DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Ben Griffin resumed the great play that brought him his first individual PGA Tour victory last week, hitting two shots in the water and still posting a 7-under 65 on Thursday in the Memorial on a course with rough as dense as a U.S. Open.
Griffin isn't taking victory laps after winning at Colonial. He just kept making birdies, along with an eagle on the par- 5 seventh hole with a 3-wood into 12 feet. He led by two shots over Collin Morikawa, with Max Homa another stroke behind.
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Shane Lowry hits onto the 10th green during the first round of the Memorial golf tournament Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Collin Morikawa walks across a bridge on the second hole during the first round of the Memorial golf tournament, Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Scottie Scheffler chips onto the 18th green in the first round of the Memorial golf tournament Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Ben Griffin watches his shot from the rough on the 10th fairway during the first round of the Memorial golf tournament Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Ben Griffin reacts after sinking his shot on the 18th green during the first round of the Memorial golf tournament Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler wasn't at his best and still managed a 70, his 19th consecutive tournament in which he opened with a round par.
Griffin was playing so well that his two water balls — on the par-5 11th and par-3 12th — only led to bogeys when such mistakes punished so many other players.
“Yeah, a couple water balls — really need to go to the range and work on my game to clean that stuff up,” Griffin said with a laugh.
He knew this was a good one. Muirfield Village was soft enough from rain the past two days that good scores were available provided shots came from the fairway, and not from rough that Justin Thomas had said was comparable to what they will face at Oakmont in the U.S. Open.
“Basically a U.S. Open we're playing," Keegan Bradley said. “I'm going to be playing back-to-back U.S. Opens here. But the course is very fair, setup nice. Just a tough test.”
The numbers bear that out, whether it was only 13 players who broke par in a gentle wind, or the eight players who made triple bogey on seven of the holes at Muirfield Village.
Griffin set the pace early by going out in 31, and then ran into a few problems with the water. He tried to reach the green on the 11th, came up short and into the water, and missed a 10-foot par putt. On the 12th, his tee shot bounced back down the slope into the water. He saved bogey with a 6-foot putt.
But what a finish — a 15-foot birdie on the par-3 16th, a 12-foot birdie on the 17th and holing out from just over 50 feet up the ridge on the 18th for a third straight birdie.
“It was an incredible day,” Griffin said. “Kind of building on what I was doing last week, making a ton of birdies, staying aggressive. This is one of the toughest golf courses we play on tour and you’ve got to be on your game to make birdies and give yourself a lot of looks.”
Shane Lowry played alongside Griffin and had a 69, one of only six players to break 70. It might not have felt that good the way Griffin was playing.
“I told him when we finished, ‘Keep it going, things will turn around for you pretty soon,’” Lowry said with a smile. "He pretty much holed everything he looked at today. It was good. We bounced off each other, we all played really nicely.
“My 3 under doesn’t look that great beside his 7 under, but 3 under is a good score out there on this course,” he said. “It’s pretty difficult.”
Homa keeps trying to piece together his game that allowed him to reach No. 10 in the world when he played the Memorial last year. Now he is at No. 87 and faces a long week — a tough test at Muirfield Village, and then 36 holes of U.S. Open qualifying Monday.
“I told my coach last night this is the best my swing has felt in a really long time. Then the whole game kind of felt like that,” Homa said. “I didn't need to shoot a low number to validate that, but it just feels nice.”
Nick Taylor had one of the 10 double bogeys — two others made triple bogey — on the par-3 12th, but the Canadian rallied with two birdies on his last three holes for a 69.
Scheffler won the PGA Championship and tried to get as much rest as he could ahead of Colonial, where he still tied for fourth. He worked a little more in the days heading into Memorial and spent too much time in the rough and battling for pars.
He does that well, too, dropping only two shots despite hitting six of the 14 fairways and twice failing to convert birdie chances on the par 5s on the back nine.
The last time he was over par to start a tournament was the U.S. Open last year.
“I felt like I scored pretty well. If I want to keep doing that, I’ll have to be a little sharper the next few days,” Scheffler said. “But overall, a good job posting a score. Yeah, 2 under on this place any day is pretty good.”
No need telling that to Thomas (80) or Daniel Berger (81). And then there was Adam Scott, who was 7 over for his round through six holes. He played even par the rest of the way for a 79.
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Shane Lowry hits onto the 10th green during the first round of the Memorial golf tournament Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Collin Morikawa walks across a bridge on the second hole during the first round of the Memorial golf tournament, Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Scottie Scheffler chips onto the 18th green in the first round of the Memorial golf tournament Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Ben Griffin watches his shot from the rough on the 10th fairway during the first round of the Memorial golf tournament Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Ben Griffin reacts after sinking his shot on the 18th green during the first round of the Memorial golf tournament Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Dublin, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
A group of Buddhist monks and their rescue dog are striding single file down country roads and highways across the South, captivating Americans nationwide and inspiring droves of locals to greet them along their route.
In their flowing saffron and ocher robes, the men are walking for peace. It's a meditative tradition more common in South Asian countries, and it's resonating now in the U.S., seemingly as a welcome respite from the conflict, trauma and politics dividing the nation.
Their journey began Oct. 26, 2025, at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Texas, and is scheduled to end in mid-February in Washington, D.C., where they will ask Congress to recognize Buddha’s day of birth and enlightenment as a federal holiday. Beyond promoting peace, their highest priority is connecting with people along the way.
“My hope is, when this walk ends, the people we met will continue practicing mindfulness and find peace,” said the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group’s soft-spoken leader who is making the trek barefoot. He teaches about mindfulness, forgiveness and healing at every stop.
Preferring to sleep each night in tents pitched outdoors, the monks have been surprised to see their message transcend ideologies, drawing huge crowds into churchyards, city halls and town squares across six states. Documenting their journey on social media, they — and their dog, Aloka — have racked up millions of followers online. On Saturday, thousands thronged in Columbia, South Carolina, where the monks chanted on the steps of the State House and received a proclamation from the city's mayor, Daniel Rickenmann.
At their stop Thursday in Saluda, South Carolina, Audrie Pearce joined the crowd lining Main Street. She had driven four hours from her village of Little River, and teared up as Pannakara handed her a flower.
“There’s something traumatic and heart-wrenching happening in our country every day,” said Pearce, who describes herself as spiritual, but not religious. “I looked into their eyes and I saw peace. They’re putting their bodies through such physical torture and yet they radiate peace.”
Hailing from Theravada Buddhist monasteries across the globe, the 19 monks began their 2,300 mile (3,700 kilometer) trek at the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth.
Their journey has not been without peril. On Nov. 19, as the monks were walking along U.S. Highway 90 near Dayton, Texas, their escort vehicle was hit by a distracted truck driver, injuring two monks. One of them lost his leg, reducing the group to 18.
This is Pannakara's first trek in the U.S., but he's walked across several South Asian countries, including a 112-day journey across India in 2022 where he first encountered Aloka, an Indian Pariah dog whose name means divine light in Sanskrit.
Then a stray, the dog followed him and other monks from Kolkata in eastern India all the way to the Nepal border. At one point, he fell critically ill and Pannakara scooped him up in his arms and cared for him until he recovered. Now, Aloka inspires him to keep going when he feels like giving up.
“I named him light because I want him to find the light of wisdom,” Pannakara said.
The monk's feet are now heavily bandaged because he's stepped on rocks, nails and glass along the way. His practice of mindfulness keeps him joyful despite the pain from these injuries, he said.
Still, traversing the southeast United States has presented unique challenges, and pounding pavement day after day has been brutal.
“In India, we can do shortcuts through paddy fields and farms, but we can’t do that here because there are a lot of private properties,” Pannakara said. “But what’s made it beautiful is how people have welcomed and hosted us in spite of not knowing who we are and what we believe.”
In Opelika, Alabama, the Rev. Patrick Hitchman-Craig hosted the monks on Christmas night at his United Methodist congregation.
He expected to see a small crowd, but about 1,000 people showed up, creating the feel of a block party. The monks seemed like the Magi, he said, appearing on Christ’s birthday.
“Anyone who is working for peace in the world in a way that is public and sacrificial is standing close to the heart of Jesus, whether or not they share our tradition,” said Hitchman-Craig. “I was blown away by the number of people and the diversity of who showed up.”
After their night on the church lawn, the monks arrived the next afternoon at the Collins Farm in Cusseta, Alabama. Judy Collins Allen, whose father and brother run the farm, said about 200 people came to meet the monks — the biggest gathering she’s ever witnessed there.
“There was a calm, warmth and sense of community among people who had not met each other before and that was so special,” she said.
Long Si Dong, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth temple, said the monks, when they arrive in Washington, plan to seek recognition of Vesak, the day which marks the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha, as a national holiday.
“Doing so would acknowledge Vesak as a day of reflection, compassion and unity for all people regardless of faith,” he said.
But Pannakara emphasized that their main goal is to help people achieve peace in their lives. The trek is also a separate endeavor from a $200 million campaign to build towering monuments on the temple’s 14-acre property to house the Buddha’s teachings engraved in stone, according to Dong.
The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. It focuses on the mind-body connection — observing breath and physical sensations to understand reality, impermanence and suffering. Some of the monks, including Pannakara, walk barefoot to feel the ground directly and be present in the moment.
Pannakara has told the gathered crowds that they don't aim to convert people to Buddhism.
Brooke Schedneck, professor of religion at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, said the tradition of a peace walk in Theravada Buddhism began in the 1990s when the Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a Cambodian monk, led marches across war-torn areas riddled with landmines to foster national healing after civil war and genocide in his country.
“These walks really inspire people and inspire faith,” Schedneck said. “The core intention is to have others watch and be inspired, not so much through words, but through how they are willing to make this sacrifice by walking and being visible.”
On Thursday, Becki Gable drove nearly 400 miles (about 640 kilometers) from Cullman, Alabama, to catch up with them in Saluda. Raised Methodist, Gable said she wanted some release from the pain of losing her daughter and parents.
“I just felt in my heart that this would help me have peace,” she said. “Maybe I could move a little bit forward in my life.”
Gable says she has already taken one of Pannakara’s teachings to heart. She’s promised herself that each morning, as soon as she awakes, she’d take a piece of paper and write five words on it, just as the monk prescribed.
“Today is my peaceful day.”
Freelance photojournalist Allison Joyce contributed to this report.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," get lunch Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Aloka rests with Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
A sign is seen greeting the Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Supporters pray with Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Supporters watch Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
A Buddhist monk ties a prayer bracelet around the wrist of Josey Lee, 2-months-old, during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Bhikkhu Pannakara, a spiritual leader, speaks to supporters during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks participate in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks participate in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Bhikkhu Pannakara leads other buddhist monks in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Audrie Pearce greets Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Bhikkhu Pannakara, a spiritual leader, speaks to supporters during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," arrive in Saluda, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," are seen with their dog, Aloka, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
