Woods four off the pace DUBLIN, Ohio — Tiger Woods, without playing at his best, moved into contention at the Memorial tournament Thursday while fellow American Scott Stallings made a welcome return to form by charging into a one-shot lead. Four-time champion Woods birdied three of the four par-fives in surprisingly firm and fast-running conditions at a sun-drenched Muirfield Village Golf Club to card a two-under-par 70, finishing four strokes behind Stallings. Americans Spencer Levin, who totalled only 21 putts, and Erik Compton opened with 67s while Australian Aaron Baddeley, South African Rory Sabbatini and Argentina's Andres Romero were among a group of seven players knotted on 69. Woods, who won the most recent of his four titles here in 2009, was reasonably satisfied after mixing four birdies with a double-bogey at the treacherous par-four 18th, his ninth hole of the day. Stallings, who has missed the cut in his last six PGA Tour events while struggling to cope with a lingering rib injury, rocketed to the top of the leaderboard with three birdies in his last four holes. British world No. 1 Luke Donald and second-ranked Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy were relatively pleased with their scores, though both had to negotiate adversity before carding matching 71s. “Hopefully that's my loose round out of the way,” said Donald, who recovered from a double-bogey at the 18th, his ninth hole of the day. McIlroy faced a much bigger hill to climb after he ran up an ugly quadruple-bogey seven at the par-three 12th, his third hole of the round. “It wasn't the start that I wanted to get off to, being four over through three holes, especially after the last few weeks,” said the 23-year-old. Steve Stricker, who won last year's Memorial tournament, bogeyed four of his last six holes to open with a 73, while fellow American and Masters champion Bubba Watson carded a 75. Four-time major champion Phil Mickelson withdrew from the tournament after shooting a 79, citing fatigue.
