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In the lead by O’Hair
by Dave Weissman, Columbus Wired
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The first round of the 2006 Memorial got underway today with Sean O’Hair the clubhouse leader at 5-under par. Steve Flesch was at 6-under par when play was suspended at 5:22 for the day due to thunderstorms and lighting in the area. He was on the 18th hole with playing partner Zach Johnson (-4) when play was halted.

Taking a early one shot lead in the tournament, carding a 5-under par 67, O’Hair had a slight hiccup starting his round, a double-bogey on the third hole, but was on cruise control the rest of the way.

“I hit the ball great on the first two holes. And I hit a good drive on 3. I miss-hit a shot, bad swing, and pulled it in the worst possible shot on that hole,” O’Hair said. “It’s been awhile since I had a good start to an event, so it’s nice to just feel positive about what happened today instead of fighting, trying to make the cut.”

Phil Mickelson the current PGA Tour leading money leader ($3,237,992), made his first return to Muirfield since 2001 and ended his round tied with 17 others at 3-under par including David Love III, Sergio Garcia, Fred Couples, Nick Price and Brett Wetterich.

For Mickelson, birdies on 4, 7, 15 and an eagle on 5 put him at 5-under par. But bogies on both 17 and 18 dropped his score to 3-under. “I’ll take a 3-under the first round,” he said. “I know there’s a low round out there, with the greens being receptive, there’s a low round out here. But there’s three other days to get that, too.”

Ex-OSU standout Kevin Hall, making his first start at the Memorial from a sponsors exemption had a rough day going +2 thru 10. He had one birdie and three bogeys on the front nine. Then it seemed to get even more away from him as he ended his day tied at 121st with a 7-over par.

The surprise of the day was Wetterich. He earned a spot in the field with his first PGA victory at the 2006 EDS Byron Nelson Championship and made the most of his entry carding a 3-under par. “I hit a lot of fairways today, which I thought was key,” he said. “And I stayed away from the big numbers.”

Defending champion Bart Bryant had a 70, along with last week’s Bank of America Colonial champion Tim Herron. Flesch and the other 30 golfers on the course will complete their round at 8:30 in the morning, weather permitting, then reset for their second round play.