Perry gets seriously hot on the greens

US TOUR MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT:KENNY PERRY continued his recent good form to take the clubhouse lead during the first round at the Memorial tournament.

Perry, a two-time champion of the Jack Nicklaus-hosted event, reeled off six successive birdies from the 11th on his way to a six-under-par 66 in delightful conditions at Muirfield Village.

He headed Brett Quigley by one stroke with half the field back in the clubhouse, while Justin Rose and Luke Donald a further stroke behind.

Sergio Garcia, making his first start since winning the Players Championship, shot a respectable 72, as did Phil Mickelson, the winner at Colonial on Sunday.

"The putter was unbelievable today," said Perry, who had just 22 putts. "I'm not a guy known for making putts but I kept pouring them in from 20 feet like they were two-footers."

Perry, who lost a play-off for the ATT Classic two weeks ago, mostly avoided the lush rough, but made bogeys on the three occasions he did stray from the fairway.

"There's such a premium on hitting fairways," he said.

Rose was delighted with his opening round.

"Really happy with that start," the Englishman said. "It was probably one of the most enjoyable rounds of golf I've had this year, just weather-wise and the course was in great condition. It was nice to go out there and feel like you could make a score.

"It feels like the last few weeks that every course has felt very, very tough. Probably since I wasn't playing great. But it was nice to get out there in the morning where everything was nice and benign.

When asked what clicked on the day, he said: "A little bit of everything. Still a lot of scrappy shots and stuff that I need to work on. But I just managed to get a score out of it today. I did hit some good shots. Actually missed a few three- or four-footers for birdie. One of those rounds that could have been a whole lot better.

"But I'll take it. I made some good up-and-downs in the middle of my round when I was at even par. So I could have got myself going in the wrong direction, but I made some really good saves, kept the momentum going.

"And then I holed a sandwedge on the third hole to go to two-under again, for eagle there. So that kind of just boosted me.

"And then I managed to birdie two of the par fives coming in.

"So it was nice to get to four under."