Putting has Justin Rose tied for the lead at Memorial Tournament

Dublin, Ohio — Justin Rose put a new putter in his bag two weeks ago and placed 10th at the European Tour’s showcase event. Then for some reason, he took it out for last week’s return to the U.S. circuit.

Turns out the English pro outsmarted himself. Rose made the cut, but finished near the weekend’s bottom. “Probably wasn’t the smartest thing,” he admitted.

New putter reinstated, Rose rebounded Thursday with a seven-under-par 65 that was good for a share of the lead after one round at the Memorial Tournament.

Geoff Ogilvy and rookie Rickie Fowler came along in the afternoon to match Rose’s performance. Phil Mickelson headed a chase pack that lurked two shots back, as soft conditions allowed 48 players to break par at Muirfield Village.

Tiger Woods was not one of them. The defending champion carded an even-par 72 that marked the first time since 2004 that he hasn’t opened Memorial with a round in red numbers.

Woods bogeyed two of his first six holes, brought it back to even with birdies at Nos. 9-10 and finished his round with eight pars.

“Wish I could have been lower,” said Woods, who struggled with his wedge game. He had about as many birdie looks from the fringe as he did from the green itself.

“I made just two [reasonable] putts, and that was about it. To be honest with you, that’s basically it. I had a couple other good looks [that] just kind of skirted the edge.”

Rose and his fellow co-leaders had no such problem. Rose made four birdies of 13 feet or longer, and that wasn’t the best effort of the trio. Ogilvy drained five of at least that distance, including a 35-footer at No. 18 before making the turn.

The Aussie got to eight under with two holes remaining, but a careless miss of a three-foot par save dropped him into the tie.

“You definitely want to take advantage of a day like today because this course generally won’t get any easier during the week,” Ogilvy said. “It does give you a few chances, and it’s nice to make them.”

Rose also hadn’t been seeing a lot of birdie chances go in until recently, when he was moved to put a new TaylorMade “Ghost” putter into play. The results were almost immediate at the European PGA Championship two weeks ago, but he wasn’t convinced.

Experimenting with a different model last week, he couldn’t keep pace with the birdiefest at Colonial. Back in went the Ghost.

“Putting is a game within the game,” he said, “and that’s the one area I’ve been trying to kick-start a little bit.”

jshain@orlandosentinel.com