Griffin hits opening 65 to lead the Memorial

Memorial Tournament first-round leaderboard

-7 B Griffin (US); -5 C Morikawa (US); -4 M Homa (US); -3 S Lowry (Irl)

Selected others: -2 S Scheffler (US), K Bradley (US); -1 H English (US), R MacIntyre (Sco); E J Spieth (US), T Fleetwood (Eng)

Full leaderboard

In-form Ben Griffin shot a seven-under 65 to take the first-round lead at Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament in Columbus, Ohio.

Griffin won his first PGA Tour title last week and carried on that touch to lead by two shots from fellow American Collin Morikawa.

An eagle on the seventh hole and birdies at four of the last five holes put 29-year-old Griffin in control.

Morikawa, twice a runner-up in this tournament, went round in five under to lead the chase with Max Homa a shot further back.

Ireland's Shane Lowry is the leading European challenger on three under par.

Masters winner Rory McIlroy is not at the tournament after deciding to play in next week's Canadian Open instead.

It is the third time this year that the 36-year-old from Northern Ireland has not featured in one of the PGA Tour's signature events after also skipping The Sentry and the RBC Heritage.

Nicklaus said he understood McIlroy's decision and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan also came to his defence.

"Rory McIlroy has played in this tournament every year since 2017. And you look at the tournaments that he's supported," said Monahan.

"I don't have any concern, because you look at this on balance over time, his support of our tournaments and our partners is extraordinary.

"Look at the season that Rory has had. He's had a life-altering season.

"He's won the Players Championship, you win the Masters Tournament, you win the [career] Grand Slam and you win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am."