Though he finished his round at the Memorial on a negative note on Thursday, Adam Hadwin made too many birdies to be upset. The Canadian has faith that he is turning the corner at the right moment after his 6-under 66 finish, which was good enough to put him one shot ahead of Masters winner Scottie Scheffler.
Hadwin was one of the few players to master the Muirfield Village Golf Club’s course, which was forgiving despite the recent rain. After four birdies on the front nine, he missed a five-foot par putt on the difficult 18th hole, but he still birdied four of the next five holes at the finish of the first round.
It was more of the same for Scheffler and PGA winner Xander Schauffele.
After making two birdies on the first four holes, Scheffler missed two more birdie opportunities from six and eight feet out. He was playing well until a large clump of muck slowed him down on the fifth par-5 hole, which resulted in bogey.
For the first time since winning his maiden major at the PGA Championship, Schauffele was back. From the tee to the green, his game felt rough. His putter had rescued his round.Schauffele managed to enter the mix with a brilliant 68, devoid of any bogeys.
“I’m heading to the range to hit some more balls in the middle of the clubface and locate some more fairways and greens. I’m content. I’m pleased with how I persevered and even more pleased that my short game saved me on a day that could have turned out much worse.”he said.
Ludvig Åberg, Corey Conners, and Collin Morikawa were all at 68, while Viktor Hovland, the reigning champion, was among those at 69.
With just two weeks remaining before the final 60-man Olympic field is announced, Hadwin and Conners are coming off a successful RBC Canadian Open. Two players are allotted to each nation (up to four if they place in the top 15).
Hadwin’s global rating fell from No. 44 to No. 59, and he hasn’t been in the top 40 since late March.
At No. 45, Conners is followed closely by Taylor Pendrith and Mackenzie Hughes, who are ranked Nos. 64 and 65 respectively (WM Phoenix Open champion Nick Taylor having the lead all to himself).
“I’ve probably played my way out of a strong position over the past month, if not out of the conversation. I know there will always be questions, so heading into this week, I wasn’t surprised that it was crucial for me in particular to start the process.”Hadwin said.
The procedure of Scheffler seemed to have taken an eternity. This year, he has already won four times, including another Masters championship. It looks like he never misses a shot.
On the fifth hole, which is 535 yards long, Scheffler split the center of the fairway, but as he glanced down, he noticed a big clump of muck on top of and to the right of his golf ball. There was enough muck on it to make him think about laying up, but there’s a creek that runs down the center toward the green, and he couldn’t tell which way the ball was heading.
“In retrospect, I should have shot it down the center of the stream to see where it would have gone; perhaps it would have ended up in one of the fairways. However, that didn’t seem like a very smart idea at the moment.”he said.
He took aim at the green and saw it fly sixty yards to the left of the green, left of the river, and left of a red danger line that is seldom encountered in a play on a hill.
He left a chip to a tight pin and a green that was racing away from him as he hacked out of thick grass back across the lake and over the green. With finesse, he brought it to the edge but finally made bogey on the day’s easiest hole.
The remainder of the round went well, as expected, culminating with an approach to a foot on the eighteenth hole, which proved to be the most difficult of the first round.
Schauffele is unsure of how he managed to avoid bogeys. With his own dirt ball, he gave himself the biggest fright of the game at the fifth. This flew straight toward him and into a bunker, necessitating a shot to a tight pin over another bunker. Schauffele grabbed too much ball on the damp sand and watched it go over the green. There’s more water there.
“I closed my eyes while the ball was in the air. Though I wouldn’t describe myself as religious, I was hopeful everything would work out.”he said.
He missed the green by a bit, but he made an 8-foot putt to get up and down for par. He birdied the next par-5 holes, added another with a 30-foot putt on the fourth par-3, and was only somewhat bothered by his 8-foot birdie putt that ended the round.
“It would have likely been a two-over score today if I hadn’t made some of the putts that I needed to.”Schauffele said.
Out of the 73 players, only 25 players (including Rory McIlroy, who shot 70) broke par, and even then, he had four birdies on his final six holes.
