Fowler leads on record-setting day at U.S. Open

DUBLIN, Ohio – Rory McIlroy has a great rapport with tournament host Jack Nicklaus, whom he sees all the time at the Bear’s Club in South Florida. They have lunch, and talk golf and life. RELATED: Leaderboard | The Counsel of Jack Nicklaus As for the bond between world No. 8 McIlroy and Muirfield Village, host of this week’s Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, well… “Muirfield and I have had a bit of a complicated relationship,” McIlroy said this week, before opening with scores of 70-69 to reach 5 under par, two behind leader Denny McCarthy (69) as the afternoon wave teed off Friday. “It seemed to fit me quite well earlier in my career and then the last few years, I’ve sort of maybe struggled with the strategy of how to play it.” In 10 starts here, McIlroy has four top-10 finishes, but he also has two missed cuts, plus two other starts in which he made the cut but finished way, way back. He’s never won, or even had a close call. Still, he keeps coming back because it’s the Memorial. Also, he’s not terribly far off – here or anyplace else. McIlroy has finished second (Masters), fifth (Wells Fargo Championship) and eighth (PGA Championship) in his last three starts. And he’s embarking on a busy four-week stretch that will include not just the Memorial but a (2019) title defense, of sorts, at next week’s RBC Canadian Open and the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Boston the week after that. Then he’s off to the Travelers Championship. “I feel like my game is in good shape,” he said. “So I’m excited for this run and excited to give myself a few more chances to hopefully win golf tournaments.” For McIlroy, 14th in the FedExCup and seeking his first win since THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT last fall, Muirfield presents a special challenge, but not an insurmountable one. He can’t swing the driver with impunity, which means finding other ways to shine. “I feel like a lot of the fairways here pinch in around 310,” he said, “so it allows the sort of average hitters to hit driver. For an example, last year I played with Viktor Hovland the first two days, and the first hole, he can hit driver sort of right to where the bottleneck starts. I can’t hit driver because I’ll hit it too far but then I hit 3-wood, you know, 15 or 20 yards short of his driver. So I’m hitting 6-iron or 7-iron in and he’s hitting an 8-iron or a 9-iron in. “It just seems like the length advantage has sort of been nullified here over the last few years,” he continued. “It’s just finding a different way to play the golf course. A lot more 3-woods. I actually went to one of my old 3-woods this week that’s a lower lofted. It’s sort of like a 2-wood in a way which I think will be good to utilize this week.” That strategy seems to be paying off. Case in point, McIlroy hit a 269-yard fairway finder at the par-5 fifth hole Friday, then nuked a 271-yard 3-wood to within roughly six feet of the pin. He made the putt for eagle to reach 6 under par, only to hit his tee shot in the bunker and bogey the par-3 eighth, his second-to-last hole of the day, to leave a slightly bitter taste. “Yeah, another solid day’s play,” McIlroy said. “Couple of silly bogeys. Bogeyed the 11th par-5 and the 14th for the second day in a row. But I guess it sort of happens around here. It’s getting tricky and you’re going to make bogeys regardless of where they come. “Overall, two solid rounds of golf,” he continued, “right in contention going into the weekend, depending what guys do this afternoon. Yeah, happy with how everything is sort of going.”

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ATLANTA – Paul Casey’s plan from 248 yards away at the par-5 18th Friday at the TOUR Championship was to use 4-iron. Land it 234 yards and let it run toward the pin. A fan wearing a red shirt standing behind the green was a perfect aiming target. He then made his swing. Solid contact. Casey kept track of the ball flight. All good. “It couldn’t have been any better-looking,� he said. But after his ball one-hopped over the green into the primary rough, Casey wondered: Had caddie John McLaren given him the wrong yardage? McLaren – nicknamed Johnny Longsocks – put his hand over his mouth, biting his tongue. He had no words. Casey then looked down at his club and realized what happened. Casey had mistakenly pulled the 3-iron out of his bag instead of the 4. “Because, you know, we’re not playing for much this week and it’s not important,� Casey said later, laughing at himself. Related: Leaderboard | Who is most likely to win the TOUR Championship? | Rookie of the Year voters face interesting dilemma The Englishman ended up with par to finish with a 67 and a two-day total of 9 under in the new Starting Strokes format. That leaves him in solo fifth, just four shots off the lead heading into the weekend at East Lake, and gives him a great opportunity to make a run at his first FedExCup title. Of course, he hopes pulling the wrong club doesn’t come back to haunt him. “It’s all on me,� Casey said. “It’s 100 percent. I hold my head.� It’s not the first time it’s happened to the Englishman this year. He said there was one other tournament in which he pulled the 3 instead of the 4. There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation. “My 3-iron and 4-iron, they’re actually the same head,� Casey said. “One is bent stronger than the other. Clearly, I can’t tell the difference when I put them down. One’s got a little 4 on it, and the 3’s got nothing on it.� With his ball hanging slightly left on a downslope, he couldn’t tell the difference between the length and the lie. All he knew is that he thought the shot, once struck, was on target. “To hit what was not an easy long iron from 248 yards exactly at the gentleman I was aiming at in the red shirt,� Casey said, “I was pretty proud of myself.� Until he looked down his club. Whoops. “It’s criminal isn’t it?� Casey said to a group of reporters. “And you can have fun writing about it. “You’re welcome.�  

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Nearly every player who has made the Ryder Cup will insist that first tee shot is just different. But what do they mean? In their words, they tell you.

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