GOLF: RORY MCILROY charged into an share of the early lead with a six-under-par 66 in yesterday's opening round at the Memorial tournament on a sun-splashed day at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
McIlroy recorded seven birdies and one bogey on the undulating, heavily-wooded layout to share the early one-shot lead with American journeyman Chris Riley who recorded eight birdies and two bogeys.
Chris DiMarco birdied five of his last eight holes for a 67 to lie one shot off the pace with fellow American Josh Teater.
British world number one Luke Donald recovered from an opening nine of two-over 38 to card a six-birdie 70 while fourth-ranked American Phil Mickelson returned a 72.
But Riley, who claimed his only USPGA Tour victory at the Reno-Tahoe Open in 2002, took the greatest advantage of a relatively calm morning in the event hosted by Jack Nicklaus to soar to the top of the leaderboard.
“I really putted good,” the American said after totalling only 25 putts. “I made a lot of nice par saves. It was just one of those days where everything was going in the hole, and it felt pretty good to see that.”
Riley was delighted to be back in the field at Memorial, having not played here since 2002.
“It was very unexpected,” said the American, who qualified for the event in the final exemption category by finishing 90th in last year’s USPGA Tour money list.
“I didn’t even think I had a chance of getting in here this year . . . so I was really excited. To be able to come back here is a pretty big deal,” added Riley, who had not broken par in his previous six rounds at Muirfield Village.
Donald, who became world number one for the first time with a play-off victory over fellow Briton Lee Westwood in the European Tour’s PGA Championship on Sunday, salvaged his round with five late birdies. His low point came with a double-bogey at the par-four 18th, his ninth hole, where his approach ended up in a bunker and he needed two more shots to reach the green. “I hit a great eight-iron right at the pin and it came up maybe two yards short of being perfect and kicked back in the middle of the trap,” Donald said.
“I just got a little bit too cute. I hit a poor bunker shot, another poor chip and lipped out the (bogey) putt. So taking four from literally 20 feet wasn’t what I was hoping for.”
Justin Rose, who won last year’s Memorial tournament by two shots, launched his title defence with an opening 71. Today could have quite easily been two or three over and that would have been disappointing, but I can build on this for the rest of the week, he said.
