Tony Finau leads Memorial Tournament
Tony Finau leads at Muirfield Village after what proved to be a tough opening round.
Tony Finau leads the Memorial Tournament after the opening round at Muirfield Village, whilst a number of top players got off to a good start including Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.
Last week's Workday Charity Open at Muirfield was full of low scores but it seems the tee-box and flag changes for the second consecutive event at the Ohio track has made scoring difficult, with just 24 players in the field shooting under par.
Whilst some of the world's best struggled on Thursday, Finau kept his cool and made nine birdies on his way to a 6-under par 66, seeing him lead the prestigious tournament by one shot, with Ryan Palmer in second place.
McIlroy currently sits four-off the lead in T8 after shooting a round of 70, whilst Woods, who made his first start since finishing last at the Genesis Open out of those who made the cut, shot a very respectable 1-under round of 71.
Finau got off to a steady start and found himself level par through eight before three consecutive birdies were made around the turn, followed by two more at 14 and 15.
The 30-year-old dropped his third shot of the day at 16, but bounced back with back-to-back birdies to finish and take the clubhouse lead.
Dustin Johnson had a nightmare of an opening round with an 8-over par 80, that saw the 21-time PGA Tour winner start off double, birdie, triple, birdie before making six pars in-a-row.
The World No.4 made his third birdie of the day at the 2nd (his 11th), but followed that up with another double before finding four more bogeys to end the horror show.
One of GolfMagic's favourite shots of the day came from Justin Rose, who salvaged a par at 17 after attempting a 'super flop' that left his ball in the air for what felt like a lifetime. Watch the shot below:
Quite the par save …@JustinRose99 with the SUPER FLOP. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/jzZz9enxZA
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 16, 2020
Rose finished his opening round 1-over par and looks to be in a much better position after he missed the cut at Muirfield last week, shooting 10-over in two days.
