Notebook: the Memorial tournament, Round 1

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DUBLIN, Ohio -- Luke Donald captured the first-round lead at the Memorial Tournament with a season-best, 8-under 64, equaling the best opening round in tournament history (Charles Howell III in 2003 and Curt Byrum in 1987).

Donald bettered his previous best score at Muirfield Village Golf Club by four strokes (a 68 in Round 3 in 2008). The sub-70 round on Thursday is just his third in 19 attempts at the Memorial.

Donald's previous best rounds in 2009 were 65s posted at the FBR Open (Round 2), Verizon Heritage (Round 3) and last week's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (Round 2).

Donald's round was highlighted by six consecutive birdies on Nos. 8-13, one shy of the Memorial record of seven in a row, set by Mark Wilson on Nos. 3-9 during the third round in 2007. Ryuji Imada and Brian Davis have the season's best streaks with seven in a row at the SBS Championship and the 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer, respectively. After posting six birdies in a row, Donald then parred the par-4 14th before rattling off birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to give him eight in a nine-hole stretch.

The key to Donald's round? He recorded a tournament-best 20 putts, including 12 one-putt greens. A two-putt for par on the 18th hole snapped a string of nine consecutive one-putt greens for Donald. He currently leads the TOUR with a 1.696 putting average in 2009.

Donald has now held the lead or co-lead after 18 holes in a TOUR event four times. The others came at the 2006 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where he tied for seventh; the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii, where he tied for second; and the 2008 Honda Classic where he came in solo second.

Donald, a two-time PGA TOUR winner, is making his sixth career start at Muirfield Village Golf Club, with four made cuts and his lone top-10 finish coming a year ago (tie for sixth). Donald earned his first invitation to the Memorial in 2000 (tying for 51st as an amateur) as a result of winning 1999 Jack Nicklaus Award, given annually to the nation's top collegiate golfer.

Currently No. 24 on the FedExCup points list, Donald is making his 12th start of the season. Despite not winning, he has been solid all year, with eight top-25 finishes among his previous 11 starts. A runner-up finish at the Verizon Heritage was his best showing among four top-10 finishes.

The 31-year-old Englishman is seeking to become just the seventh international-born player to win the Memorial Tournament over the 34-year history of the event. The list includes: K.J. Choi (South Korea, 2007), Carl Pettersson (Sweden, 2006), Ernie Els (South Africa, 2004), Vijay Singh (Fiji, 1997), Greg Norman (Australia, 1990, 1995) and David Graham (Australia, 1980).

The only player in the Memorial Tournament's history to lead after the first round and go on to win the event was Ernie Els in 2004 (68-70-66-66 -- 270). The tournament has never had a wire-to-wire winner.

The first-round leader or co-leader has gone on to win just five of 22 stroke-play events on TOUR this year, most recently by Phil Mickelson at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship. Last year, nine of 46 first-round leaders/co-leaders won.

Three-time Memorial Tournament champion Tiger Woods (69) hit 13 of 14 fairways in regulation on Thursday, with his only miss coming on No. 18. The last time Woods hit every fairway in regulation was during the second round of the 2003 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.

Mike Weir's 3-under 69 represents the first time he has posted a sub-70 opening round in 10 starts at the Memorial Tournament. Weir has three top-four finishes at Muirfield Village (tie for second in 2008, third in 2003, fourth in 2000).

The 2002 champion, Jim Furyk, is making his 400th career start on TOUR this week and opened with a 5-under 67 -- his best opening round in 14 appearances at the Memorial Tournament. The 13-time TOUR winner's best score in 52 rounds at Muirfield Village Golf Club is an 8-under 64, carded during the third round in 2005 when he tied for eighth.

Steve Marino (68) posted his ninth consecutive round in the 60s on Thursday, the best current streak on TOUR. Marino's sub-70 streak began in Dallas, leading to a tie for 16th at the HP Byron Nelson Championship and playoff loss at the Crowne Plaza Championship at Colonial.

Steve Stricker, winner of last week's Crowne Plaza Invitational, opened with a 2-under 70.

Three former Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are currently inside the top 10, including Stewart Cink (68), Troy Matteson (69) and Nicholas Thompson (69). Cink is making his 14th consecutive start at the Memorial; a fourth-place finish in 2001 is his best showing. Matteson and Thompson both missed the cut in their first appearances a year ago.

Another Georgia Tech standout, David Duval, opened with a 1-under 71. Duval is making his 12th start at the Memorial, with five top-four finishes (a tie for second in 1995, a solo second in 1996, a solo third in 1998, a tie for third in 2000 and a tie for fourth in 2002).

Three-time Memorial champion Kenny Perry (72) is seeking his 16th consecutive made cut at the Memorial, which would tie him for second with Hale Irwin. Scott Hoch leads the list with 17 consecutive made cuts from 1981-97.

Nine past champions of the Memorial are competing this week, including Kenny Perry (1991, 2003, 2008), K.J. Choi (2007), Carl Pettersson (2006), Bart Bryant (2005), Ernie Els (2004), Jim Furyk (2002), Tiger Woods (1999-2001), Vijay Singh (1997) and Tom Lehman (1994). Of that group, Furyk had the best start with a 5-under 67.

Brian Davis's streak of 24 consecutive rounds at par or better came to an end with a 6-over 78. His last over-par round prior to Thursday was a 3-over 74 during the second round of the 2009 Verizon Heritage. The current, best par-or-better streak belongs to Greg Chalmers and Tim Clark, with nine consecutive. Matt Kuchar (73), Scott McCarron (74) and Vijay Singh (75) failed in their attempt to post their 10th consecutive rounds of par or better on Thursday.

Amateur Reinier Saxton opened with a 3-under 69, equaling the best round by an amateur at the Memorial Tournament (Bobby Clampett, third round, 1980). The 2008 British Amateur champion is seeking to post the best finish by an amateur at the event (T51 by Donald in 2000).

Matteson (69) posted the only bogey-free round on Thursday.

The par-4 18th played the toughest on Thursday, yielding a 4.45 average and just nine birdies. The par-5 seventh and 15th holes played the easiest at 4.742.