Collin Morikawa, Max Homa at the Top at the Memorial

A great start for Cal’s two high-profile golfers on Thursday at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio.

Collin Morikawa shot a first-round 5-under 67 and Max Homa was one stroke back at 4-under 68 against a field of golfers chasing a piece of the $20 million total purse.

Morikawa is alone in second place, two strokes back of Ben Griffin, and Homa has sole possession of third place, three strokes off the pace.

Griffin, a 29-year-old American who missed the cut at this tournament last season, made seven birdies and an eagle against two bogeys. 

Morikawa, ranked No. 4 in the world, opened with a birdie on the first hole and finished with six birdies and one bogey. 

Homa, 34, is attempting to come out of a year-long slump that has seen his world ranking to slide to No. 87. Little more than a year ago, he was No. 5.

He carded six birdies and two bogeys on Thursday.

"I told my coach last night, this is the best my swing has felt in a really long time," Homa told Golfweek. "Then the whole game kind of felt like that. So I just pointed it out, and I guess I didn't need it to, I didn't need to shoot a low number to validate that, but I just, it just feels nice."

Homa would need to climb to a top-60 world ranking to qualify for the U.S. Open, set for June 12-15, and landing a spot in the field appears unlikely.

"I never play well in the U.S. Open anyway," Homa said, "so, if I don't get in it's all good. I just wanted to play because now that I'm a dad I would like to win or something on a Father's Day. But if not I'll just hang out with my son and it will be a great day."

But Homa recently has shown progress and he admitted that a strong opening round at the Memorial confirms that improvement.

“I felt like I had—my game feels about as good as it has in a very, very long time, and I knew that I think that brought some peace, which was nice, not feeling like I needed to do much," he said. "Then, yeah, you get off to a good start like that and it just kind of calms some of the nerves,”

Meanwhile, one-time Cal golfer Byeong Hun An had four bogeys in a span of five holes on the back nine and wound up a 2-over 74 and nine strokes off the lead.

A fourth Cal alum, Michael Kim, had a quadruple-bogey 7 on the par-3 12th hole and skidded to a 6-over 78. That has him tied for 62nd and puts him in peril of missing the cut on Friday.

Behind Morikawa and Homa, three players — Shane Lowry, Keegan Bradley and Nick Taylor — share fourth place at 3-under after shooting 69s. 

Defending champion and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler shot a 2-under 70 and is tied for seventh place.

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