Day 1: Quick greens are some of the TOUR's toughest
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) -- Jack Nicklaus always envisioned the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley as a northern version of the Masters, from the superb course conditions to super slick greens, from caddies wearing white coveralls to grounds so immaculate that nary a cigarette butt is to be found.
He got his wish Thursday, at least with the greens.
Mathew Goggin spent as little time on them as possible, taking only nine putts over his final nine holes on his way to a 7-under 65 and a one-shot lead over Jerry Kelly and two-time Memorial champion Kenny Perry.
Goggin holed out a bunker shot for birdie on the par-3 fourth hole, then ended his round with a 12-footer for par from off the green, giving him only 22 putts for his round.
"Is that possible?" Goggin said when told he had nine putts on his back nine.
Strangely enough, he was 3 under playing his best golf, then hit some loose shots that produced four birdies over the final six holes.
"It was one of those bizarre days where I didn't drop any shots coming in with the poorly played holes," he said.
Perry found the right speed and ran off six straight birdies on his way to a 66, also taking 22 putts. Kelly birdied four of his last six holes. Ten other players also managed to break 70 on a day when the average score was 73.7.
Most everyone else hung on for dear life.
Shaun Micheel had a 55-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that traveled 35 yards back into the fairway. Boo Weekley watched a wedge land near the hole at the par-5 11th, only to spin back to the front of the green, off the green and into the creek for a triple bogey.
"The greens are the best greens I've ever putted on anywhere in the world," Robert Allenby said after a 69. "You can take Royal Melbourne, you take Augusta ... these are the best."
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I don't think we would even see you in the rough. You would have to have one of those flags on your hat or something to see you. It's an extreme golf course right now. And it's one of those things where, if you get a lot of wind out here, it's going to be almost comical." -- Joe Ogilvie on the thick rough at Muirfield Village Golf Club
MORE ON OGILVIE
He was an 11-year-old golfer who couldn't hit it very far but had big dreams when he first played Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Joe Ogilvie, a native of Lancaster, Ohio, remembers well competing in the 1985 U.S. Junior Amateur. He remembers how special that was, to be playing on the course designed by Jack Nicklaus and played by PGA TOUR players. He also remembers that he could barely hit over the water at the par-4 second hole.
The carry over that creek, which cuts in front of the tee and runs down the right side of the fairway, is 100 yards. He hits it quite a bit farther now. He's gone quite far since then, too.
The Duke University product has built a steady career on the PGA TOUR that includes more than $7 million in earnings and his first victory last year at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. Ogilvie hasn't played particularly well since his only top-10 finish of the year at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, but on Thursday the air was warm, his gallery was stocked with familiar faces and his putter was hot on the glass-like Muirfield Village greens.
The result was a 3-under-par 69, which put him on the leaderboard for the second time in his four Memorial appearances, three strokes off the pace set by Kenny Perry.
"Being on a leaderboard anywhere is a good thing. Being on it here is extra nice," said Ogilvie, 34, who broke par for only the second time in nine rounds at Muirfield Village and posted his second best score at the Memorial after a 67 to open the 2005 edition.
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OLD KENTUCKY HOME: More than perhaps any other player on the PGA TOUR, Kenny Perry really wants to make the Ryder Cup team this year.
And, more than maybe any other player on the PGA TOUR this season, Kenny Perry has come thisclose to securing a spot on the team.
But he heard some disconcerting news on Thursday about his chances of making the squad, which will take place in his home state of Kentucky.
"I read the paper this morning that Paul (Azinger) says if you don't win you're not getting on it," Perry said, quoting the U.S. Ryder Cup captain for 2008. "So that's, that kind of bummed me out a little bit."
He lost by one stroke to Ryuji Imada at the AT&T Classic two weeks ago. He held the 36-hole lead at THE PLAYERS Championship this month but shot 81 in the final round and tied for 15th.
How many more chances will he get before the showdown in September?
"I've got to play well. I've got to somehow get in the winner's circle again and if that's the way he's going to do it -- I mean, it was just the way it was quoted in the paper this morning. That hurt me losing that playoff in Atlanta a couple weeks ago," Perry said. "So I just got to play consistent, and somehow keep making lots of points and if I don't win, figure out a way to get in the top 8 so I earn my way on the squad."
In his 22 appearances at the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley, Perry has began the tournament with a sub-par score seven times.
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KING OF ACES: Jeff Quinney has only been on the TOUR for two seasons but he's already made two holes-in-one in PGA TOUR events. In the first round of the Memorial Tournament, Quinney came within six inches of ace No. 3.
WATCH: Quinney's first two aces 
PGATOUR.COM's camera crews were parked on the par-3 12th hole -- site of Quinney's near miss, which he then tapped in for birdie -- for the day's LIVE@ coverage and brought back footage from Thursday's best highlight.
WATCH: A close call at No. 12
When watching the video, pay close attention to Bob Stevens, one of the commentators. He makes an interesting comment before Quinney's ball comes to rest less than a foot from the pin.
NO NEED TO RUSH: At about 1 o'clock on Tuesday, Brett Quigley was sitting at home relaxing with his wife and young daughter when the phone rang. Quigley, an alternate for the Memorial Tournament, got word he was now in the field.
But he didn't hurry to Columbus, Ohio for Jack Nicklaus' prestigious event.
"I played here a couple times and really like the golf course. So I knew I didn't need to rush over," he said. "I came over and got in 4 o'clock yesterday."
With such a late arrival, Quigley couldn't devote much practice time to taming the treacherous bunkers, lightning-fast greens or impenetrable rough at Muirfield Village.
"I went out and played a few holes. (Paul) Azinger and I played the back nine. He played them all, I just kind of skipped around a few," Quigley said. "I was just hitting balls and then (everyone) on the range was talking about how difficult the golf course is and how it's playing firm and the rough's ten inches, the greens are rolling 15 and the bunkers are furrowed.
"It was a doomsday out there, they said."
| 7 | Number of eagles Nick Watney has made this season (including one on Thursday). In this category, he is tied for first on TOUR. |
| 9 | The amount of times Rod Pampling missed the green in regulation. It's also the number of times he saved par, giving him a scrambling rate of 100 percent. |
| 22 | The fewest amount of putts per round on Thursday. On some of the toughest greens on the PGA TOUR, five players had 22 putts. |
Quigley managed to survive doomsday No. 1 just fine. He shot 67 on Thursday and sits in third, two shots behind Mathew Goggin.
'WEIR'D DAY: When your two playing partners are identified on a first-name only basis by their hoards of fans, you expect to see some quality golf.
On Thursday, Mike Weir played with Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson, two of the most recent winners on the PGA TOUR. Now, Weir isn't too bad either. The former Masters Tournament champion and eight-time PGA TOUR winner attracts his fair share of faithful fans.
He was also the one with the biggest fireworks in that popular trio.
After shooting 8 under in the pro-am at Muirfield Village on Wednesday, Weir thought he would get off to a solid start at the Memorial Tournament. Instead, he struggled until making a 45-footer from well off the green on No. 5, his 14th hole of the day.
"It was a bonus to make that putt," Weir said. "I got off to a terrible start, but I was very patient because I knew I've been playing really good.
"...But that's the thing with this golf course. You are just a little bit off, you can make some bogeys pretty easy."
Weir had the best score of the threesome with a 1-under 71. Garcia and Mickelson were tied at even par after one round.
"We had a good group and we had -- again, I think everybody in our group had some up-and-downs. You know, Mike Weir started out very rough and I think was 3-over at one point and ended up shooting under par," Mickelson said. "And Sergio and I had a chance throughout the round to get some things going. Then we made some mistakes. It was just kind of a weird day."
THREE THINGS TO WATCH ON FRIDAY
1. Phil Mickelson. He said so himself that "tomorrow is going to be a good day." Will he recapture some of last week's magic and move up from a first-round tie for 36th?
2. The greens. With a new SubAir system to soak up the moisture, the greens are posing a major challenge for golfers this week. As Kenny Perry said, "They're the truest, fastest greens I've ever seen."
3. International players. The streak could continue. Three of the last five champions at the Memorial Tournament had International ties and Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Mathew Goggin, Rod Pampling and Carl Pettersson are all in the top 10 after round one.
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