wish I could have been lower,” Woods said. “I played the par 5s terrible today. I played them even par. You can’t play these par 5s even par. You’ve got to take care of the par 5s.”
However, in the 30-plus year history of this tournament a first round leader has only gone on to win once. So with three rounds remaining and low scores to be had, it still seems to be anyone’s tournament to win.
