First-round notebook – The Memorial Tournament
* 2002 champion Jim Furyk, who is making his 400th career start on Tour this week, opened with a 5-under 67 –his best opening-round in 14 appearances at the MemorialTournament. The 13-time Tour winner’s best score in 52 rounds at Muirfield Village Golf Club is an 8-under 64, carded during the third round in 2005 (T8).
* Steve Marino (68) posted his ninth consecutive round in the 60s on Thursday, the best current streak on Tour. Marino’s sub-70 streak began in Dallas, leading to a T16 at the HP Byron Nelson Championship and playoff loss at the Crowne Plaza Championship at Colonial.
* Luke Donald captured the first-round lead at the Memorial Tournament with a season-best 8-under-par 64, equaling the best opening-round in Tournament history (Charles Howell III in 2003 and Curt Byrum in 1987). Donald bettered his previous best score at Muirfield Village Golf Club by four strokes (68, Round 3, 2008). The sub-70 round on Thursday is just his third in 19 attempts at the Memorial.
* Donald’s previous best rounds in 2009 were 65s posted at the FBR Open (R2), Verizon Heritage (R3) and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (R2).
* Donald’s round was highlighted by six straight birdies on Nos. 8-13, one shy of the Memorial record of seven straight set by Mark Wilson (Nos. 3-9) during the third round in 2007. Ryuji Imada (Mercedes-Benz Championship) and Brian Davis (50thBob Hope Classic) have the season’s best streak with seven in a row. After posting six birdies in a row, Donald then parred the par-4 14thhole before rattling off birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to give him eight in a nine-hole stretch.
* The key to Donald’s round? He recorded a Memorial Tournament-best 20 putts, including 12 one-putt greens. A two-putt for par on the 18th hole snapped a string of nine consecutive one-putt greens for Donald. He currently leads the Tour with a 1.696 putting average in 2009.
* Three of Luke Donald’s five-lowest putting rounds on Tour have occurred at the Memorial:
2009 Round 1 Memorial Tournament 20 putts
2008 Round 1 Memorial Tournament 22 putts
2003 Round 1 Children’s Miracle Network 22 putts
2002 Round 1 Reno-Tahoe Open 22 putts
2000 Round 1 Memorial Tournament 22 putts
* Prior to Thursday, the previous fewest putts in a round at the Memorial was 21: Don Pooley (second round, 1987), Chip Beck (second round, 1986), Gabriel Hjertstedt (first round, 1998), Jim Furyk (second round, 2003) and Bo Van Pelt (fourth round, 2005).
* The PGA Tour record for fewest putts in a round is 18:
- Sam Trahan (Whitemarsh Valley CC, final round, 1979 IV Philadelphia Golf Classic)
- Mike McGee (Colonial CC, first round, 1987 Federal Express St. Jude Classic)
- Kenny Knox (Harbour Town GL, first round, 1989 MCI Heritage Classic)
- Andy North (Kingsmill GC, second round, 1990 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic)
- Jim McGovern (TPC Southwind, second round, 1992 Federal Express St. Jude Classic)
- Corey Pavin (Glen Abbey GC, second round, 2000 Bell Canadian Open)
- Ken Duke (Doral Golf Resort & Spa, third round, 2009 WGC-CA Championship)
* Donald has now held the lead/co-lead after 18 holes in a Tour event four times. The others came at the 2006 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (T7), 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii (T2) and the 2008 Honda Classic (2nd).
* Largest first-round leads in 2009: 3 strokes – Camilo Villegas (Buick Invitational), Luke Donald (Memorial Tournament); 2 strokes – Bo Van Pelt (Mayakoba Golf Classic), Tiger Woods (Quail Hollow Championship). Donald will attempt to become the first of that group to advance to the winner’s circle.
* Luke Donald, a two-time PGA Tour winner, is making his sixth career start at Muirfield Village Golf Club, with four made cuts and his lone top-10 finish coming a year ago (T6). Donald earned his first invitation to the Memorial in 2000 (finishing T51 as an amateur) as a result of winning 1999 Jack Nicklaus Award, given annually to the nation’s top collegiate golfer.
* Donald, currently No. 24 on the FedExCup points list, is making his 12th start of the season. Despite not winning, he has been solid all year, with eight top-25 finishes among his previous 11 starts. A runner-up finish at the Verizon Heritage is his best showing among four top-10 finishes.
* Donald, a 31-year-old Englishman, is seeking to become just the seventh international-born player to win the Memorial Tournament over the 34-year history of the event. The list includes K.J. Choi (South Korea, 2007), Carl Pettersson (Sweden, 2006), Ernie Els (South Africa, 2004), Vijay Singh (Fiji, 1997), Greg Norman (Australia, 1990, 1995) and David Graham (Australia, 1980).
* The only player in the Memorial Tournament's history to lead after the first round and go on to win the event was Ernie Els in 2004 (68-70-66-66—270). The Tournament has never had a wire-to-wire winner.
* The first-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win just five of 22 stroke-play events on Tour this year, most recently by Phil Mickelson at the WGC-CA Championship. Last year, nine of 46 first-round leaders/co-leaders won.
* Three-time Memorial Tournament champion Tiger Woods (69) hit 13 of 14 fairways in regulation on Thursday, with his only miss coming on No. 18. The last time Woods hit every fairway in regulation was during the second round of the 2003 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
* Mike Weir’s 3-under 69 represents the first time he has posted a sub-70 opening round in 10 starts at the Memorial Tournament. Weir has three top-4 finishes at Muirfield Village (T2-2008, 3-2003, 4-2000).
* Steve Stricker, winner of last week’s Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, opened with a 2-under 70. Here’s a look at his finishes in his next start after winning a Tour event:
Year Tournament Won Next Start Finish
1996 Kemper Open Memorial 13th
1996 Western Open British Open T22
2001 WGC-Accenture Match Play FBR Open T7
2007 The Barclays Deutsche Bank Championship T9
2009 Crowne Plaza Invitational Memorial TBD
* Three former Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are currently inside the top 10, including Stewart Cink (68), Troy Matteson (69) and Nicholas Thompson (69). Cink is making his 14thconsecutive start at the Memorial, with a fourth-place finish in 2001 his best showing. Matteson and Thompson both missed the cut in their first appearance a year ago.
* Another Georgia Tech standout, David Duval, opened with a 1-under 71. Duval is making his 12thstart at the Memorial, with five top-4 finishes (1995-T2, 1996-2nd, 1998-3rd, 2000-T3, 2002-T4).
* Three-time Memorial champion Kenny Perry (72) is seeking his 16th straight made cut at the Memorial, which would tie him for second with Hale Irwin. Scott Hoch leads the list with 17 straight made cuts from 1981-97.
* Nine past champions of the Memorial are competing this week, including Kenny Perry (1991, 2003, 2008), K.J. Choi (2007), Carl Pettersson (2006), Bart Bryant (2005), Ernie Els (2004), Jim Furyk (2002), Tiger Woods (1999-2001), Vijay Singh (1997) and Tom Lehman (1994). Of that group, Furyk had the best start with a 5-under 67.
* Brian Davis had his streak of 24 consecutive rounds at par or better come to an end with a 6-over 78. His last over-par round prior to Thursday was a 3-over 74 during the second round of the 2009 Verizon Heritage. The current best par-or-better streak belongs to Greg Chalmers and Tim Clark, with nine consecutive. Matt Kuchar (73), Scott McCarron (74) and Vijay Singh (75) failed in their attempt to post their 10th consecutive round of par-or-better on Thursday.
* Amateur Reinier Saxton opened with a 3-under 69, equaling the best round by an amateur at the Memorial Tournament (Bobby Clampett, third round, 1980). The 2008 British Amateur champion is seeking to post the best-ever finish by an amateur at the event (T51 by Luke Donald in 2000).
* Troy Matteson (69) posted the only bogey-free round on Thursday.
* Scoring Averages at the par-72 Muirfield Village Golf Club:
Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative
Thursday 36.333 37.275 73.608 ---
* The scoring average for the morning wave was 74.05, compared to 73.17 for the afternoon.
* The par-4 18th hole played the toughest on Thursday, yielding a 4.450 average and just nine birdies. The par-5 seventh and 15th holes played the easiest at 4.742.
Return to Tournament Notebook archives