DUBLIN, Ohio — Ben Griffin resumed the good play that introduced him his first particular person PGA Tour victory final week, hitting two photographs within the water and nonetheless posting a 7-under 65 on Thursday within the Memorial on a course with tough as dense as a U.S. Open.
Griffin is not taking victory laps after winning at Colonial. He simply saved making birdies, together with an eagle on the par- 5 seventh gap with a 3-wood into 12 ft. He led by two photographs over Collin Morikawa, with Max Homa one other stroke behind.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler wasn’t at his greatest and nonetheless managed a 70, his nineteenth consecutive event during which he opened with a spherical below par.
Griffin was taking part in so effectively that his two water balls — on the par-5 eleventh and par-3 twelfth — solely led to bogeys when such errors punished so many different gamers.
“Yeah, a pair water balls — actually need to go to the vary and work on my recreation to scrub that stuff up,” Griffin stated with fun.
Muirfield Village was gentle sufficient from rain the previous two days that good scores had been obtainable supplied photographs got here from the golf green, and never from tough that Justin Thomas had stated was akin to what they’ll face at Oakmont within the U.S. Open.
“Principally a U.S. Open we’re taking part in,” Keegan Bradley stated. “I’ll be taking part in back-to-back U.S. Opens right here. However the course may be very truthful, setup good. Only a powerful check.”
The numbers bear that out, whether or not it was solely 13 gamers who broke par in a mild wind, or the eight gamers who made triple bogey on seven of the holes at Muirfield Village.
Griffin set the tempo early by going out in 31, after which bumped into a couple of issues with the water. He tried to achieve the inexperienced on the eleventh, got here up quick and into the water, and missed a 10-foot par putt. On the twelfth, his tee shot bounced again down the slope into the water. He saved bogey with a 6-foot putt.
However what a end — a 15-foot birdie on the par-3 sixteenth, a 12-foot birdie on the seventeenth and holing out from simply over 50 ft up the ridge on the 18th for a 3rd straight birdie.
“It was an unbelievable day,” Griffin stated. “Type of constructing on what I used to be doing final week, making a ton of birdies, staying aggressive. This is without doubt one of the hardest golf programs we play on tour and you have to be in your recreation to make birdies and provides your self a number of seems.”
Shane Lowry performed alongside Griffin and had a 69, one in every of solely six gamers to interrupt 70. It won’t have felt that good the way in which Griffin was taking part in.
“I instructed him once we completed, ‘Preserve it going, issues will flip round for you fairly quickly,'” Lowry stated with a smile. “He just about holed the whole lot he checked out immediately. It was good. We bounced off one another, all of us performed actually properly.
“My 3 below does not look that nice beside his 7 below, however 3 below is an efficient rating on the market on this course,” he stated. “It is fairly troublesome.”
Homa retains making an attempt to piece collectively his recreation that allowed him to achieve No. 10 on the planet when he performed the Memorial final yr. Now he’s at No. 87 and faces a protracted week — a troublesome check at Muirfield Village, after which 36 holes of U.S. Open qualifying Monday.
“I instructed my coach final evening that is the most effective my swing has felt in a extremely very long time. Then the entire recreation type of felt like that,” Homa stated. “I did not must shoot a low quantity to validate that, nevertheless it simply feels good.”
Nick Taylor had one of many 10 double bogeys — two others made triple bogey — on the par-3 twelfth, however the Canadian rallied with two birdies on his final three holes for a 69.
Scheffler received the PGA Championship and tried to get as a lot relaxation as he might forward of Colonial, the place he nonetheless tied for fourth. He labored a little bit extra within the days heading into Memorial and spent an excessive amount of time within the tough and battling for pars.
He did that effectively, too, dropping solely two photographs regardless of hitting six of the 14 fairways and twice failing to transform birdie probabilities on the par 5s on the again 9.
The final time he was over par to begin a event was the U.S. Open final yr.
“I felt like I scored fairly effectively. If I need to hold doing that, I will should be a little bit sharper the subsequent few days,” Scheffler stated. “However total, a very good job posting a rating. Yeah, 2 below on this place any day is fairly good.”
No want telling that to Thomas (80) or Daniel Berger (81). After which there was Adam Scott, who was 7 over for his spherical by means of six holes. He performed even par the remainder of the way in which for a 79.
