Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – A pair of US Open winners in Wyndham Clark and JJ Spaun were in a four-way tie for the lead alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Ryan Gerard after the first round of the PGA Tour Memorial tournament on Thursday. Spaun, gearing up for his US Open title defense at Shinnecock Hills in two weeks, fired six birdies in his five-under par 67 at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, seizing his share of the lead with a birdie at 18 where he stuck his approach a foot from the pin.
Clark rolled in a 45-foot eagle putt from the fringe at 15 and added five birdies in his five-under round while Gerard had an eagle, eight birdies, three bogeys, and a double bogey. England’s Fleetwood, meanwhile, had five birdies without a bogey, his solid short game proving key in a round in which he hit only seven greens in regulation.
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“Scored,” Fleetwood said of what he did well. “I got the most out of the round, totally. I got away with a couple of poor misses. Hit the pin a couple of times when it was going past. But in general I played OK. I just wasn’t a hundred percent by any means with my ball control from the fairway with my irons. But still shot five-under, so it couldn’t have been that bad,” Fleetwood added.
Spaun was delighted to get himself back atop the leaderboard after nearly letting his round get away with bogeys at the 11th and 12th. “I thought I did well between the ears today,” he said. “When I gave some back on 11 and 12, I could have probably let that round go. But just kind of hung in there.”
Masters champion Rory McIlroy had to bounce back from an early double-bogey, putting his approach from the fairway in the water at the par-four third. The world number two responded with birdies at the fifth, sixth, and seventh and added another at 14 before a closing bogey in a one-under par 71. “I felt like I played pretty well, for the most part,” McIlroy said. “Especially after making that double on the third hole, to play the rest of the round in three-under was good. It’s a tough course. You have to concentrate on every shot. The greens are very firm already, very fast. Get yourself above the hole, it’s very tricky. I would like to hit a few more fairways, give myself a few more chances from the short grass, but overall, not a bad score to build from.”
World number one Scottie Scheffler, the two-time defending champion in the event hosted by Jack Nicklaus, got off to an even rockier start in his bid to become the first player to win the same event three years running since Steve Stricker won the John Deere Classic from 2009 through 2011. Scheffler’s one-over 73 included two bogeys and a double-bogey at the par-three 16th, where he was in the water off the tee. Scheffler, who rebounded with his third birdie of the day at 17, admitted he was frustrated by the unpredictable, gusty winds that greeted the late afternoon starters. “All you can do is just try to hit good shots,” he said. “It can be very frustrating sometimes when you feel like you’re hitting good shots and then you’re going to the drop zone.”
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