GOLF ROUNDUP : Love, Hammond Share Memorial Lead

Davis Love III combined power with patience for a six-under-par 66 and a share of the first-round lead Thursday in the rain-soaked Memorial tournament at Dublin, Ohio.

Love, who played without making a bogey, was tied with Donnie Hammond, who ran off a string of five birdies in the mist and drizzle at the Jack Nicklaus Muirfield Village Golf Club.

“The whole thing today, obviously, was the condition of the golf course,” said Nicklaus, the tournament host and founder.

The greens were soft because of the moisture, and the lack of a breeze “made it very, very easy to play,” Nicklaus said.

Fifty-eight players, more than half the invitational field of 114, broke par 72, a first-round record for the event.

Nicklaus had a 70.

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Four consecutive birdies highlighted Alice Ritzman’s six-under-par 66 that gave her a one-stroke lead after the first round of the $550,000 Oldsmobile Classic at Walnut Hills Country Club in Meridian Township, Mich.

Ritzman, 41, who has never won an LPGA event in 15 years on the tour, held a one-shot lead over Colleen Walker, Helen Dobson, Lisa Kiggens, Karen Lunn and Dana Lofland-Dormann.

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Chris Couch, a Florida sophomore, shot a seven-under-par 65 in the NCAA Division I golf tournament at Lexington, Ky., grabbing the individual lead and sparking the Gators to the top of the team standings after two rounds.