Englishman leads Memorial Tournament

Luke Donald has just

20 putts on way to 64

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Luke Donald shot a sparkling eight-under-par 64 on the first day of the Memorial tournament to take a three-shot lead.
The Englishman started his round with a bogey but a run of six birdies in seven holes on the back nine propelled him up the leaderboard ahead of Americans Jim Furyk and Ted Purdy, Australia's Jason Day and South Africa's Thomas Aiken, who all carded opening rounds of 67.
It was the lowest score of Donald's PGA Tour season so far and having picked up eight shots in nine holes from the eighth.
"I just got on a hot streak," he said. "Eight under through nine holes, that doesn't happen very often but when you get on that roll, it feels pretty good. So I just kept going and made some birdies."
Purdy carded seven birdies but shipped a costly double bogey at the par three 12th, while Day finished with back-to-back bogeys.
Steve Marino, Stewart Cink, Mark Wilson sit tied for sixth at four under, with group of nine including Tiger Woods, who has won the title three times at Muirfield Village Golf Club, tied for ninth a further shot back.
Elsewhere, Open champion Padraig Harrington struggled to a three over 75 alongside Vijay Singh

SOME PUTTING TIPS FROM LUKE DONALD
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
DUBLIN, Ohio -- Luke Donald just tried to stay in the present.
He rolled in that first putt Thursday from just off the fringe. Five more birdie putts from 10, 25, 12, 6 and 8 feet followed in quick succession, but Donald tried not to get caught up in what was happening.
"You try and just focus on every shot as it comes," he explained. "Obviously, it's in the back of your mind that you're making a good run, and you want to keep that going."
When Donald was done, he had sole possession of the early lead at the Memorial Tournament after a sizzling 64 that included just 20 putts -- a personal and tournament best. The PGA Tour record is 18, accomplished seven times, most recently by Ken Duke at this year's World Golf Championships-CA Championship.
Donald's performance Thursday was no fluke. The 31-year-old Englishman is among the PGA Tour's best putters -- leading in five statistical categories, including total putting and putting average.
So who better to get a putting tip from than Donald, who had eight birdies in a nine-hole stretch on Thursday at Muirfield Village?
"Putting is all fundamental," he said. "It's such a small stroke, you can't make corrections like you can in a full swing because there's just no margin for error."
So when Donald talks to his pro-am partners, he has three areas of emphasis.
1.) The setup: "You have to have your eyes directly above the ball tracing straight lines to the hole."
2.) The hands: "Your hands should be falling just below your shoulders. ... If your hands are outside the plane of your shoulders, you're going to have more of an arced putting stroke. If you get it too far in, it's going to make the putting stroke go out. So you want it somewhere in the middle, where your hands are hanging right beneath your shoulders."
3.) The grip: "Grip in a putting stroke is very different to hitting shots. When you're hitting golf shots, it's more in the fingers, and putting you want it more in the palms. So you keep that club face square to the target."
Donald said putting has been an area of emphasis for him since he turned pro in 2002. The two-time US Tour winner also started using an Odyssey mallet-style putter a year ago at The Honda Classic.
"I think that really helped with the pace of my stroke, really helped lining up putts a little bit better," he said. "Just seemed to swing very well."
Of course, another key is confidence.
"You start putting well, and you start believing in yourself a little bit," Donald explained. "Confidence on the greens breeds confidence. You keep making more putts. I think putting is very mental. Once you feel like you're a good putter, then it becomes easier."

FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 72
64 Luke Donald (Eng)
67 Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Jim Furyk, Ted Purdy, Jason Day (Aus)
68 Steve Marino, Stewart Cink, Mark Wilson
69 Tiger Woods, Rodney Pampling (Aus), Kevin Sutherland, Mike Weir (Can), Reinier Saxton (Ned), Johnson Wagner, Troy Matteson, Jonathan Byrd, Nicholas Thompson
70 Will MacKenzie, Steve Stricker, Ernie Els (Rsa), Ryuji Imada (Jpn)
71 Charley Hoffman, Zach Johnson, John Senden (Aus), Tom Lehman, Ben Curtis, Bubba Watson, Martin Kaymer (Ger), David Duval, Matt Bettencourt, Tom Pernice Jnr., Chez Reavie, Kevin Na, Camilo Villegas (Col)
72 Michael Letzig, Jerry Kelly, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Erik Compton, Davis Love III, Lee Janzen, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Kenny Perry, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Robert Allenby (Aus), Mark Calcavecchia, Marc Turnesa, Stuart Appleby (Aus)
73 Nick Watney, Bart Bryant, Todd Hamilton, James Nitties (Aus), Nick O'Hern (Aus), Webb Simpson, Shaun Micheel, Y.E. Yang (Kor), Chris DiMarco, Steve Flesch, Matt Kuchar, Alex Cejka (Ger), Paul Casey (Eng), Dustin Johnson, Mathew Goggin (Aus), K J Choi (Kor), Rocco Mediate, Carl Pettersson (Swe), D.J. Trahan
74 Scott McCarron, Billy Mayfair, Greg Owen (Eng), Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Hunter Mahan, Brett Quigley, Bill Haas, Marc Leishman (Aus), Richard Sterne (Rsa)
75 Tim Herron, Mark Brooks, Lucas Glover, Jeff Quinney, Woody Austin, John Mallinger, Charles Howell III, D.A. Points, Vijay Singh (Fij), Ian Poulter (Eng), Padraig Harrington (Irl), Ryan Moore
76 Jeff Overton, Steve Lowery, Jeff Klauk, Billy Andrade, Richard S Johnson (Swe), George McNeill, Sean O'Hair, Tim Petrovic, Ken Duke
77 Charles Warren, Chris Stroud, Adam Scott (Aus), Jason Dufner, James Driscoll, Kevin Streelman, Peter Lonard (Aus), Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), James Kamte (Rsa)
78 Brian Davis (Eng)
79 Chris Wilson, Danny Lee (Nzl), Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Scott Piercy, Cliff Kresge
80 John Rollins, Justin Rose (Eng), Ryan Palmer
81 Bo Van Pelt, Parker McLachlin, Jesper Parnevik (Swe)
82 J.B. Holmes
83 Brad Faxon
86 Kevin Chappell