Weather: Mostly cloudy with morning thunderstorms and temperatures reaching 82 degrees. Winds were WSW at 10-15 mph. Play was suspended at 9:16 a.m. ET due to dangerous conditions. Play resumed at 11:20 a.m. ET, for a total delay of two hours, four minutes. Overnight Wednesday, the course took on 1.1" of rain, with an additional 1/10" Thursday morning. Play was suspended for a second time from 3:23 p.m. to 3:57 p.m. ET, a total of 24 minutes.
The 2010 Memorial Tournament is the 14th PGA TOUR event of the season to experience a suspension/delay of play. Most recently, the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial underwent a suspension of play in Sunday's final round.
Geoff Ogilvy took advantage of benign course conditions with a 7-under 65 to claim a share of the lead with Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose.
Ogilvy is making his 10th start at Muirfield. He has played here each year since 2001, missing the cut only twice (2001, 2003). It should come as no surprise that he played so well in Round 1. In each of the past three years here, Ogilvy has collected top-10 finishes. In 2009, he finished T10, ninth in 2008 and T9 in 2007.
Coming off a T13 finish at last week's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Ogilvy comes to this week's Memorial Tournament fresh off a final-round 6-under 64 at Colonial Country Club.
Ogilvy's low round of 2009 was a 9-under 63, which he carded in the third-round here at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
This marks the seventh occasion Ogilvy has held at least a share of the 18-hole lead. Of the other six, only the 2008 World Golf Championships-CA Championship and 2009 SBS Championship resulted in victory.
PGA TOUR rookie Fowler tied the 2010 record for best birdie/eagle streak en route to a 7-under 65 to claim a share of the lead with Ogilvy and Rose. On holes 4 through 8, he went birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie to play the five-hole stretch in 6-under.
Fowler has never held a share of an opening-round lead on the PGA TOUR.
Making his first start at the Memorial Tournament, Fowler is amidst a solid rookie year, having made the cut in nine of 15 starts. Of those nine, he has amassed four top-10s, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February.
Despite a bogey at the 10th (his first), Rose rebounded with eight birdies over a 12-hole stretch to shoot a 7-under 65 to join Ogilvy and Fowler in a tie for the 18-hole lead in his 162nd start on the PGA TOUR.
Rose has previously held at least a share of the 18-hole lead 10 times, yet he remains in search of his first PGA TOUR win.
Rose is competing in his sixth Memorial Tournament with a history of success. Despite missing the cut last year, he finished T2 in 2008, T14 in 2006 and solo fourth in his first start here in 2004.
Rose is making his 13th start of the 2010 season this week. Of the previous 12, he has missed just three cuts with a best finish being third at The Honda Classic.
Not since Tom Lehman in 1994 has a player managed to make the Memorial Tournament his first win on TOUR. There have been six first-time winners on TOUR so far this year, most recently being Jason Day at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.
The first-round leader has gone on to win four times this year on TOUR. The feat was achieved most recently by Day at the HP Byron Nelson Championship two weeks ago.
Since the Memorial Tournament's 1976 inception, Ernie Els (2004) is the only player to lead after the first round and go on to win. The tournament has never had a wire-to-wire winner (sole leader after every round).
Phil Mickelson fired a 5-under 67 and trails Ogilvy, Fowler and Rose by two strokes. Of the 35 competitive rounds Mickelson has played at Muirfield, only once has he posted a lower score. In Round 2 of 2002, he shot 66 before a T9 finish.
Mickelson's competing in his 11th Memorial Tournament this week, with a previous best finish a T4 in 2006.
Should Mickelson win this week and Tiger Woods finish outside of the top 4, Mickelson would overtake the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Mickelson, who missed last year's Memorial Tournament after learning of his wife's breast cancer, is having another solid year. Of the 11 events he has only missed one cut -- last week at Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. He claimed his second green jacket in April, followed by a solo-second at the Quail Hollow Championship.
Defending champion, Woods, who was 14 of 14 in fairways hit en route to his final-round 65 last year, couldn't get much going in Round 1. He shot an even-par 72.
The last five major championship winners are playing in the Memorial this week.
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In 2008, Kenny Perry became the oldest winner in Memorial Tournament history (47 years, 9 months, 22 days). Tom Watson held the previous mark at 46 years, 8 months, 28 days.
Perry (1991, 2003 and 2008) and Woods (1999-2001 and 2009) are the only players to win the Memorial Tournament three or more times.
In 2009, Muirfield Village Golf Club featured the third-most difficult finishing holes (Nos. 16-18) on TOUR, behind Quail Hollow Club and Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Woods won at all three courses last year.
Last year, Muirfield Village Golf Club was the sixth-toughest course on the PGA TOUR (73.425/1.425 over par). In 2008, it was the fifth-toughest course on TOUR (average score was 74.397/2.397 over par).
The par-four 18th hole at Muirfield Village Golf Club was the 20th toughest hole during the entire 2009 season (average score 4.343).