Tiger Woods began his pursuit of a sixth Memorial Tournament championship Thursday with opening-round 70 that left him 2-under at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
Woods has enjoyed much success at Jack’s Place in the past and appeared to be pleased overall with his performance. It is his first professional, competitive outing since his early exit from the PGA Championship. Woods missed the cut at +4 following 36 holes at Bethpage Black. He starting his first round with a double-bogey and never recovered.
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Thursday, Woods was 1-under after two holes Thursday after teeing off from No. 10 in a featured morning grouping with Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Rose. He was never worse than even the rest of the way.
Here is some of what Woods had to say after his round of 70 on Thursday:
On being put on the clock
“That was frustrating because we still had, what, the last eight holes while we were on the clock. With the conditions the way they are, the caddies are communicating and trying to leapfrog one another. They’re trying to help out. We’re trying to either tap out, or you know, take a while to mark a golf ball to help the other players. And so it’s, one of those things, it’s a group effort to try and get a into position. The group ahead of us, (Justin Thomas), he doesn’t take a lot of time, Rory (McIlroy) plays quick, and Jordan was, what, 7-under through (13) holes, so they’re obviously playing fast. And we were obviously not.”
On his overall performance
“It was close to being easily a few more under par . . . It was soft enough; it was gettable. And I just didn’t quite do it. I had a couple of loose irons. But look at the scores. They’re all getting after it today. I was close to being out there with them.”
On how rain is affecting the course
“The rough is brutal. They can’t get any mowers on it the rest of the week, obviously with the rain coming in. The fairways are soft. And you can be aggressive. The ball is not going to be anywhere. Bryson [DeChambeau] caught one mud ball today and so did Rosie [Justin Rose]. I was lucky I didn’t get any. I was clean for the day. And the way the golf course is playing right now, every iron shot is going to stick right there.”
