CONDITIONS PERFECT FOR LOW SCORES AT MUIRFIELD

by Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired

On a day where Phil Mickelson withdrew with a wrist injury and Tiger Woods struggled, three others took the spotlight in the first round of the 2007 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Golf Club.

Sean O’Hair, Rod Pampling and Nick O’Hern are the clubhouse leaders after 18 holes, each shooting a seven-under, 65 Thursday.

On a hot and sunny day with perfect conditions on the course, 66 players finished at or below par. Five others are one stroke behind the leaders and eight more are within three strokes.

The average score was 71.24, which is the lowest first-round scoring average at the Memorial.

Woods and Ostrander native Ben Curtis are among 18 others who are two-under.

“When we get perfect conditions, with the quality of the field, you’re going to shoot low,” Pampling said. “There wasn’t that bit of wind that gave the course a little bit of defense.”

Aaron Baddeley, who is in a group of five who are one stroke back, said that the course played firmer, which resulted in the course playing shorter.

Joining Baddeley at a stroke back is Tim Herron, Ernie Els, Bubba Watson and Ryan Moore. Will MacKenzie shot a 67, while seven shot a 66.

The weather was a far cry from what the pros are used to. Memorial week usually, and probably will before the end of the tournament, bring rain. The course is dry because of the lack of precipitation in Dublin this week.

“Today was a great day to score,” Woods said. “The greens were soft and receptacle. You could be aggressive firing at the flags. The fairways were faster, but the greens were soft. I did not have a problem holding anything today.”

When he was told there was a chance of rain in the forecast over the weekend, Wood cracked, “There’s a shock, huh?” He thinks rain will make the scores even lower.

O’Hair, who has five top-15 finishes this year, played a solid round with eight birdies and one bogey—the only one in his group.

“I apologized to those guys for making that bogey because that would have been pretty cool, no bogies in the group,” O’Hair said. “I’ve never heard of that before in my life.”

The Lubbock, TX native birdied four holes at one point and only struggled on 17 where he hit a bad tee ball. He rolled the ball well with 26 putts. He said that he hit a similar bad tee ball on 15 because he had sweaty palms. On 17, he hit the bunker.

“I was thinking about hitting a 8-iron on there, but the lip of that bunker is pretty nasty,” O’Hair said. “I was trying to get it up over the lip and I kind of got the club stuck and flared it out right, and it was lucky that it wasn’t in the water of in the woods there. But I made a great bogey.”

His 65 marks his career best round at Muirfield.

Pampling flirted with seven under on the back nine. He bogeyed No. 14, but got the stroke back at No. 15. He then bogeyed No. 17 before recovering with a birdie on the final hole of the day.

“It was a good solid round,” Pampling said. “A lot of tee shots were right on in there which led to some nice putts. It’s a tough golf course, but the conditions were perfect for golf. When you have perfect conditions, you’re going to shoot low (scores).”

O’Hern, who was three-under at the turn, birdied five of the last nine holes to move atop the leader board. His only blemish was a bogey on No. 10. He said he had a lot of fun playing under the perfect conditions.

“When you are playing well, it’s just nice to see the ball going in the hole,” O’Hern said. “It’s been, as I say, a long time coming. I’ve put in a lot of hard work and it’s starting to pay off. This course fits my eye well and if I’m playing solidly, hopefully it’ll show on the weekend.”

O’Hern has been up and down this season. In his last four tournaments, he has missed two cuts and finished 12th and 34th.

“I have not haven’t really been hitting the ball well off the tee, but that’s due to the gold swing more than anything” he said. “It’s my first year here in the States and it takes some adjusting to get used to things. I think we sort of turned the corner a few weeks ago.”

O’Hern’s 65 is his career-best round.

Mickelson, the world’s No. 2 golfer, withdrew after 11 holes with a wrist injury. He was two-over when the injury became too unbearable to continue.

“The wedge shot on 11 just jarred it,” Mickelson said. “Just 100 yards, I’m going with 20 yards more club and still jarred it and just couldn’t hit it.”