The biggest name in golf birdied his third hole of the day, birdied his 16th and 17th holes – and played the other 15 holes at 7-over. The biggest name in golf over the past month was even-par through 14 holes – and quintuple-bogeyed his 15th. The biggest name after two rounds of the Memorial was Muirfield Village Golf Club. Here are three things you should know after the second round of the Memorial, the second of back-to-back events at Muirfield in Dublin, Ohio.
Ryan Palmer and Tony Finau lead
Muirfield played easier last week, and Ryan Palmer played poorly. The winning score at the Workday Charity Open was 19-under, and Palmer was 14-over after two rounds and missed the cut.
Muirfield is playing harder this week, and Palmer is playing perfectly. He shot a 4-under 68, which followed a 5-under 67, and he shares the lead with Tony Finau at the halfway point. Jon Rahm is a stroke behind, and three golfers are tied for fourth, three shots back.
“You know, my game wasn’t bad, I didn’t think,” Palmer said. “It’s been pretty good so far this year, just one little small flaw in my backswing. Went home, we found it and started hitting the ball as well as I have been.”
Finau bogeyed his first hole, bogeyed his third hole, then shot 5-under from there to finish with a 3-under 69. He was the leader by a stroke over Palmer after the first round.
“I was really happy with the finish, the way I finished,” Finau said. “Not the ideal start, but I knew I couldn’t look back, just keep on plugging along and try to hit good shot after good shot, and was able to execute a lot better after that.”
What happened with Tiger?
Woods, playing his first tournament since the Genesis Invitational in mid-February due to ailment and the PGA Tour’s three-month hiatus due to the coronavirus, started out well after a 1-under 71 in the first round, making a birdie on his third hole. He finished well, making birdies on his seventh and eighth holes.
He did not play well in between.
Woods bogeyed his fourth, sixth and eighth holes. On his back-nine, he double-bogeyed his 10th hole and bogeyed his 11th and 15th holes. He finished with a 4-over 76 and barely made the cut, which was 3-over.
Woods said he didn’t quite feel right during his warmup, and it carried into the round.
“Yeah, I wasn’t quite moving as well as I’d like and couldn’t quite turn back and couldn’t quite clear,” Woods said. “It was a bit of a struggle.”
What happened with Bryson?
DeChambeau, who has finished no worse than tied for eighth since the PGA Tour’s return just over a month ago, shot a 1-over 73 in the first round, and he was even-par through 14 holes on Friday.
He was 5-over par after 15 holes.
On 15, he hit his drive into a penalty area left. Drop. He hit his third shot over a fence and out of bounds right. Drop from the same location. He hit his fifth shot over the same fence. Drop from the same location. He hit his seventh just in bounds, and after a conversation with two rules officials about whether he could play the first ball that went over the fence, he pitched on. Two putts later, he had his 10, and he finished with a 4-over 76.
DeChambeau missed the cut, the first time he won’t be playing on the weekend since last September.
