On a day made for scoring, Dustin Johnson put 10 birdies on his card and took the first round lead at The Memorial with an eight-under par 64.
“I drove it well, hit really good iron shots and left myself a lot of makeable putts,” was how Johnson described his day’s work at the Muirfield Village Golf Club. “All in all a really good day. With the greens being soft, it allows you to be a little more aggressive with shots coming into these greens.”
Johnson held a one-shot edge over Brendan Steele, whose birdie-eagle finish got him in with a 65.
The man who garnered the most attention was club member Jason Day. Day shook off his past shaky performances and shot what looked like an easy 66. “Off to a good start,” said the world’s No. 1. “I’m very pleased with that. I’m happy.”
Host Jack Nicklaus approved of Day’s performance. “He (Day) really wants to win here this week and I think he’s prepared for it,” Nicklaus observed.
Matt Kuchar, who has a nice record in the event, joined Day at six-under along with Hudson Swafford and Danny Lee.
While the top-ranked player did well, No. 2 Jordan Spieth shot 70 going out early with Rory McIlroy and the world’s No. 3 shot an unimpressive 71. Rickie Fowler had a day-long struggle and his 75 left him in danger of missing the 36-hole cut.
Conditions were perfect for low scores — no wind and soft greens. “Under good conditions, a good golf course will yield,” observed Nicklaus, who built and designed the course outside his hometown. And Muirfield yielded a lot of sub-par rounds as 80 of the 120-man field shot under par and another 15 shot even par.
But that could change on Friday.
“Could be a reversal of scores tomorrow (Friday),” predicted Nicklaus. “If you get wind and firm greens, this is a hard golf course.”
