Two Share Lead in Memorial


American Bo Van Pelt and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama each fired 8-under 64s to sahre the 18-hole lead at the Memorial Tournament. The $6.2 million PGA Tour event got underway Thursday at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.

Van Pelt, a 40-year-old Indianan in search of a second Tour win (his first came in 2009 at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee), posted 10 birdies and two bogeys, while the 23-year-old Matsuyama - the defending Memorial champion - had a spotless outing with eight birdies.

"To be honest with you, up until yesterday I was not hitting the ball very well, I was not chipping very well, I was not putting very well," Matsuyama told reporters through a translator. "And I don't know what happened overnight. We just caught magic."

Van Pelt has played 41 Memorial rounds and never had 10 birdies, let alone a 64. But on a windless day his play was spot-on. Van Pelt said the event is his second-favorite on Tour. "Other than the Masters, this tournament means more to me than any one I've ever played," he remarked. "So it's always good to play well around a place that means a lot to you."

Two strokes back are American Jason Dufner and Scotland's Russell Knox, while posting 67s in benign conditions were Americans Ken Duke, Ryan Moore, Brendon Todd, Harris English, Kevin Kisner, Kyle Reifers and Sweden's David Lingmerth.

Tiger Woods, a five-time winner of the tournament hosted by Jack Nicklaus, opened with a 73. Beginning play on the 10th tee, Woods had a very rough start with four bogeys, a double on the par-4 18th (his ninth hole) against two birdies to make the turn in 4-over 40. He rallied on his home half, however, with three birdies to get his final score down to 1-over.

"Physically, I feel good. Mentally, I feel beat up," Woods told reporters. "To turn that round around like I did today ... that was hard."

Woods added he's still looking for that elusive consistency which, in his prime, was a hallmark of his play. "I was just trying to stay committed to what we're working on, to what we're doing," the 14-time major winner noted.

"I hit it awful, yeah. So what? I was going to go through this phase and stick with it, keep sticking with it. And some of the shots I hit were really, really good. But then I also had some really bad shots, too. And we need to work on that."

The top-ranked player in the field, No. 2 Jordan Spieth, put together a 4-under 68 to head into Friday two strokes behind the co-leaders.
The winner of last week's AT&T Byron Nelson, Steven Bowditch, carded a 69.

For all the scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.