Jeff Maggert and John Merrick fired four-under-par 66s on Thursday to share the lead at the St Jude Classic, with US Open champion Rory McIlroy and India’s Arjun Atwal hot on their heels.
The US duo had a one-stroke lead over Atwal, the US’ J.J. Henry and Jeff Overton and South Korean Noh Seung-yul, with McIlroy, Ireland’s Padraig Harrington and Australian Robert Allenby among those two strokes adrift on 68.
A week before the start of his US Open title defense, Northern Ireland’s McIlroy began off the 10th tee, birdied the par-4 12th and par-3 14th and birdied the first and sixth holes, only to suffer bogeys on three and eight.
Photos: AFP
“I felt like that was about the best round of golf I played in a while,” McIlroy said. “It could have been a lot better. The scoring doesn’t look too good. Off to a decent start, definitely so. Lot of good signs out there.”
World No. 2 McIlroy will play alongside English pair Luke Donald, the world No. 1, and third-ranked Lee Westwood in the first round of the US Open at The Olympic Club on Thursday next week.
Atwal opened with back-to-back birdies and birdied the fifth before a bogey at the seventh. He birdied again at 15, only to take a bogey at the 17th and closed with another birdie to pull within a stroke of the leaders.
Noh birdied two of his first three holes after starting on the back nine, then birdied three in a row after the turn to put himself one off the lead.
Harrington, also a 10th-tee starter, birdied the 12th and the TPC Southwind’s two par-5 holes, the 16th and third, before a bogey at the par-3 fourth dropped him back to 68.
“I thought the scoring would be a little bit better. I’m trying to figure out why it wasn’t,” Harrington said. “It was windy from early on. I got distracted a number of times with the wind. There’s room for improvement the next couple of days.”
Merrick, who also did not play a practice round, birdied three of the first four holes before taking a bogey at the seventh, added back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th holes and another at the 16th before closing with a bogey.
“It was nice to get off to a decent start,” Merrick said. “Had a loose shot there on 18, but you can’t hit every shot perfect out there. So I was really happy.”
However, he is not looking ahead too far.
“You don’t start thinking about leading or winning the tournament until back-nine on Sunday,” Merrick said. “You’re just trying to do the best you can on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. You don’t want to think about winning until the last hole or last shot. You’re a long ways from thinking about winning,” he added.
Maggert, the 2006 St Jude winner, began on the back nine and birdied the 12th, ran off three birdies in a row starting at the par-3 14th, and eagled the third to seize command before bogeys at the fifth and eighth.
Maggert underwent shoulder surgery last June, but has recovered to 100 percent as he enjoys a 22nd PGA season.
NORDEA MASTERS
AFP, STOCKHOLM
Lee Westwood went on a birdie blitz to move closer to a third Nordea Masters title on Thursday with a second-round 64, putting the Englishman three shots clear of the field.
Westwood followed up his first-round 68 by hitting eight birdies to move to 12 under par, ahead of a chasing trio of Scotland’s Lloyd Saltman, Spaniard Carlos Del Moral and Swede Peter Hanson.
The Nordea Masters provided Westwood with his first European Tour victory in 1996 and he also won the event in 2000.
Saltman, ranked 512th in the world, also carded a 64, including an albatross on the par five 12th.
Hanson, the 2008 winner, had a double bogey at the 11th, but recovered with three birdies in his next four holes.
Spaniard Sergio Garcia threatened briefly, but he found water at the par five 13th and made 69 to finish the day six under.
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