Second round in the books; Fowler makes late push
COVER PHOTO: Rickie Fowler celebrates after an eagle chip in on the 15th hole during the second round. Picture by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images.
It’s moving day at the 48th annual Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and it looks like about half of the 120-man field will continue into the weekend.
The cut was three-over par and according to the official leaderboard, 66 guys will be playing two more rounds at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
Two of the four former Memorial champions that managed to make the cut are in contention atop the leaderboard while a couple of relative unknowns are also in the mix.
The Official World Golf Ranking’s No. 71 player, Justin Suh, is your current leader at eight-under after shooting a six-under, 66, for his second round.
After going even-par on Thursday, Hideki Matsuyama, the 2014 tournament champion, is currently in second place after lighting up the course on Friday with the lowest score, a seven-under, 65.
Two-time winner Patrick Cantlay is currently tied for third at six-under with the world’s 160th-ranked golfer, David Lipsky. Cantlay shot a 71 and 67 while Lipsky carded consecutive 69’s.
But it’s names like Rahm, McIlroy and Fowler that have given this year’s tournament some more juice going into round three.
World No. 2 Jon Rahm, No. 3 Rory McIlroy and 14-year-straight Memorial participant Rickie Fowler all currently sit tied for seventh at four-under. Both McIlroy and Fowler carded a 72 on Thursday and a 68 on Friday while Rahm shot back-to-back 70’s.
For Fowler, making a push right now feels great given how the previous three seasons have been some of the worst he’s played since turning pro in 2009. He missed nine cuts both last season and the season before as well as missing six in the 2019-’20 season. The nine are the most ever in his career and the six were the most since missing seven cuts in 2013-’14.
“I would say they were definitely tough times. It's never easy. But I had to look at it as a challenge and knew that it was something that was going to be worth it when we get through this and get on the good side. Everyone goes through tough times and struggles, it's just part of it. Maybe sometimes it's not two or three years. But, yeah, it's much more kind of looking for some light at the end of the tunnel and always trying to be optimistic and at least knowing that there are a lot of good things.”
Fowler had an inauspicious start on Thursday when he put his opening tee shot on No. 10 into the rough avoiding the left fairway sand trap. However, he couldn’t avoid the sand on his second shot when he put it in the lower-left greenside bunker. After overshooting the green into the rough on his third shot, he pitched out four feet past the hole on his fourth but pushed the bogey putt and settled for a double to start the tournament.
He scrambled to save par for the round after holing three birdies with another bogey thrown in.
His second round, though, basically started much like the first after he bogeyed No. 2 when he put his tee shot in the left rough and then duffed his second 40 yards straight ahead into the first-cut rough. His third shot sailed 41 feet past the hole into the rough but he was able to pitch his fourth to within nine inches of the hole and knocked in the bogey from there.
He went bogey-free after that, grinding out three birdies as well as an eagle on par-5, No. 15 after chipping in from the curtain 72 feet below the hole.
“You have to be playing from the fairway,” he said. “There's a lot of times … where you're not even worried or thinking about where the pin's at. You're going to get some opportunities where you're going to be able to get it close or take advantage of the par-5s.”
The current leader, Suh, has had nearly two flawless rounds with 10 total birdies to only two bogeys, with one in each round and both coming late in the second nine. Seven of those birdies were carded on Friday.
But it wasn’t just the birdies that stood out to the 25-year-old, four-year pro from San Jose, Calif. who’s looking for his first PGA TOUR win, it was his ability to save par on a couple of holes after putting himself in a precarious position.
“Probably the one on the first (hole). That was a big momentum swinger just off the bat,” he said. “I hit a horrible chip to the front fringe (and then) it was actually a tricky putt. It was breaking heavy in the beginning, then straightened out. For that to go in, I thought it just kind of put a little more pep in my step for the next 17 holes. So I think that was a big putt to just start off with.”
He followed up that par save with six birdies until committing his second bogey of the tournament on par-3 No. 16 when he cranked his tee shot into the right greenside bunker. His pitch out of the sand went 22 feet past the hole and he pushed the par putt almost four feet past the hole but would drop the next putt for the bogey. He birdied par-4, No. 18 to end the second round.
Former champ Matsuyama said it was his putting that made the difference.
“I made some good par saving putts today and … the course is playing tough, especially the greens. If the greens get even harder than they are now, it's going to be a challenge this weekend. But today the putts went in so I'm satisfied.”
Even though Matsuyama felt it was his putting that saved the day, it was getting to the green in the first place that put him in a great position. According to the PGA TOUR official website, he tied for second on the day with almost 70 percent of greens in regulation.
And it’s a good thing his putter has been working for him because his driving ability has gone down since suffering a slight neck injury over a year ago at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“It's been a tough spell. Distance is down from where it was. But I'm working through it and hopefully we'll have a good summer.”
Matsuyama’s second round was bogey-free with seven birdies after two bogeys and a double bogey on Thursday.
He and Suh will be the final group to tee off Saturday with the start time at 1:35 p.m.
Rahm started his second round with consecutive bogeys but didn’t hole another one while carding four birdies. McIlroy sprinkled two bogeys with six birdies, one bogey and three birdies coming on each nine. Rahm is paired with Patrick Rodgers and will tee off at 12:55 p.m. while McIlroy is with Sepp Straka in the next group at 1:05 p.m.
The world’s No. 5, Xander Schauffele, made a huge 71-spot jump from Thursday to Friday after blistering the course for a 66 in his second round and is currently one-under after shooting a 77 on Thursday. He’s grouped with Gary Woodland at 11:35 a.m.
OTHER NOTABLES
Scottie Scheffler has had an interesting tourney so far, mixing and matching birdies and bogeys for his first two rounds. The world’s top-ranked golfer was right at the cut line at three-over after shooting a 74 on Thursday and 73 on Friday.
His first round consisted of two birdies and four bogeys. His second round, though, he holed out three birdies and one bogey on the front nine only to follow it up with four bogeys and one birdie on the back. He’ll go off with Davis Thompson in the second group on Saturday at 8:05 a.m.
Jordan Spieth fell nine spots after being tied for third on Thursday with an even par, 72, on Friday. His first round consisted of four birdies and one bogey, with that coming on the last hole, but his second of three birdies and three bogeys.
He’ll play with Luke Donald – who shot a three-under, 69, on Friday – at 12:30 p.m.
Two guys who graced the top of the leaderboard on Thursday had less than fortuitous rounds on Friday, Davis Riley and Matt Wallace.
Riley led the field after the first round with a five-under, 67, but followed it up with a six-over, 78, for his second round that consisted of three birdies, five bogeys and two double bogeys. He sits tied for 44th at one-over.
Wallace fell from second place on Thursday to tied for 17th after carding four bogeys and two birdies on Friday including back-to-back on Nos. 8 and 9 to end the round.
Riley will tee off with Thomas Detry at 9:40 a.m. while Wallace plays with Viktor Hovland at noon.
For those that missed the cut, click here.
For a complete list of Saturday’s pairings and tee times, click here.
