Jordan Spieth is peeking around that third-major-of-the-year corner all of a sudden after opening the 2019 Memorial Tournament with a 66 in Round 1 on Thursday. For Spieth, that follows two straight top-10 finishes in his last two events. I've been bearish on Spieth for a while now, but I'm here to tell you that this time is different. Probably. Maybe. 

Let's dive into everything that went down during Round 1 at Muirfield Village. Be sure to check back Friday for full coverage of Round 2 with Tiger Woods looking to make the cut in Dublin, Ohio, after failing to do so at the PGA Championship a couple of weeks ago.

1st -- Ryan Moore (-7): Moore held it together on the back nine after going out in a scintillating 31 on the front. His bogey-free 65 was the round of the day, and even though it was touched by Spieth, Moore stands alone at the end of 18 holes. 

119th -- Beau Hossler (+10): It's tough to find yourself 17 back at the end of the first round. Hossler made eight bogeys and a triple and lost -- are you ready for this? -- 10 (!) strokes to the field average from tee to green.

Others in contention -- Jordan Spieth (-6), Marc Leishman (-5), Anirban Lahiri (-5), Martin Kaymer (-5), Vaughn Taylor (-5), Bud Cauley (-5): Quite the crew here. We'll get to Cauley (who I want to talk about) in a minute, but first let's chat about Spieth. I've been hooting and hollering for two straight weeks about how you should not buy into the smoke and mirrors Mr. Spieth has been using as his currency for trips into the top 10 on leaderboards. Two straight all-time putting performances and he didn't even really sniff a Sunday lead.

However! This week has been different so far. He was eighth in putting, sure, but he was also top 10 from tee to green (which is the way you win golf tournaments like this). There are two caution signs before we get the full green light for Pebble and the U.S. Open, though. 

The first is that Spieth chipped in twice and only had 22 putts on Thursday, one of them a 35-foot bomb for eagle. The other is that his problem all season hasn't been first or second round scoring. It's been third and fourth. Let's see it for four days before we make any declarative statements, but for now I've put the clown nose in my Amazon checkout with one-day shipping ticked off.

What did Tiger Woods do? Big Cat shot a 2-under 70 (discussed at length here). He's among a group that's within five strokes and in the top 25. He'll need positive movement all three days to take this thing down, but for 18 holes he looked quite good (especially compared to his PGA Championship self).

Who had a great day? Bud Cauley, come on down. The former Alabama golfer was injured in a horrific car accident at this tournament last year and had to several months away from the game. He said he was anxious coming into this week, but it didn't show in his 5-under 67. That's his second-best score in the last two months, and him winning (or heck, even contending) would make for one of the most feel-good stories in golf in 2019.

Who had a lousy day? Rory McIlroy shot his worst round of 2019 by two strokes with a 3-over 75 on Thursday. How did it happen? Well, when you hit it out of bounds twice and lose two and a half strokes to the field with the best club in your bag, 75s are going to happen. The good news for McIlroy is, well, driver is the best club in his bag and he's not going to do that again on Friday. The bad news? He has some real work to do to make the cut and play the weekend.

Shot of the day: It might not have technically been the greatest shot hit on Thursday, but it's the one that made me arch my eyebrows the most.

What to watch on Day 2: It's all Spieth for me. Moore is a good story and Cauley is a great one, but I want to see if Spieth can really emerge from this wilderness he's been in, and if so, who joins him. Will it be Big Cat or Phil Mickelson who follow up their 70s with 68s or better on Thursday? Or will it be my pick Patrick Cantlay who emerges from those at -4? Or what about Xander Schauffle or Rickie Fowler at -3? This leaderboard is loaded up, and we should be in for another great day of golf on Friday just like we got on Thursday.

Thanks for stopping by.