Leader board
The co-leaders of the 42nd Memorial Tournament might have only one heartbeat between them. Jason Dufner and David Lingmerth are more benign than the sneakyhard conditions that greeted the field on Thursday at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
“I just try to stay even keel. That works for me,” said Dufner, who matched Lingmerth’s 7-under-par 65 during a first round played in weather that felt like a vacation in San Diego.
Lingmerth shot his David Lingmerth Jason Dufner Daniel Summerhays Jordan Spieth Justin Thomas Lucas Glover • 65 (-7) 65 (-7) 66 (-6) 66 (-6) 67 (-5) 67 (-5)
eight-birdie, three-bogey, one-eagle round in the morning, and Dufner capped his six-birdie, one-bogey round with an eagle round in the afternoon, when the winds increased to a slightly less
winds increased to a slightly less manageable breeze.
“The wind was down compared to the last few days,” said Lingmerth, a Swede who won the 2015 Memorial over Justin Rose. “Today, I felt like it was a pretty good day to shoot a low number.”
The course wasn’t the same pushover as last year, when a tournament-record 79 players broke par in the first round. Over the past two years, Muirfield Village has tried to bare its fangs but mostly showed gum. This time was different. The opening round was no MMA bout, but neither was it a tea party. Only 34 players broke par and the scoring average of 73.329 was the highest since 2009 (73.608).
Players mostly credited— or blamed— the slick greens for having them on the defensive.
“This is Jack’s Augusta,” Daniel Summerhays said of Muirfield greens that, like Augusta National, home to the Masters, are as fast as they are perfect.
Summerhays joined two-time major championship winner Jordan Spieth in shooting 6-under 66. Justin Thomas, who has won three times this season, joined 2009 U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover at two back.
Four of the top six on the leader board share a Ohio connection. Lingmerth won here in 2015, Dufner was born in Cleveland, Summerhays won the first Nationwide Children’s Championship at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course in 2007 and Thomas won the 2014 Nationwide event at Scarlet, plus his grandparents, Phyllis and P.T. Thomas, live in Hilliard.
“It would be nice to win here in Ohio,” said Dufner, whose last tour win came at the expense of Lingmerth, in a two-man playoff at the CareerBuilder Challenge in La Quinta, California.
Dufner and Lingmerth register the same emotion — on and off the course — as the head covers on their golf bags. If they were wind, they’d be a zephyr. As thermometers, each would top out at 98.6 degrees.
And that’s just the way they like it.
“For me just to be chill and relaxed, that works best for me,” said Dufner, who became famous in 2013 for inspiring “Dufnering,” a photo fad in which participants were photographed slumped against a wall while appearing exhausted. The fad began after Dufner was seen slouching against a wall and looking subdued while visiting a youth and family center in Texas.
But looks can be deceiving. At least a little.
“It doesn’t mean I’m not trying or I don’t want to play good or don’t feel the sting of a bad shot or emotions of a good shot,” Dufner said of his nonchalant persona. “(That) extra energy takes it out of me.”
The finishing hole took it out of both leaders on Thursday. They each got it to 8 under before bogeying No. 18. Dufner’s bogey ended a run of 17 consecutive greens hit in regulation.
Dustin Johnson was not so precise. The No. 1-ranked player in the world struggled to a 6-over 78 that included a three-putt from inside 4 feet at No. 6. It was not a round best described as benign.