Signature Scroll: Scottie Scheffler stunned, Tommy Fleetwood flying at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday

There were multiple 67s, an 83 and a frustrated world No. 1. Only one of those was surprising. ...

Recapping Round 1 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday

A morning with Tommy Fleetwood

DUBLIN, Ohio – Sometimes the golfing gods grace you with a bit of luck, as they did for me on Thursday.

Deciding who to follow during the opening round of a tournament is always a roll of the dice. The potential machinations of the leaderboard are endless, and it often seems there are more wrong choices than right ones. Sometimes a particular story tantalizes you, but other days you look down the tee sheet and see half a dozen pairings that would suffice.

Thursday was the latter. There was no particular reason for it, but I found myself on Muirfield Village’s first tee ready to embark with Tommy Fleetwood and Cameron Young.

It was a good call. The best walks are the unexpected ones.

Watching Fleetwood experience Muirfield Village was a treat. His round defined the test players face this week, both in how simple it can look when your game is on and the stress it puts you under when it is not.

The Englishman’s front nine was serene. He hit perfect approaches into the first and third holes for two early birdies. When he did find trouble, he scrambled beautifully, nearly holing a bunker shot at the second, then hitting a saucy, delicate chip at the sixth that made the media member I was walking with babble in joy. He spun another wedge close on the ninth for a final birdie and a front side 4-under 32. If Young hadn’t labored to a 1-over 37 beside Fleetwood, I would’ve wondered what all the hype is about for this supposedly vaunted test.

Then came the back nine. Fleetwood’s approach play evaded in crucial moments, and suddenly the stern test the rest of the field was struggling on grabbed ahold of Fleetwood. He stayed bogey-free but expended tons of energy working his way out of jams on the 10th, 12th, 16th and 18th holes with crucial par saves. The stressful conclusion left such a mark that it was hard to tell based on Fleetwood’s body language that he finished with a 67.

“Still shot 5-under, so it couldn't have been that bad,” Fleetwood said, reasoning with himself in real time.

For as steady as Fleetwood typically is, it was a welcome experience to see him labor to the finish and emerge unscathed. It was a rollercoaster viewing, yet somehow he was the only player who went bogey-free.

“It demands everything,” he continued. “I think it demands you to hit multiple different tee shots, different shapes, different shots. And then the same with approach play. I think the margins are so small and the misses are so small it just puts such a premium on your ball control, and then you don't have to hit a terribly poor shot to be in a really tough spot … it's just like one of those ultimate tests.”

Fleetwood passed the test with flying colors. I was lucky to see it.

Playing through

• 📺 Catch up on Round 1 highlights...
• 3️⃣ Scottie Scheffler is going for a three-peat this year. How often does it happen? Here’s the answer ...
• 📊 Fleetwood is joined by J.J. Spaun, Wyndham Clark and Ryan Gerard on the top of the board after Thursday. Read how the rest of the day played out ...

'I don't know what to do'

Scottie Scheffler stood baffled, hat askew, staring at his biggest mistake of the day.

Scheffler had not enjoyed his round to that point, even par through 15 holes, but he had avoided disaster. ‘Had’ being the operative word. Now it was here. Scheffler and caddie Ted Scott judged the wind wrong. What the world No. 1 thought was a flushed 7-iron bound for the green stood up in the wind and fell limply into the water.

Scheffler stood frozen on the tee box, exasperated at the day’s frustrating culmination. Broadcast microphones picked up the rest.

“I never thought that was in the water,” Scheffler said. “I don’t know what to do.”

These situations are commonplace at Muirfield Village for everyone but Scheffler, the back-to-back champion going for the three-peat this week. But finally, Jack’s place was leaving its mark on its conqueror. He hit his shot from the drop zone to 10 feet, but missed the putt and made double bogey.

“I don’t think you understand how frustrating that is,” Scheffler continued, “like that was a good shot. It really was.”

It was that type of afternoon at Muirfield Village. Low scores were available in the morning, but the wind strengthened as the day progressed, stifling the afternoon wave. Scheffler was the course’s loudest victory. He shot 1-over, six shots back from the co-leaders.

"All I can do is compete with kind of the hand I've been given," Scheffler said after, "and teeing off last on this golf course is challenging."

Parting shots

• 😱 Muirfield Village is scorable, but it is also a nightmare if you’re off your game. Alex Smalley learned the hard way. He made three double bogeys and was hampered time and time again by the difficult green surrounds en route to an 11-over 83. He lost more than four strokes just with his short game.
• 🗣 Ryan Gerard continues to grow into one of my favorite players to chat golf with. He was great today after shooting 5-under. He said he's worked with a sports psychologist, and they want to up his aggression early in tournaments. "The mindset has shifted a little bit in the first round of someone's going to go out and shoot 5-, 6-, 7-under, you might as well be that guy to go out and chase it a little bit."
• 😉 Rory McIlroy was largely pleased with his performance, especially given how it started. McIlroy made a double bogey at the third hole but worked his way back to 1-under at day’s end. McIlroy quipped post-round that he’s won plenty of tournaments while making a few double bogeys. Famously, McIlroy made four doubles and still won the 2025 Masters.
• ⁉️ I’ll admit, I didn’t see any of Ryan Fox's round in person, and only three of his shots made it onto PGA TOUR LIVE. That’s a shame, because based on the stats, we all missed a heck of a ride. Fox shot 2-under despite hitting the fewest fairways (four) in the field. You’re not supposed to be able to survive that here. Yet Fox managed to rank fifth in average proximity to the hole with his approach shots, a crazy iron-play performance given the penalty of the rough.
• ❌ Early overreactions to Justin Rose's equipment change look to be an overreaction. He struck the ball fantastically at the PGA Championship and is off to another great start this week, 3-under overall.