Tiger Woods bounces back at Memorial

Tiger may have won this event five times (last time in 2012), but he needed all his powers of recovery to come back from an ugly front nine which included two bogeys and a double-bogey 7 at the par 5 15th (his sixth hole) where his tee shot flew out of bounds.  

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Tiger was suffering a bit with a stiff back but the former world number one (currently ranked 83rd), had three consecutive birdies on his back nine and finished level.

"I wasn't rotating well, my back was tight," the 42-year-old explained. "I have days like that, my back is fused. I don't have any pain, thank God, it's just tight."

Justin Rose, winner last week, started from the 10th hole alongside Tiger and defending champion Jason Dufner. Rose finished one under, with Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy two over after a double bogey at the 14th. 

"I wasn't as prepared for this week as I'd have liked but it was a solid round," said the 37-year-old former US Open champion Rose.

Dufner had a shaky start to his defence, carding a +3 round of 75.

World number eight Jason Day is the highest ranked player on the leaderboard, the Australian posting four birdies in the first six holes in a 68.

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