DUBLIN, Ohio — Sergio Garcia's best shot at winning the Memorial Tournament came in 2001 when he tied for second.

Reminded that he finished a distant seven shots behind Tiger Woods, Garcia laughed and said, "It wasn't a very good chance then, was it?"

Woods, who has won the Memorial three times and has finished in the top five three more, won't be around this week at Muirfield Village. That leaves a huge opening for the prospective contenders at the tournament that Jack Nicklaus founded.

While Woods recovers from knee surgery at his Florida compound, players are lining up to take advantage of his absence. Chief among them are Garcia, who won The Players Championship and then spent two weeks resting in his native Spain, and Phil Mickelson, winner last week at Colonial.

"I feel like every part of my game is getting better every week," a refreshed Garcia said. "I definitely feel like if nothing weird happens I should be up there and at least should have a chance at winning this tournament."

And he means a decidedly better shot at winning than he had seven years ago.

Like many of the world's best players, Mickelson is gearing up for the U.S. Open in two weeks at Torrey Pines. But he also knows that the Memorial might provide perfect preparation for the deep rough and fast greens in SoCal.

"I'm excited about how I'm starting to play and I want to continue that momentum," he said. "This will be the last tournament I play before the U.S. Open and after this event I'll get home and start practice at Torrey to get ready for that."

Mickelson won at Colonial with a remarkable trouble-skirting birdie on the final hole but it was his short game which separated him from the pack. He was 9-for-9 in sand saves and made all 14 of his putts from 5 feet or less.

There are still plenty of other candidates to collect the $1,080,000 first-place check on Sunday.

Defending champion K.J. Choi isn't ready to step aside after closing with a 7-under-par 65 a year ago at the Memorial to beat Ryan Moore (who had a final-round 66) by a shot.

Another player buoyed by a recent victory — his first in four years on the PGA Tour — is Japan's Ryuji Imada, winner of the AT&T Classic two weeks ago.