DUBLIN, Ohio – Luke Donald hopes his first round at the Memorial Tournament was his worst.
Despite hitting just 11 greens in regulation, the current world No. 1 shot 1-under 71 at Muirfield Village.
"I didn't hit the ball well. I was scrambling a lot,” he said. "Hopefully that's my loose round of the (tournament).”
Most of the time, Donald managed to make the putts he needed for par, totaling 27 on Thursday. Only one hole kept Donald from a clean scorecard.
Grouped with Rory McIlroy and Keegan Bradley, Donald joined his major-champion partners in finding one of the many water hazards here. Donald pulled his tee shot left at No. 18, his ninth hole of the round, to lead to a double-bogey 6.
The winner a week ago at the BMW PGA Championship, Donald said he needs to tidy up his game to face Jack Nicklaus' tricky test.
"You've just got to be on your game the whole way around," he said.
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