Rose, Donald hit form at Memorial

MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND LEADERBOARD (US unless stated)
-7 M Goggin (Aus) -6 K Perry, J Kelly -5 B Quigley, R Pampling (Aus) -4 Justin Rose (Eng), L Donald (Eng)
Selected others: -2 B Davis (Eng) Level P Mickelson, S Garcia (Spa) +1 E Els (SA) +4 Paul Casey (Eng)

England's Justin Rose and Luke Donald both enjoyed strong starts to the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial tournament.

The pair fired four-under 68s to sit in a tie for sixth, three shots off the lead of Australian Mathew Goggin.

Americans Kenny Perry and Jerry Kelly were on six-under with countryman Brett Quigley and Australian Rod Pampling one stroke further back in Ohio.

Tiger Woods is absent as he recovers from knee surgery but world number two Phil Mickelson carded a level-par 72.

South African Ernie Els, ranked three in the world, compiled a round of 71 after missing the cut on his home Wentworth course in last week's PGA Championship on the European Tour.

Donald continued his good form after finishing third at Wentworth, while Rose bounced back after joining Els in also missing the weekend for his third straight missed cut.

"I got a little bit of reward today from some hard work I put in over the last couple of weeks"

But at Muirfield Village he produced a round of four birdies and an eagle at his 12th hole, the par-four 3rd, where he holed out with a sand wedge from 108 yards.

The only blemish on his round was a double bogey at the 14th hole.

"I haven't played well the past few weeks but my attitude's the best it's ever been," said the 2007 European number one.

"It was probably one of the most enjoyable rounds I've had this year.

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"It feels like the last few weeks, every course has been very, very tough, probably because I wasn't playing great.

"In that respect, this has come out of the blue but I've been working hard, so it hasn't come out of the blue.

"It was nice I got a little bit of reward today from some hard work I put in over the last couple of weeks. There were still a lot of scrappy shots that I need to work on, but I managed to get a score out of it.

"I made some good up-and-downs in the middle of the round when I was at even par, so I could have got myself going in the wrong direction."

Another Englishman who impressed was Brian Davis (70) but Paul Casey amassed a 76 and Graeme Storm a 79.

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