Ryan Moore leads the way at Memorial Tournament

Doug Mattushek

Ryan Moore enjoyed a flawless start to lead the field by one stroke at the Memorial Tournament on Thursday.

The American signed for a bogey-free seven under 65 around Muirfield Village, enough for a one stroke lead over Jordan Spieth, while a host of contenders are a further shot back on five under.

Moore was off to a fast start amongst this weeks’ high quality field, rolling in birdies on five out of his opening seven holes. The 36-year-old gained two more shots coming home and left the final green grinning from ear to ear.

Part of the reason for that grin was his hot putter that drained 16 out of 16 putts from inside ten feet on Thursday. It’s a big deal for the Tacoma native, given he’s ranked 156th for putts made inside ten feet on the PGA Tour.

“I’ve had two kind of really good finishes, and then a bunch of very moderate golf up around that, so I’d like to make it a little bit more consistent,” Moore told the press.

“I’m a guy that can be up there, like top fives and top tens, and either I’ve had it or haven’t had it this year, which is a little unusual for me.

“I kind of have to figure it out… but it’s really putting consistency. I feel like I’ve been controlling the golf ball nicely all year… and I’ve had an opportunity to shoot a score every day, but I don’t make the putts that keep the momentum going. A lot of those have been lipping out.”

One stroke behind is Spieth, who’s 66 included some incredible scrambling, where he chipped in twice and dropped a 35-foot monster putt for eagle on the par five fifth.

“It was okay,” said the humble Texan after his round.

“Some more work to do on it. I missed three greens with wedges and plugged one in a bunker with a punch 8-iron. So I had four opportunities, ended up off the green on all of them.”

Further down the leaderboard, Martin Kaymer and Anirban Lahiri are part of a group locked in T3 at five under, while Tiger Woods fired a two under 70.