Dublin, OH (Best E Casino) - Australian Mathew Goggin birdied four of his last six holes Thursday to fire a seven-under 65 and take the first-round lead at The Memorial.
Two-time Memorial champion Kenny Perry and Jerry Kelly are knotted in second place at minus-six, followed by Brett Quigley and last week's Colonial runner- up Rod Pampling, who share fourth at five-under 67.
Phil Mickelson, fresh off his wonderful approach at the 72nd hole en route to victory at Colonial Sunday, shot an even-par 72 on Thursday and is tied for 36th place.
"I knew today was going to be the tough day for me because I didn't have a great three days heading in," admitted Mickelson. "I was kind of tired and didn't get a chance to rest and get ready."
Sergio Garcia, making his first start on the PGA Tour since his win at The Players Championship, double-bogeyed his final hole to join playing partner Mickelson at 72.
"It's just unfortunately that double on the last, after all the work I did, that didn't feel that good," said the Spaniard.
Goggin started on the back nine at Muirfield Village Golf Club. He birdied the 11th and 12th hole, but dropped a shot at the par-four 13th. He made up the lost stroke with a birdie at 14 and made the turn at three-under thanks to a birdie at 18.
Goggin, whose best PGA Tour finish was a tie for second at the Western Open in 2006, parred his first three holes on the second nine. He caught fire on the back nine when he holed out from a bunker for birdie at the par-three fourth.
At the par-five fifth, Goggin sank a 10-footer to get within one of first place at the time. He parred No. 6, but took advantage of the next par-five hole.
Goggin gave himself a 12-foot look at birdie at the seventh. He converted that birdie effort and moved into first with a 16-footer at the eighth.
Goggin drove into the left rough at nine and could not land on the green with his second. He did not even find the putting surface with his third, but holed a 14-footer from off the green to keep the first-round lead.
"The first 10 holes I played pure," said Goggin. "And it's actually the last six holes where I didn't play so well. So it was one of those bizarre days where I didn't drop any shots coming in with the poorly played holes."
Perry broke into red figures with a birdie at the second, but fell back to even-par for the championship thanks to a missed fairway and a bogey at the fifth.
He corrected his problem with fairways at the very next hole and it led to birdie. Perry also birdied the seventh, but closed his front nine with a bogey when he missed the short grass off the tee at nine.
Perry parred the 10th, then caught a run that vaulted him to the top spot on the leaderboard. He tapped in a short birdie putt at 11, but missed the green at the par-three 12th. Perry chipped in for birdie from 15 feet to get to three-under.
"I wasn't far from the hole. It wasn't a hard chip," acknowledged Perry.
Perry didn't need the putter on 12, but it came in handy on the next three holes. He drained three straight birdie putts, all from over 20 feet to birdie five in a row. Perry polished off his sixth birdie in a row at 16 to suddenly have the lead at minus-seven.
"You don't usually make six birdies in a row on any Tour event," said Perry, who bogeyed 18. "That was probably a first for me. I don't know if I've ever done that in my 22 years out here."
Kelly, who played with Goggin on Thursday, tallied five birdies and two bogeys through his first 13 holes. He rattled off back-to-back birdies at six and seven to get to five-under par.
At the ninth, Kelly rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt to get into a share of second.
Justin Rose, Luke Donald, Matt Kuchar, Nick Watney and 2006 Memorial winner Carl Pettersson share sixth place at four-under 68.
