DUBLIN, Ohio — On a Muirfield Village course that ranks among his favorites, Rory McIlroy had a birdie putt on his last eight holes and converted half of them Thursday on his way to a 6-under-par 66 to join Chris Riley in the lead after the first round of the Memorial Tournament.
McIlroy hit the ball so pure that he shot 32 on the front nine despite missing three birdie putts inside 8 feet.
“A great way to start the tournament,” McIlroy said.
Last week, the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland narrowly made the cut at Wentworth in the BMW PGA Championship and wound up in a tie for 24th. Asked the difference from that and this week, he replied, “It’s about 30 degrees warmer.”
A tournament known for its sloppy weather has been spectacular, and it showed in the scoring on a well-manicured course.
Chris DiMarco and Josh Teater were at 67, followed by a group at 68 that included Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Stewart Cink and Rickie Fowler, the runner-up at the Memorial last year.
Fifty-one players in the 120-man field broke par.
Luke Donald, in his debut as the No. 1 player in the world ranking, recovered from a slow start by making four consecutive birdies toward the end of his round for a 70. He played with Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and four -time major champion Phil Mickelson, who each had a 72. Mickelson did that without making a birdie on the par 5s.
“It feels good,” Donald said. “I’m excited to be there and looking forward to the challenges. I heard a few ‘No. 1’ shouts and stuff like that, so you feed off that.”
Riley was in the first group to play in the morning and relied heavily on his putter to take advantage of the smooth greens, although scoring conditions were not much different in the afternoon.
“The less I think, the better I play,” Riley said. “And today, I didn’t have time to think. The pace of play was so good and I didn’t stand around and think about shots. I just played golf.”
Horne’s 64 leads Wales Open
NEWPORT, Wales — Keith Horne led the Wales Open after shooting a 7-under 64 in the opening round, with defending champion Graeme McDowell trailing by three strokes at Celtic Manor.
The Associated Press
