DUBLIN, Ohio — Tiger Woods got off to a slower start than he would have liked Thursday at the Memorial.
That had more do with a stopwatch than a scorecard.
Ryan Moore opened with five birdies in seven holes and never missed a fairway after the first one, posting a 7-under 65 for his best start in his 14th appearance at Muirfield Village. He was one shot ahead of Jordan Spieth, who chipped in for birdie, chipped in for par and holed a 35-foot eagle putt.
Woods made a pair of late birdies to salvage a 70 in his first round since missing the cut at the PGA Championship. He played his back nine in a foursome with Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose and a rules official in a cart timing them because they were so far out of position.
“We were on the clock most of the back nine,” Woods said. “That made things a little more complicated.”
Getting caught up wasn’t easy with various tee shots in water hazards, though it was obvious how far behind they were. Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas were in the group ahead of them, and McIlroy hit his tee shot on the par-4 second into a backyard. With no official nearby, he had to walk 300 yards back to the tee to hit again. That took time. Still, walking off the fourth green, the group of Woods, DeChambeau and Rose still had not reached the third tee.
DeChambeau, who considers such variables as air density and elevation change in his pre-shot routine, went over his allotted time on No. 5 and was given a warning for a bad time. He made birdie, took double bogey from a fairway bunker on the next hole and began his title defense with a 74.
He was frustrated by being on the clock, and by not getting through to the PGA Tour on how to measure pace of play.
“The time to hurry is in between shots. It’s not the shot,” DeChambeau said. “It’s timing how people walk. You have to add that to the equation. If you’ve got someone walking slow, they get up to the shot, take their 20 seconds. What’s the aggregate time for them to hit that shot in between shots? That’s really what matters. That’s what I believe. The total time it took me — if you were to take my process and walking time — is the exact time as everyone else.”
Golf still is measured by score, and Moore had the lowest on a rain-softened Muirfield Village. Only two of his seven birdies were longer than 10 feet, and the only time he came close to a bogey was on his opening hole, where he saved par with a 6-foot putt.
He was among 22 players who broke 70, and only 44 players broke par despite the soft conditions. Phil Mickelson, using two drivers this week to go after longer tee shots on a half-dozen holes, opened with a 70.
Higa of Japan shoots 65, lowest debut US Women’s Open round
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Looks like experience might not matter at the U.S. Women’s Open, at least not in Thursday’s opening round.
Japan’s Mamiko Higa shot the lowest round in an open debut with a bogey-free 6-under 65. She was a shot ahead of another first-timer in 20-year-old Esther Henseleit of Germany and 19-year-old American amateur Gina Kim, who played all of two rounds at last year’s event in missing the cut.
“This is maybe one of the top highest level (tournaments) I’ve played in,” the 25-year-old Higa said through an interpreter.
None of them appeared rattled by the moment.
Higa had birdies on three straight and five of her first 10 holes to go to 5-under par before most others got started. Henseleit, also bogey free, had two birdies over her final six holes. And Kim had an eagle and four birdies on her final eight holes.
“It feels amazing,” said Kim, who helped Duke win the women’s NCAA title earlier this month. “This is something I dreamed of as a little girl. So being able to finish out strong like that really shows I’m ready to be here.”
Higa tied for the third-lowest round in U.S. Women’s Open history. Helen Alfredsson holds the record with a 63 in the opening round in 1994.
Celine Boutier of France shot 67.
Haney suspended from SiriusXM show for women’s golf comment
NEW YORK — Swing coach Hank Haney has been suspended from the SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio channel because of saying on his show that a Korean would probably win the U.S. Women’s Open and that he couldn’t name six players on the LPGA Tour.
He then said he would go with “Lee” and if he didn’t have to mention a first name, “I’d get a bunch of them right.”
Haney, who coached Tiger Woods for six of his majors from 2004 to 2010, apologized on Twitter.
A statement from the PGA Tour and SiriusXM said the comments were insensitive and do not represent the views of either party. The statement says Haney has been suspended “at the PGA Tour’s instruction.” Haney says he accepts and suspension and apologized again.
