Davis Love, making his first start since winning the MCI Classic five weeks ago, fired a 66 yesterday to grab a share of the lead after the first round of the Memorial Tournament.

Love shared the lead with Joey Sindelar, Steve Pate and Trevor Dodds. The quartet was one stroke ahead of seven golfers: South African Ernie Els, Payne Stewart, Craig Stadler, Andrew Magee, Ted Tryba, Kirk Triplett and Greg Kraft.

Defending champion Vijay Singh of Fiji was seven strokes off the pace after an opening-round 73. He shot a final-round 65 over a rain-soaked three days last year to win this event by two shots. Course designer and two-time champion Jack Nicklaus carded a two-over 74 to lie eight behind the leaders. Tiger Woods was four shots back on 70.