Soft greens won't last at Memorial Tournament, but players aren't concerned

DUBLIN, Ohio – With the wind down and the course a tad soft, Jack Nicklaus' Muirfield Village Golf Club was vulnerable in Thursday's opening round of The Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide.

Red numbers lit up the white scoreboards and a plethora of signed scorecards with rounds in the 60s were turned in. Bo Van Pelt and defending champion Hideki Matsuyama took the lead with matching 64s, with Jason Dufner and Russell Knox sitting two shots back at 66. In all, 31 players broke 70, establishing a new tournament record for first-round play.

The field averaged 71.30, bettered only once for play in the first round in the 40 playings of the event. Only 36 players in the field of 120 failed to match or break par, including Tiger Woods, who shot 73 in his first action in a month.

But by no means have the players gained a false sense of security, for they know the Golden Bear's track and all its sharp edges and penalizing greens won't stay in hibernation for long. Especially with an improving forecast where the chances for thunderstorms each of the next three rounds is dropping with each update, meaning heat and sun will firm the place up.

Especially the greens.

"The greens are very Augusta like, with how undulating they are and how fast they are. Even though they're pretty soft right now, I'm sure they will firm up over the weekend," Harris English said after a 67. "And they're really quick. You have to be very careful with some of your putts that you don't run four, five, six feet by, because those putts are tough."

The tougher the better, Masters champion Jordan Spieth said after a 68.

"The only greens that we play faster than these is Augusta, the Masters. I enjoy trying to see more lines, kind of use more of an imagination on the greens and around the greens. I feel like it's an advantage of mine," Spieth said. "I just feel comfortable, I don't really know why. I feel comfortable playing more break on shorter putts when you have to instead of trying to just hit them straight and hammer them."

Spieth is making his fourth Memorial start, and the experience he's gathered in the past should come in handy in the future.

"I'm starting to realize where to stay patient and where to really try and take advantage," Spieth said. "The first couple of times I played it, I was maybe a little too cautious and I had some opportunities to fire at some pins and maybe backed off of those. And today I took advantage of that when I had the chances. And you know sometimes when you do that, you make a mistake or two, and you've just got to get up and down. If you stay below the hole, I think you're going to do OK."