American Ben Griffin resumed the great play that brought him his first individual PGA TOUR victory last week at the Charles Schwab Challenge, hitting two shots in the water and still posting a 7-under 65 on Thursday in the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday on a course with rough as dense as a U.S. Open.
Griffin isn’t taking victory laps after winning at Colonial Country Club. He just kept making birdies, along with an eagle on the par- 5 seventh hole with a 3-wood into 12 feet. He led by two shots over Collin Morikawa, with Max Homa another stroke behind.
“It’s been a pretty solid consistent year”, said Griffin.
“Quail was a course I never really played great at. I actually played decent, but just short game really wasn’t sharp. Yeah, the game feels pretty good. It’s nice to get this kind of tune-up, if you want to call it that, before we go to next week. I’ve never played TPC Osprey, so I’ll need to learn some of that golf course, but it’s always a special week so I’m looking forward to it”.
Shane Lowry is four shots off the pace after the opening round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.
Lowry, who had two sixes at par fives, still managed to get in the clubhouse with a three-under 69 although he was outdone by his playing partner Ben Griffin who roared to the summit with a 65 after missing the cut in his previous two appearances.
“I told him when we finished, Keep it going, things will turn around for you pretty soon (smiling.) He pretty much holed everything he looked at today,” said Lowry after his round. “It was good. We bounced off each other, we all played really nicely, and it’s nice when you get a good group like that. My 3-under doesn’t look that great beside his 7-under, but 3-under is a good score out there on this course, it’s pretty difficult.”
“I hit the ball in play a lot today, I hit lot of fairways, which allowed me to hit a lot of greens, so I took advantage of some good driving today.”
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler wasn’t at his best and still managed a 70, his 19th consecutive tournament in which he opened with a round par.
NOTES FROM ROUND ONE …..
Opening round leaderboard at The Memorial … Image PGA Tour
Mostly cloudy with a high of 72. Wind WSW 4-15 mph.
First-Round Leaderboard Ben Griffin (1st/-7)
- Earns first career 18-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR (previous best 18-hole position: 2nd/2022 RSM Classic/finished T29)
- 7-under 65 marks his best score in five career rounds in the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday (previous best: 72/R1/2023)
- Lowest first-round score in the Memorial Tournament since 2019 (Ryan Moore/65/finished T33)
- Only player in the field to birdie each of the last three holes in round one (Nos. 16-18)
- Led the field in Strokes Gained: Around the Green (2.560) and Strokes Gained: Putting (3.843)
- Recorded two water balls on Nos. 11 and 12; became the second player since 2003 to shoot a 65 or better with multiple balls in the water at the Memorial Tournament (2019/Justin Rose/R2/63)
- Making his third career start in the Memorial Tournament (2024/MC, 2023/MC)
- Began the week No. 5 in the FedExCup standings and No. 1 in the Aon Next 10
- In 18 starts this season, owns six top-10 finishes and two wins
- Entered the week coming off his first individual PGA TOUR victory at last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge
- Five weeks ago, won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (with teammate Andrew Novak) for his first career win on TOUR
- One of four players with multiple wins on TOUR this year: (Rory McIlroy/3, Sepp Straka/2, Scottie Scheffler/2)
Additional Player Notes
- Collin Morikawa (2nd/-5) leads all players in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (5.846); in five career starts at the Memorial Tournament, owns two runner-up finishes (2021, 2024); 5-under 67 marks his lowest score in his last 11 rounds played at Muirfield Village Golf Club; Morikawa has 31 rounds in the 60s in Signature Events since the start of the 2024 season, the most of any player on TOUR (next best: Sungjae Im/30)
- Max Homa (3rd/-4) sits inside the top five on the leaderboard after 18 holes for the first time since the 2024 Masters Tournament (T3/finished T3); 4-under 68 marks his lowest score in 21 career rounds at Muirfield Village Golf Club (including 2020 Workday Charity Open); has two top-10 finishes in five career starts in the Memorial Tournament (2022/T5, 2021/T6)
- In five starts at Signature Events this season, Shane Lowry (T4/-3) owns three top-10s, including two runner-up finishes (T2/Truist Championship, 7th/Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, 2nd/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am)
- Keegan Bradley (T4/-3) is making his 15th consecutive start in the Memorial Tournament where he owns two top-10 finishes (2016/T8, 2015/T8)
- Nick Taylor (T4/-3) seeks to become the first Canadian player to win the Memorial Tournament; best finish in five prior starts in this event is T27 (2024)
- Defending champion and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (T7/-2) opens with a 70 via four birdies against two bogeys; finished inside the top three in each of his last three starts in the Memorial Tournament (2024/Won, 2023/3rd, 2021/3rd); finished T8 or better in each of his last six starts, including back-to-back wins at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson and the PGA Championship
