Dublin, Ohio— Erik Compton considers the Memorial a special week no matter how he plays, knowing his second heart transplant came from a donor in Ohio.
The opening round was even sweeter with three birdies on the back nine late Thursday afternoon at Muirfield Village for a 5-under 67, leaving him one-shot out of the lead after a day that featured a timely rally by Rory McIlroy and surprising departures by Phil Mickelson and Tom Gillis.
When the day ended, Scott Stalling was atop the leaderboard with a first-round 66 — and hardly anyone noticed.
It could have been another bad week for McIlroy, who lost the world No. 1 ranking last week, but he recovered from a quadruple bogey on his third hole to shoot 71.
Tiger Woods, playing in the group behind him, chopped up the 18th hole for a double bogey and shot a 2-under 70.
"I didn't do anything great and I didn't do anything poorly," Woods said. "I was just very consistent. And I think with the golf course being the way it's set up, you just have to be that way. ...
"Over the next three days, hopefully I can play as well as I did today."
Mickelson wasn't anywhere near those scores, and when his round ended, he was nowhere near the golf course. Mickelson walked out of the scoring hut after signing for a 79 — his worst score ever at the Memorial — and said he was withdrawing because of mental fatigue.
He said playing three straight weeks, followed by a trip to Europe for his wife's 40th birthday, took too much out of him and he needed extra rest with the U.S. Open only two weeks away.
Gillis (Lake Orion) withdrew after he signed for a 9-over 38-43—81. He sat at 1-under after six holes, but played out the string in 10-over and had seven bogeys and a triple.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120601/SPORTS04/206010338#ixzz1wXuFEBc6
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