Ben Griffin fires 65, sets early pace at Memorial
After winning a tournament on Sunday, Ben Griffin stayed hot Thursday by shooting a 7-under-par 65 to take the first-round lead at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio.
Griffin made an 11 1/2-foot eagle at the par-5 seventh and had a three-birdie run at Nos. 16-18 at Muirfield Village Golf Club. He finished the day with a two-shot advantage over Collin Morikawa, a two-time runner-up at the tournament hosted by Jack Nicklaus.
"My dad always used to tell me, 'Par the first and last holes,' and unfortunately, I birdied the first and the last," Griffin joked.
Griffin, 29, won his first PGA Tour title last month at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event with Andrew Novak. He validated that victory with his first individual win this past week at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club.
It was clear he was not tired from the quick turnaround.
"This is nothing. I started out the year playing 13 events in a row," Griffin said. .".. It's funny, I talked to a lot of my peers out here, and they don't understand how I do it. I think it's because I do a really good job resting on Mondays and Tuesday mornings. I don't really prepare for tournaments until pretty much Tuesday afternoons, unless it's a course that I'm not familiar with or maybe a major championship, I try to get a little extra prep in."
Morikawa had five birdies through 14 holes before a wayward drive at the par-5 15th led to his lone bogey. He made up for it at the very next hole, rolling his tee shot at the par-3 16th just past the cup and making a 4-footer for birdie.
"Honestly, I woke up today kind of not knowing how the swing was going to produce," Morikawa said. "I spent a couple hours on the range after the pro-am yesterday and was just trying to find something. Yeah, kind of went to some old swing thoughts, and it's hard to filter through that, but did it on the range, and kind of was just able to go play golf."
In third place was Max Homa with a 4-under 68. Homa has fared better since parting with caddie Joe Greiner, who now works for Morikawa. Homa is searching for his first win on tour since January 2023.
"My game feels about as good as it has in a very, very long time," Homa said, "and I knew that I think that brought some peace, which was nice, not feeling like I needed to do much. Then, yeah, you get off to a good start like that and it just kind of calms some of the nerves."
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, Canadian Nick Taylor and Irishman Shane Lowry are tied for fourth at 3-under 69. World No. 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler opened with a 2-under 70.
"I need to give myself some more looks," Scheffler said. "I felt like I was out of the fairway a bit too much today. I was able to hit a decent amount of greens, just giving myself a few more quality looks, I think, would be a big difference."
The US$20 million signature event will feature a cut Friday from 72 players to the top 50 and ties, plus anyone within 10 shots of the lead.
Only 13 players managed to shoot under par Thursday. Players who'll need to work to make the cut in the second round include Sweden's Ludvig Aberg (3-over 75), England's Matt Fitzpatrick (4-over 76) and Justin Rose (6-over 78), Wyndham Clark (78) and Justin Thomas (8-over 80).
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New Straits Times
6 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Taylor, Griffin share lead at PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament
WASHINGTON: Nick Taylor conjured four birdies without a bogey in a four-under-par 68 on Friday to pull into a tie for the lead with Ben Griffin in the US PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. Taylor, who claimed his fifth PGA title at the Sony Open this year, navigated rain-soaked Muirfield Village with little real trouble on the way to a 36-hole total of seven-under par 137. "The iron game was very, very sharp," Taylor said. "Putting, made bunch of nice five-, six-footers on that back nine for par." Overnight leader Griffin, coming off his second win of the season at Colonial last week, had one bogey and one birdie in an even-par 71 to maintain a share of the lead. The leading duo were two strokes in front of American Akshay Bhatia, who carded a 69, with world number one Scottie Scheffler three adrift after his second straight 70 for 140. "I think everyone would probably say it was kind of a grind," Griffin said. "Fortunately, having a later tee time, I didn't have to battle the elements quite as much as some of the early groups. "But a day like today when it's really wet, I think hitting it in the rough is just even more penal. The ball just kind of goes straight to the bottom with the moisture, and then when there's moisture, it's harder to get to the ball down in the rough. So I had some very tricky lies. "I got some good breaks on a couple holes where I was in the rough and was able to get it up to the green. So all in all, coming off of yesterday where I made just about everything I looked at, you can't do that every day when you're playing golf." Taylor coped admirably, getting things moving with a 24-foot birdie put at the fourth hole. He added a two-foot birdie at the eighth and rolled in a 20-foot at the ninth. He grabbed his final birdie at the 13th. "The nice thing was for most of the day my speed was very good, so it was a lot of tap-in pars if I wasn't making birdie," he said. "It was nice to keep it as simple as possible." Bhatia put himself in contention in the signature event hosted by Jack Nicklaus with five birdies. "I felt like this was the best my iron play has been, ever," Bhatia said. "I mean, I hit two flagsticks today and then felt like pretty much anytime where my caddie told me to hit it, I was literally hitting it there. "So that was really nice." Scheffler called his two-under effort a "solid day" despite a double bogey at the 10th. "I had some good looks on the front nine that I didn't hole, but on the back I rolled it really nice," Scheffler said. After his double bogey at the 10th – where he was in the rough off the tee and finally three-putted from 43 feet – Scheffler responded with birdies at the 11th and 12th. He finished the day alone in fourth, one stroke in front of Sam Burns, Shane Lowry and Jordan Spieth. Burns climbed the leaderboard with an impressive seven-under par 65, while Ireland's Lowry posted an even par 72 and Spieth carded a 69. - AFP
New Straits Times
a day ago
- New Straits Times
Ben Griffin fires 65, sets early pace at Memorial
After winning a tournament on Sunday, Ben Griffin stayed hot Thursday by shooting a 7-under-par 65 to take the first-round lead at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. Griffin made an 11 1/2-foot eagle at the par-5 seventh and had a three-birdie run at Nos. 16-18 at Muirfield Village Golf Club. He finished the day with a two-shot advantage over Collin Morikawa, a two-time runner-up at the tournament hosted by Jack Nicklaus. "My dad always used to tell me, 'Par the first and last holes,' and unfortunately, I birdied the first and the last," Griffin joked. Griffin, 29, won his first PGA Tour title last month at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event with Andrew Novak. He validated that victory with his first individual win this past week at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club. It was clear he was not tired from the quick turnaround. "This is nothing. I started out the year playing 13 events in a row," Griffin said. .".. It's funny, I talked to a lot of my peers out here, and they don't understand how I do it. I think it's because I do a really good job resting on Mondays and Tuesday mornings. I don't really prepare for tournaments until pretty much Tuesday afternoons, unless it's a course that I'm not familiar with or maybe a major championship, I try to get a little extra prep in." Morikawa had five birdies through 14 holes before a wayward drive at the par-5 15th led to his lone bogey. He made up for it at the very next hole, rolling his tee shot at the par-3 16th just past the cup and making a 4-footer for birdie. "Honestly, I woke up today kind of not knowing how the swing was going to produce," Morikawa said. "I spent a couple hours on the range after the pro-am yesterday and was just trying to find something. Yeah, kind of went to some old swing thoughts, and it's hard to filter through that, but did it on the range, and kind of was just able to go play golf." In third place was Max Homa with a 4-under 68. Homa has fared better since parting with caddie Joe Greiner, who now works for Morikawa. Homa is searching for his first win on tour since January 2023. "My game feels about as good as it has in a very, very long time," Homa said, "and I knew that I think that brought some peace, which was nice, not feeling like I needed to do much. Then, yeah, you get off to a good start like that and it just kind of calms some of the nerves." U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, Canadian Nick Taylor and Irishman Shane Lowry are tied for fourth at 3-under 69. World No. 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler opened with a 2-under 70. "I need to give myself some more looks," Scheffler said. "I felt like I was out of the fairway a bit too much today. I was able to hit a decent amount of greens, just giving myself a few more quality looks, I think, would be a big difference." The US$20 million signature event will feature a cut Friday from 72 players to the top 50 and ties, plus anyone within 10 shots of the lead. Only 13 players managed to shoot under par Thursday. Players who'll need to work to make the cut in the second round include Sweden's Ludvig Aberg (3-over 75), England's Matt Fitzpatrick (4-over 76) and Justin Rose (6-over 78), Wyndham Clark (78) and Justin Thomas (8-over 80).
New Straits Times
2 days ago
- New Straits Times
Jay Monahan on Rory McIlroy's schedule: 'I don't have any concern'
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan came to the defense of Rory McIlroy, whose tournament scheduling plan will leave him out of the Memorial Tournament this week and mark the third signature event he has missed this season. "The beauty of our model is that our players have the ability to select their schedule," Monahan told reporters on Wednesday at Muirfield Village Golf Club, site of this week's Memorial Tournament. "What Rory McIlroy has done, I think he's played in this tournament every year since 2017. And you look at the tournaments that he's supported. I don't have any concern, because you look at this on balance over time, his support of our tournaments and our partners is extraordinary." In addition to skipping this week's 50th edition of the Memorial, the world's No. 2 player also bypassed The Sentry and the RBC Heritage, both signature events. McIlroy, 36, raised a few eyebrows by opting to skip the Memorial Tournament in favor of next week's RBC Canadian Open. The native of Northern Ireland has admitted to a preference of playing the week before a major championship. The Memorial Tournament and Canadian Open flipped places on the calendar this year, with the Canadian now leading directly into the June 12-15 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. McIlroy completed the career Grand Slam by winning the Masters last month. He earned his first green jacket and fifth career major in dramatic fashion, overcoming two double bogeys in the first round and two more on Sunday before beating England's Justin Rose in a playoff. "Look at the season that Rory has had. He's had a life-altering season," Monahan said. "He's won the Players Championship, you win the Masters Tournament, you win the (career) Grand Slam and you win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am."
