Tway takes first day lead with 65

Tiger Woods' dominance at the Memorial suffered a setback Thursday. Not only was he nine strokes behind Bob Tway, he couldn't even beat Jack.

While Tway birdied four of his first five holes and had a tap-in eagle for a 7-under 65, Woods failed to break par in the opening round for only the second time this year. He three-putted for double bogey on the final hole for a 74 and was so angry he refused to talk about it.

A victory this week would make Woods the first player in 75 years to win the same tournament four years in a row.

Still, the cheers on a day of rare sunshine at Muirfield Village Golf Club belonged to Jack Nicklaus, the 62-year-old whose back has bothered him so much that he almost didn't play in his own tournament for the first time.

``Obviously, it was a heck of a lot of fun,'' Nicklaus said after birdieing four of his last five holes for a 1-under 71, the first time he has broken par at the Memorial in five years.

Tway, the former PGA champion who hasn't won on the PGA Tour since 1995, rolled in two long putts to start his round and surged ahead on No. 15 with a 5-wood that stopped 14 inches behind the cup.

He was one stroke ahead of Stewart Cink, who played a bogey-free round of 66 on the course that was playing harder and faster than in previous years. Stuart Appleby, needing at least a top-five finish to get into the U.S. Open, was another stroke behind at 67.

By the time Tway finished his round, Woods was 1 over through 15 holes and Nicklaus had already posted his 71.

Which did Tway find more surprising?

``I don't know that either one of them are a huge surprise,'' Tway said. ``If Jack is healthy, he's going to play good golf. Tiger being 1 over ... I don't know. He doesn't seem to have any trouble. He probably shoots 65 tomorrow.''

Woods not only has won the Memorial the last three years, he has done it with surprising ease -- a seven-shot victory last year, a five-stroke margin the year before.

On the eve of the tournament, he said his game was ``very close'' to his record-setting 2000 season, when he won nine times and three straight majors.

The only resemblance Thursday was that Y2K was the last time Nicklaus shot a better score than Woods in the same tournament, a 70 in the Masters to Woods' 72.

Woods, coming off a playoff victory in Germany on Monday, hit only nine greens and had a couple of three-putts in his 74.

A couple of streaks ended along the way. He made his first bogey in 66 holes, dating to the second round in Germany. It was the first time since the final round of the 1998 Memorial that he failed to break par at Muirfield Village.

Woods hasn't faced a first-round deficit this large since he was nine strokes behind at the PGA Championship in August, where he tied for 29th for his worst showing at a major in his pro career.

Don't look for any sympathy from Tway.

The lanky Oklahoman had a promising future in 1986 when he won four times, including the PGA Championship when he holed a bunker shot on the 72nd hole to beat Greg Norman.

Tway won the Memorial in 1989, but has had only one top-10 finish at Muirfield since.

``I hope there isn't a statute of limitations on confidence,'' Tway said. ``A lot has happened in between that time.''

A lot can happen between now and Sunday, particularly the weather.

Muirfield is usually soggy and soft, favoring the long hitters like Woods. With faster fairways, Tway thinks it opens the tournament up to a broader range of players, himself included.

``Some of the shorter hitters can go ahead and hit driver and get down there,'' Tway said. ``You'd like to be hitting shorter irons to these pins and these greens. I think it probably brings more people into play.''

Then he turned his attention to Woods, who put eight strokes behind him and the leaders in the final round last year.

``He's going to play good no matter what,'' Tway said.

That wasn't the case Thursday, but it could have been worse.

David Duval, who described his season as a train wreck, got off track again with a double bogey and a triple bogey in a round of 75. John Daly was 8 over after eight holes and wound up with an 84, while Fred Couples -- the last guy besides Woods to win at the Memorial -- had an 80.

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