DUBLIN — Most of the PGA Tour players who’ve played in the Memorial the past few years must have been wondering if they were dreaming during an opening day that included warm sunshine, no winds and nearly three dozen rounds under par.
Time to wake up.
“It’s turned into the Muirfield that we all know and love,” Jerry Kelly said.
Kelly was among a handful of golfers who felt fortunate to shoot an even-par 72 Friday, as gusting winds up to 25 mph began pushing golf balls all over the Muirfield Village course.
Mathew Goggin, who led with a 7-under 65 after the opening round, matched Kelly’s 72 on Friday and held a share of the lead with Kenny Perry as only three of the 120 players in the field — Johnson Wagner with 67, Daniel Chopra with 68 and J.B. Holmes with 69 — managed to break 70.
It was a roller-coaster ride for Goggin, who took advantage of the lack of wind early in his round by netting birdies on four of his first five holes to move to 11 under.
But three consecutive bogeys pulled him back toward the field and a double bogey on the par-3 12th hole nearly wrecked his afternoon.
“The one bad shot was on 12 and that deserved to be a 5,” Goggin said. “But I made two birdies right after that were pretty satisfying.”
Goggin was in the clubhouse before 3 p.m. when many of the big names in the field were still on the course. With the winds expected to grow fiercer, golfers who teed off early seemed content with their rounds in the low 70s.
“I’ll take even par because it’s not going to get any easier this afternoon,” Goggin said. “If the winds continue during the weekend, even par over the next two days will be pretty sensational golf.”
Matt Kuchar, who is tied for fourth place at 4 under, was in the third group that teed off at No. 10 on Friday and laughed when asked what he thought about the winds that were just beginning to pick up as he was finishing his round.
“I’m glad I’ll be sitting in my hotel room,” he said.
Nick O’Hern, also in the fourth-place group at 4 under, admitted that he played his best golf during the first half of his round.
“During the front nine this morning, there wasn’t any (wind),” O’Hern said. “So I took advantage with a 4 under that nine.
“But breeze picked up on the back nine and I had a bit of trouble. They’re going to have a bit of fun out there this afternoon.”
Fun wasn’t a word many golfers were uttering after their rounds.
“It was very tough with the wind out there, but I scrambled very well when I was in trouble,” said Luke Donald, who shot 71 to stay two shots off the lead. “It seems this year we’ve had a lot of wind to deal with. It’s been very tough to get into a groove and get in rhythm.”
It got so bad that even the golfers couldn’t agree just how bad it was.
“The toughest thing was putting,” said Phil Mickelson, who shot a 3-over 75. “If you have a 50-foot putt the wind could cause it to break up to 5 feet and you have to take that in to consideration.”
“No, the greens really weren’t that bad,” Holmes said. “It was more the approach shots that were tough to hit. The wind was swirling so much you couldn’t judge your distance.”
The slew of high scores pushed the cut to 6 over — the highest at the Memorial since 1990 and the highest on the PGA Tour this season. Friday’s stroke average of 75.856 was also the highest on Tour this year.
“Without the wind, this is still a course you can score on,” said Justin Rose, who shot a 73 to finish at 3 under. “So someone could go out there and shoot 5, 6, 7 under again. I think it’s a really great golf course and today was just a really tough day.”
Let’s call it a nightmare.
Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com.

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