Mathew Goggin takes first-round lead at Jack Nicklaus' Memorial at Muirfield Village

From WorldGolf.com News Services

Mathew Goggin's first official PGA Tour tournament round at Muirfield Village Golf Course was a memorable one.

Goggin took just nine putts on the back nine as he posted a 7-under-par 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Kenny Perry and Jerry Kelly Thursday after first-round play of the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio. It was a round that was certainly more memorable than the first time he played the course in a much less official capacity.

"My first experience of playing Muirfield, I was staying with some friends and it was my birthday and we got so drunk we were going to go play the course the next day and I was all fired up," Goggin told reporters. "I was playing the Nike Tour and I didn't get to play at Muirfield, but we had a big night and I think it was like eight holes - I had such a bad hangover we decided to pull the pin and get out of the sun."

That forgettable outing took place in 1999 when Goggin was staying with Gary Nicklaus - son of Memorial host and golf legend Jack Nicklaus. Goggin joked that the younger Nicklaus was a "bad influence" and said the Golden Bear probably didn't know about his aborted round at Muirfield Village.

"He will now," Goggin said. "I better play well the next three days now, once he sees that."

Goggin's opening round will be difficult to match as he made eight birdies against one bogey. He had four birdies on each side, holing out from off the green twice on the back nine.

Interestingly, Goggin said he was able to keep his round together late, despite not playing well.

"The first 10 holes I played pure," Goggin said. "I really hit the ball great 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 and sort of got away with it."

The extremely slick greens obviously didn't bother Goggin. The Australian said they reminded him of the greens back in his home country.

"With playing in Australia, we play on really fast greens, but to say normally to have nine putts in nine holes would probably be inaccurate," Goggin said. "It's not unusual for an Australian Open or an Australian Masters to putt on greens this quick."

Perry and Kelly both shot 6-under 66 to tie for second place after round one. Brett Quigley and Rod Pampling were tied for fourth at 5-under 67, while Justin Rose, Luke Donald, Matt Kuchar, Nick Watney and Carl Pettersson were all tied for sixth at 4-under 68.

World No. 2-ranked player Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia, both coming off victories in their previous PGA Tour outings, each shot even-par 72 and were tied for 36th.

Mickelson said he played "fine," but figured that he might have a tough day due to a lack of preparation and rest.

"I didn't have a great three days heading in," Mickelson told reporters. "I was kind of tired and didn't get a chance to rest and get ready."

While pleased to be in the lead, Goggin said he wasn't going to get too excited about his position on the leaderboard until Sunday — when it really counts.

"All you can do is put yourself in position and if you keep doing it, you're doing something right," Goggin said. "The nice thing is that I've been playing really consistently. I hit the ball well all year really and had a lot of good rounds … so there's no reason why I couldn't do it for another three days."

May 30, 2008