DUBLIN, Ohio – Adam Hadwin had too many birdies to complain about ending his round at the Memorial on a sour note Thursday. His 6-under 66 was enough to lead Masters champion Scottie Scheffler by one and give the Canadian hope that he is turning the corner at the right time.
Hadwin was one of the few to conquer a Muirfield Village course that was soft from the rain, but no less tough. By the end of the first round, he birdied four of the five holes – after four birdies on the front nine – until missing a six-foot par putt on the tricky 18th.
It was more of the same for Scheffler and PGA champion Xander Schauffele.
Scheffler opened with two birdies in four holes — he missed birdie opportunities from 6 feet and 8 feet on the other two — and was humming along until a large clump of mud slowed him down on the par-5 fifth hole and led to a bogey.
Schauffele returned for the first time since winning his first major at the PGA Championship. His game felt messy from tee to green. His round was saved by his putter. Schauffele somehow managed to get right into the mix with a bogey-free 68.
“I’m going to go to the range and get to the middle of the clubface a little bit more, find some more fairways and greens,” he said. “I’m happy. I’m happy with how I kept going and I’m very happy that my short game saved me on a day that could have been much worse.”
Corey Conners, Collin Morikawa and Ludvig Åberg were also at 68, including defending champion Viktor Hovland at 69.
Hadwin and Conners are fresh off the Canadian Open, and it’s an important time of year, with just two weeks until the 60-man field for the Olympics is finalized. Each country gets two players (maximum four if they are in the top 15).
Hadwin hasn’t finished in the top 40 since late March and his world ranking has fallen from No. 44 to No. 59.
Conners is ranked at No. 45, while Taylor Pendrith and Mackenzie Hughes are right behind him at Nos. 64 and 65 (Phoenix Open winner Nick Taylor has the top spot sewn up).
“Over the last month, I’ve probably been playing my way…not out of the conversation, but definitely out of a good position to be in,” Hadwin said. “So coming into this week I know the questions are always going to be there, but I think this week in particular it was really important for me to get into the process.”
Scheffler has been working on this process forever. He is already a four-time winner this year, including another Masters title. He never seems to miss a shot.
But after splitting the middle of the fairway on the 535-yard fifth hole, Scheffler looked down and saw a large clump of mud at the top and right of his golf ball. It was enough to make him consider laying down, except there’s a creek running through the middle toward the green, and he had no idea which direction the ball was going with that much mud on it.
“In retrospect, maybe I could have aimed it in the middle of the creek and seen where it would have gone and maybe it would have ended up in one of the fairways,” he said. “But at the time it didn’t really seem like a good idea.”
So he went to the green and watched it fly 200 feet to the left of where he wanted – left of the green, left of the water, left of a red hazard line that rarely ends up in a hillside game.
He cut from tall grass back over the water and over the green, leaving a chip on a tight pin and a green running away from him. He subtly took that to the edge and made bogey on the easiest hole of the day.
The rest of the round was solid, as usual, ending with a one-foot approach to the 18th, which played as the toughest hole of the opening round.
Schauffele was bogey-free and he’s not sure how. His biggest fear also came in fifth place with a mudball of his own. This sailed straight towards him into a bunker, requiring a shot over another bunker to a tight pin. The sand was wet, Schauffele caught too much ball and saw it disappear over the green. More water awaits there.
“When the ball was in the air, I closed my eyes,” he said. “I wouldn’t call myself religious, but I hoped it would work out.”
He came up short and managed to get up and down for par by making an 8-foot putt. He took care of the remaining par 5s with birdies, added another with a 30-foot putt on the par-3 fourth and was only slightly upset by missing an 8-foot birdie opportunity at the end.
“If I hadn’t made some of the putts I needed today, it probably would have been a 2 over, or worse,” Schauffele said.
Only 25 players from the 73-strong field managed to break par, a group that also included Rory McIlroy on 70, and that was with four birdies on his last six holes.
