Dufner, Lingmerth share the lead

Spieth is one stroke back

Jason Dufner putted for birdie on every hole until the last one at the Memorial, a game so under control it looked as simple as breathing.

Even with a bogey on the final hole, Dufner had a 7-under 65 for his best score Thursday at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, 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.

Lingmerth, whose first PGA Tour victory came at the Memorial two years ago, also bogeyed his last hole on an ideal day for scoring.

Starting quickly at the Memorial is nothing new for Dufner lately. He opened with a 66-67 two years ago before fading on the weekend. Last year, he opened with a 68.

Dustin Johnson and Jason Day want to make sure they get to play for rounds.

Johnson three-putted after putting his tee shot into the water on the par-3 16th and made triple bogey. He three-putted from 4 feet on the sixth hole and made double bogey. And he didn’t make a single birdie in his round of 78.

It was the first time in nearly four years — since the Bridgestone Invitational in 2013 — that Johnson failed to make a birdie.

Day, who has yet to crack the top 25 at the club where he holds a membership, made bogeys on both par 5s on the back nine and was headed for a big score until he birdied his last two holes for a 75.

Madison’s Steve Stricker opened up with a 74.

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 said De Vicenzo broke his hip last month in an accident at home and his health had been deteriorating since then.

De Vicenzo amassed 230 titles worldwide, mostly in South America, but he achieved fame on the biggest stages in golf. He outlasted Jack 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.