DUBLIN, Ohio – Tiger Woods had trouble finding his best rhythm after his group was put on the clock in the opening round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. The 81-time PGA TOUR winner and five-time winner at Muirfield Village still scratched out a 2-under 70, five back of Ryan Moore’s early 65. But he took heart in the knowledge that last time he won the event, in 2012, he also opened with a 70. RELATED: Watch PGA TOUR LIVE | Leaderboard | Tee times | Featured Groups | Chasing 82 The trio of Woods, FedExCup reigning champion Justin Rose and defending Memorial Tournament champion Bryson DeChambeau were officially put on the clock with eight holes to go in their round. But they’d been chasing from the start after all three needed to take time scrambling for pars on the 10th hole, their first of the day, and Rose made a tough double bogey on the par-5 11th right after. “That was frustrating, because we still had the last eight holes we were on the clock. (So) I did have to speed up,â€� Woods said. “We walked quicker. We got to the ball, slowed it back down trying to get in our natural rhythm.â€� While Woods said the trio tried all the little tricks to get back in position, DeChambeau was assessed a bad time on the par-5 fifth hole, meaning another could have resulted in a penalty. “It’s one of those things where we’re trying to get back in position, but unfortunately the way things work sometimes … when we tried to speed up and tried to get back into it, we kept making mistakes to not allow ourselves to catch up with the group ahead of us,â€� Woods said. “The group ahead of us, JT (Justin Thomas) doesn’t take a lot of time, Rory (McIlroy) plays quick, and Jordan (Spieth) was 7-under through 13 holes. So they’re obviously playing fast. And we were obviously not.â€� All the same, Woods was able to card two birdies in his last three holes to rescue what had been a pedestrian round. Woods was decent off the tee, hitting 11 of 14 fairways, but then hit just 10 of 18 greens. “It was close to being easily a few more under par. It was soft enough; it was gettable. And I just didn’t quite do it,â€� Woods lamented. “I had a couple loose irons. But look at the scores, they’re all getting after it today. I was close to being out there with them. “I just need to not make a couple loose mistakes like I did today, and it could have easily turned and shot 5- or 6-under par today.â€�
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