Dufner, Lingmerth share Memorial lead

DUBLIN, Ohio — Jason Dufner putted for birdie on every hole until the last one at the Memorial on Thursday.

Even with a bogey on the final hole, Dufner still shot a 7-under-par 65 at Muirfield Village, giving him a tie for the lead with David Lingmerth. They were one shot ahead of Jordan Spieth, whose short game is starting to return with the U.S. Open around the corner.

Dufner hit every green in regulation until his 7-iron to the 18th came up short and into the bunker. He blasted out 12 feet by the hole and missed the par putt. Lingmerth, who picked up his first PGA Tour victory at the Memorial two years ago, also bogeyed his last hole.

Dustin Johnson was on the other end of the spectrum. He did not make a birdie and shot 78.

Argentine great De Vicenzo dies

Roberto De Vicenzo, known has much for his scorecard error at the Masters as his British Open victory that made him Argentina’s first major golf champion, died Thursday at his home in Buenos Aires. He was 94.

The Argentina Golf Association, which confirmed the death on its website, said De Vicenzo broke his hip last month in an accident at home, and his health had been deteriorating since then.

“He was a god in Argentina,” said Jack Nicklaus, who last saw him a few years ago during a trip to Buenos Aires. “Roberto was ‘Mr. Golf’ in Argentina, no question about that.”

De Vicenzo amassed 230 titles worldwide, mostly in South America, but he achieved fame on the biggest stages in golf. He outlasted Nicklaus at Hoylake to win the 1967 British Open by two shots for his only major.

But even De Vicenzo could not forget the 1968 Masters.

After a birdie on the 17th hole to lead, he made bogey on the final hole for a 7-under 65 to share the lead with Bob Goalby and presumably face a playoff the next day. Except those scores were not on his card kept by Tommy Aaron. The birdie 3 on the 17th hole had been marked as a 4, and De Vicenzo signed it. Under the Rules of Golf, he had to keep the 4. The 65 became a 66 and, instead of a playoff, De Vicenzo was a runner-up to Goalby.

That led to one of the most famous lines in golf when De Vicenzo lamented, “What a stupid I am.”

Associated Press file Roberto De Vicenzo, who died Thursday at 94, had to endure a 1968 Masters trophy presentation after he turned in an erroneous scorecard that cost him the victory, which went to runner-up Bob Goalby, right.