Tiger Woods Five Shots Off Lead at Memorial
Tiger Woods birdied his first and last holes in his return to the PGA TOUR for the first time since February during the first round of the Memorial Tournament. In between, the 15-time major champion battled the windy conditions and his own rust.
” Wind pumping and swirling all over the place, and it was different. It was hot, the ball was running, it’s getting down there. When I watched last week it wasn’t doing that, and certainly the practice round it wasn’t doing that. But the golf course has changed. It’s gotten faster, and it’s only going to continue to get faster,” Woods said. “I was a little bit rusty, but felt like overall it was a good start.”
š @TigerWoods stingers are back. pic.twitter.com/bSBDMbKIZO
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 17, 2020
Woods is in a tie for 18th at 1-under, five shots off the lead of Tony Finau.
“I think I scored it about as good as I could,” Finau said. “I think on a golf course like this in these conditions, it really forces you to think about every shot and stay in the present, and that’s what I was able to do today and score the golf ball.”
World No. 1 Rory McIlroy opened at 2-under playing alongside Woods and Brooks Koepka.
While McIlroy was not in the field last week for the Workday Charity Open that was also contested at Muirfield Village Golf Club, he was watching on TV as Collin Morikowa defeated Justin Thomas on the third playoff hole.
“I thought it was great,” McIlory said. “I mean, the Sunday was probably the best TV I’ve watched all year. Obviously the scoring was so much lower compared to what it’s going to be this week, but I thought it was really, really good.”
Bryson DeChambeu has been the talk of the PGA TOUR with his power off the tee. While he did smash a drive 423 yards on No. 1, his overall first round ended at 1-over in a tie for 42nd.
“It was very difficult out there. The wind played tricks with us today. It’s one of those things that I’ve obviously got to get a lot better with my iron play and wedging,” DeChambeau said.
Not everyone in the loaded field at the Memorial got off to a good strt as the tough conditions got the better of Rickie Fowler (9-over, 81), Dustin Johnson (8-over, 80), Xander Schauffele (6-over, 78), last week’s winner Morikowa (4-over, 76) and many others.
