Ben Griffin continued his nice run of type as he claimed the early lead on the Memorial Match.
The 29-year-old American, who received his first particular person PGA Tour title on the Charles Schwab Problem final week, carded a seven-under 65 within the first spherical at Muirfield Village Golf Membership to guide by two within the $20m signature occasion.
Griffin opened up with a birdie on the first gap and added one other on the par-three fourth, holing out from 36 toes.
The spotlight of his spherical then got here on the par-five seventh which he eagled after hitting his second shot to 11 toes and he adopted that by nailing a 27-footer for birdie on the par-three eighth.
He discovered water at each the eleventh and twelfth however escaped with bogeys and bounced again with a storming end that noticed him birdie 4 of the final 5 holes, together with the final three – holing out from simply over 50 toes up the ridge on the 18th.
“It was an incredible day,” Griffin mentioned. “Kind of building on what I was doing last week, making a ton of birdies, staying aggressive. This is one of the toughest golf courses we play on tour and you’ve got to be on your game to make birdies and give yourself a lot of looks.”
Collin Morikawa, twice a runner-up on this match, heads the chasing pack on 5 beneath, with Max Homa (68) a shot additional again after birdieing the ultimate two holes.
Eire’s Shane Lowry, who was grouped with Griffin, is tied for fourth on three beneath after a spherical of 69 which additionally included an eagle on the seventh the place he was solely 4 toes away together with his second shot.
Shane Lowry is 4 behind Griffin after the opening spherical
Nevertheless, he produced a blended bag on the again 9 with two birdies and two bogeys as he didn’t make any additional inroads on the highest of the leaderboard as he completed alongside US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and Canada’s Nick Taylor.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler opened with a two-under 70 which was matched by Andrew Novak who received the Zurich Traditional of New Orleans alongside Griffin in April.
Scottie Scheffler is bidding for his third PGA Tour victory of the yr
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre carded a 71, one higher than Tommy Fleetwood who slipped down the sphere when he adopted a double-bogey on the fifteenth with a bogey on the sixteenth.
His fellow Englishmen all struggled with Matt Fitzpatrick posting a 76, Justin Rose a 78 and Aaron Rai a 79, though all of them carried out higher than Justin Thomas whose 80 included a triple-bogey seven on the ninth.
The occasion contains a reduce on Friday from 72 gamers to the highest 50 and ties, plus anybody inside 10 photographs of the lead.
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