DUBLIN, Ohio – On a windy day at the Memorial that garnered the best of stars like Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau seemed to do it all.
Finau finished with seven birdies in his last 10 holes in the first round on Thursday, finishing with a 6-under-66 on a Muirfield Village course that was faster and harder than last week at the Workday Charity Open. That gave him a unique advantage over Ryan Palmer.
The greens are being replaced after the Memorial, so there is no concern that they will disappear. They were 2 feet faster on the Stimpmeter, and the wind was strong and often changed direction without warning. That was shown on the scoreboard. Only seven players broke 70, compared to 35 rounds in the 60s for the first round last week.
Finau didn’t play last week, so he wouldn’t know the difference.
“I don’t know about an advantage, but I definitely felt like I played this golf this way before,” said Finau. “I don’t know what the numbers might be for the guys who played last week compared to this week. I’ve played this golf course in these kinds of conditions, and it definitely helped me.”
This is the first time in 63 years that the PGA Tour has played consecutive weeks in the same course. Palmer said that Muirfield Village only looked like the same course.
“It is day and night,” said Palmer. “The greens are 2, 3 feet faster for sure. So I knew it wasn’t a course that you had to go out and light.”
Nor was it a course to master.
Bryson DeChambeau hit a 423-yard drive with the wind behind him, leaving him 46 yards from the pin at No. 1, a hole where he remembers hitting 5 iron in the past. That was a weird little bird. With wedges in hand, he only managed a 73.
Tiger Woods, back on the PGA Tour for the first time in five months, started with a 10-foot birdie and finished with a 15-foot birdie for a 1-under-71, leaving him five strokes behind.
US Open champion Gary Woodland and Brendan Steele each shot 68, with Jon Rahm among the 69. McIlroy had two splendid short shots in the last nine that led to par and birdie, and he was in a group of 70 that included Jordan Spieth and defending champion Patrick Cantlay.
Cantlay threw a shot and ran across the fifth green that would have settled next to the hole last week. On Thursday, she kept rolling until she left the green.
Collin Morikawa won at Muirfield Village last week with 19 under 269, beating Justin Thomas in a playoff. Morikawa started with a 76. Thomas, who did not bogey until his 55th hole last week, had two bogeys after two holes. He shot 74.
Johnson shot 80, his highest PGA Tour score in more than four years. Fowler shot 81.
Spectator absence was something new, and was even more pronounced with Woods playing alongside Rory McIlroy (70) and Brooks Koepka (72). They still had the largest group, with 36 people around them on the 16th green. That was mainly radio and television crews, photographers, and some volunteers.
DeChambeau brought the pop in with five more tee shots at 350 yards or more, two of them over 400 yards. Some of his tee shots ended in places where players normally hit trees or are difficult and cannot reach the green. But he couldn’t capitalize with short sticks in his hands.
He hit a wedge in a bunker on the 14th and his chip went to the green, which would not have happened last week. He had to make a 6 foot foot to save the ghost. He was also a victim of the swirling wind at the worst time: a 7 iron from 230 yards above water to the fifth par 5. The wind died and he never had a chance, leading to the ghost.
“When I was standing on it, it was 20 miles per hour upwind. And when I hit it, it stopped dead. I can’t do anything about it,” DeChambeau said. “That’s golf, man. You’re not going to shoot the lowest number every day. I felt like I played really badly. My wedge wasn’t great. If I can fix that, make some putts, keep driving the way I’m doing, I’ll have a opportunity. “
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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