DUBLIN, Ohio — A grinder throughout his career, Kenny Perry is starting to make golf look awfully easy.
One week after winning Colonial with a record score, Perry surged into the lead Friday at the Memorial with a 4-under 68, capped by a birdie on the final hole that showed just how much everything is falling his way.
From the back of the green, 30 feet away and pinched between the fringe and first cut of rough, Perry used the belly of his sand wedge to get the ball rolling down the slick slope toward the hole. Halfway to the cup, he turned to the crowd, knowing the outcome.
"It was prefect," said Perry, who was at 11-under 133. "I just turned around to the fans and listened as it went in. They all hollered, so I knew it went in."
Retief Goosen and Lee Janzen, a pair of U.S. Open champions, each had a 67 and were one stroke behind.
Tiger Woods, playing on the PGA Tour for the first time since the Masters, looked as though he might join the leaders when he hit a 4-iron into the wind to a flag tucked behind a bunker that set up a short eagle putt on No. 15.
It all came apart on the 18th, when he pulled his drive so badly that it hit a fan in the leg. He hit his approach over the green and was lucky his chip ran only 20 feet past the hole. He made bogey for a 71, and was five strokes behind.
Vijay Singh proved he belongs at Memorial. The '98 winner had a 69 and was at 8-under 136, along with B.C. Open champion Spike McRoy (68).
Singh was criticized for his comments about Annika Sorenstam playing Colonial — "I hope she misses the cut" — and declined to speak to reporters for the second straight day.
Perry had the 36-hole lead last week at Colonial, then shot 61 in the third round and cruised to a six-stroke victory at 19-under. He figured he would be known as the guy who won the PGA Tour event Sorenstam played, "but at least I'll be remembered for something."
Here's something else — he might be the hottest player in golf.
"He's the guy to watch this weekend," Singh later said through a PGA Tour official.
There was nothing special about Perry's round. He holed a few 15-foot birdie putts, got up-and-down from the bunker for birdie on the par-5 15th and then put on a show with his belly wedge on the 18th.
Perry has won four times in his career, including the '91 Memorial, but never more than one tournament a year.
"I hope I stay asleep and play two more good rounds," he said. "It's hard to believe. Why am I pushing the right buttons right now at the right time? I don't know. I've got all the bounces going my way. My game is in pretty good order."
Charles Howell III was 10 strokes worse than his opening round, a 2-over 74 that left him at 6-under 138 with Woods and defending champion Jim Furyk.
There was no mystery to the turnaround.
"Hitting the ball in the fairway is such an advantage," Howell said. "That's really important for me, and I just didn't drive the ball in the fairway enough today."
Swirling wind and tough pin positions made it a little tougher at Muirfield Village, although that was a matter of perspective.
Jack Nicklaus birdied the last hole for a 72 and missed the cut by two shots. When he saw Ernie Els outside the scoring cabin, he asked how the Big Easy fared.
"Two over — a 70," Els said with a laugh.
"That would be 2-under for me," Nicklaus replied. "Maybe 4-under."
At least one Nicklaus gets to play this weekend. Gary Nicklaus, the son of the tournament host playing on a sponsor's exemption, birdied two of the last three holes for a 75 and was at even-par 144.
Also making a rare weekend appearance is David Duval, who shot 72 and made a 36-hole cut for the first time since the Nissan Open three months ago.
Perry is playing in a different league, and this time the fans didn't wait until the weekend to take notice — not that it mattered to him.
"That's been the story of my life," he said. "I've come out here, done my deal, and I've flown under the radar. I've always said I was a good golfer. I was never a superstar. I'm just a simple guy, I had a simple life and it doesn't take a lot to make me happy."
It doesn't take much to get Woods upset.
After birdies on the front-nine par-5s with his amazing short game — a flop shot from a tight lie over a bunker that nicked the pin on No. 5, a chip-in from thick rough on No. 7 — his round unraveled with a three-putt from 7 feet for double bogey on the par-3 8th.
Woods followed that by missing a 4-foot par putt and was 2-over for his round.
"I just had two poor holes in a row that ended up costing me a lot of shots," he said.
Woods has never been more than two strokes behind after 36 holes the three straight years he won the Memorial, although his six-shot deficit is not that daunting. Cold, rainy weather forecast for Saturday could make it wide open.
Then again, it all depends on Perry.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: In Nashville, Tenn., Jim Ahern birdied the 18th hole to cap an 8-under 64 Friday and take the lead in the first round of the Champions' Tour Music City Championship.
Doug Tewell was alone in the lead early in the afternoon with a 65, but Ahern made a late charge as part of the third-to-last threesome and tied Tewell at 7-under on No. 15.
On his last chance to overtake Tewell, Ahern landed his 141-yard approach shot about 30 feet above the pin and putted the ball slightly downhill for the birdie, one of only five on the 431-yard, par-4 all day.
He then pumped his fist — a la Tiger Woods — toward the small crowd still gathered in the grandstand.
"I putted beautifully today," Ahern said. "If I could putt like that all the time, I'd be a happy camper."
Five players were tied at 5-under at the 6,783-yard Springhouse Golf Club course: Tom Jenkins, J.C. Snead, Rodger Davis, Pat McDonald and Vicente Fernandez. Nine players were another stroke back.
WALES OPEN: In Newport, Wales, Ian Poulter of England shot a 5-under-par 67 Friday and took a two-stroke lead halfway through the Wales Open while Colin Montgomerie failed to make the cut.
Poulter, taking medication for tonsillitis, did not make a bogey and was at 12-under 132 on the Wentworth Hills course, a revised version of which will stage the 2010 Ryder Cup.
Philip Price of Wales was in second place at 134 after his 66. Darren Fichardt of South Africa (67) was at 135 and Mark McNulty of Zimbabwe (67) was at 136.
Montgomerie had a 71 for 144. He drove home to England not knowing if he would have to return Saturday. On the last hole, his 50-foot eagle attempt lipped out. Had it gone in, he would have made the cut.
"I played from tee to green very well," the Scotsman said. I just didn't hole anything, nothing at all."
Montgomerie had gone 22 events in Europe since the Dubai Desert Classic last year without missing a cut.