DUBLIN, Ohio – Chad Ramey experienced a nightmare finish to his opening round at the Memorial.
Ramey recorded a 13 on the ninth hole, his final hole on Thursday, at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Ramey ripped driver to 106 yards, middle of the fairway, at the par-4 401 yards. Flip wedge territory for a pro who won the Corales Puntacana Championship as a rookie last year. But that’s when things got messy, or shall we say, rinse and repeat for Ramey.
His next three attempts to clear the water fronting the green ended up short and in the drink. Finally, with his 10th shot, he fired a shot 31 feet past the hole. To add insult to injury he gunned the downhill putt 6 feet by the hole and missed the comebacker. Ramey finally cleaned up from 2 feet, 4 inches for 13.
Ramey’s round was no shakes before he blew up on the final hole, but the closing nine-over on No. 9 meant he signed for a Michael Irvin – an 88.
PGA Tour golfer Chad Ramey made a nonuple-bogey 13 on a par4 today at the Memorial Tournament [by only-shallow]
#golfLife #golfSwing pic.twitter.com/NhCBLQoHJD
— Golf News (@JessiPe60537576) June 2, 2023
Ramey’s score is the highest at the Memorial since Larry Mize carded an 88 in the second round in 2008; his 13 on the ninth is the highest score on that hole in tournament history. (Previously two players had made a nine on nine, most recently Daniel Summerhays in the second round in 2018.)
But Ramey wasn’t the only one with a seat on the struggle bus. His 88 was one of eight rounds shot in the 80s in the first round. As the saying goes, misery loves company.