Golf

Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele get going early at the Memorial Tournament

Shane Lowry frustrated by mudballs on back nine as he opens with a two-over 74

Scottie Scheffler plays his shot on the 13th hole during the first round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. Photograph: Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Philip Reid
Thu Jun 6 2024 - 21:18

The two most in-form player in men’s golf resumed where they left off, as world number one Scottie Scheffler – with four wins in his last seven outings – and newly crowned US PGA champion Xander Schauffele moved straight to the business part of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio.

Scheffler opened with a 67 and Schauffele with a 68, and although Canadian Adam Hadwin nipped in with a 66 to assume the clubhouse lead, there was a reaffirming of the world order about how the two Ss moved into contention in the $20 million signature event with a limited field and no cut.

“It’s nice seeing some good names up on the leaderboard and I love being out here competing and, yeah, I’m sure it’s shaping up to be another great tournament,” said Scheffler, keeping his emotions very much in check. No point getting too excited with the race only one-quarter run, perhaps.

Scheffler – 2-8-1-1-2-1-1 on his last seven tour outings – has come into these events of late with a similar air of expectancy that used to accompany Tiger Woods. Time and time again, he has delivered. And an opening round of six birdies and a lone bogey, with four of those birdies coming on the back nine, enabled the Texan to move to familiar terrain. Players were forced to accept the consequences of mud balls following heavy overnight rain which softened fairways but with no lift, clean and place in play.

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Schauffele, too, resumed his good play of late. On his first outing since his breakthrough Major win at Valhalla, the Californian carded a bogey-free 68: “I’m happy with how I played, with how I stuck in there and really happy my short game bailed me out on a day that could have been a lot worse,” he admitted.

“It’s only Thursday and plenty of golf [left]. I know I need to clean up some of that longer stuff. This course is really hard, and the wind is supposed to blow really hard [on Friday], even more than today, so I know I need to clean it up.”

Sweden’s Ludbig Aberg, playing alongside Scheffler, also played his way into contention with a 68 and was not distracted in any way by playing with the dominant world number one.

“At the end of the day, I’m doing me and I’m not trying to be someone else. Obviously, seeing good golf shots is always nice. It’s always nice to try to keep up. But really pleased with today and hopefully, we’ll keep hitting good shots and make sure that we’re right around there come Sunday,” said Aberg, who has moved to world number six just a year after turning professional.

Shane Lowry was in control of his game for the front nine, turning in one-under-par 35, but was another victim of mud balls on the way home and ran up bogeys on the 12th, 14th and 17th to cut a frustrated figure as he walked off the 18th en route to the recorder’s to sign for an opening 74, two-over-par.

In the Volvo Scandinavian Mixed tournament in Helsingborg – a tournament co-sanctioned on the DP World Tour and the Ladies European Tour – Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg claimed the first-round lead with a superb nine-under-par 63, but Co Kildare golfer Lauren Walsh, in her rookie season on the LET, continued her strong start to her professional career with an opening 67 to lie in tied-fifth.

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times

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