Rory McIlroy shoots 68 to sit on four under at halfway stage of Memorial Tournament; Justin Suh leads at eight under, with Hideki Matsuyama and Patrick Cantlay close behind; watch day three live on Sky Sports Golf from 8.15pm, with early coverage starting at 4.30pm
Saturday 3 June 2023 08:34, UK
Rory McIlroy bounced back from the nightmare finish to his opening round on day two of the prestigious Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.
The Northern Irishman sits four shots off the lead held by Justin Suh on eight under par, whilst Hideki Matsuyama, the former Masters champion, carded a superb bogey-free 65 to lead by one from two-time Memorial champion Patrick Cantlay and David Lipsky.
Just two days after tournament host Jack Nicklaus had lamented McIlroy's occasional lapses in concentration, the four-time major winner carded a triple bogey on the 18th for a level-par 72, but Friday brought a second-round 68 for an overall score of four under at the halfway stage.
"I don't know whether his is a constant lack of being able to keep that concentration for the whole thing or not, because sometimes he (goes) par, par, par, double, eight," Nicklaus said in his pre-event press conference.
"He does that sometimes."
It was not an eight on Thursday but a nevertheless destructive seven on the par-four 18th, where his drive finished in deep rough on a steep side slope.
McIlroy could only hack his ball almost sideways into more rough and he caught a flier with his third before taking four shots to get down from the back of the green.
"I felt good about everything that I did yesterday," McIlroy said after hitting six birdies and two bogeys in his second round.
"I got one bad break on 18 with that ball finishing on the bank of the bunker. So I really feel like I'm one shot out of leading this golf tournament.
"(If) that rolls down into the bunker, hopefully I'm able to hit it on the green and make a four and instead of standing here at four under I would be at seven under and feeling really good about everything.
"I felt like I did a lot of really good things yesterday and I did a lot of good things right, so I can't let that one sort of unlucky break sort of hide the fact that everything else was working pretty well."
Justin Suh signed for a 6-under 66 at the Memorial after one last birdie on the 18th that gave him a one-shot lead over past champion Hideki Matsuyama, with Patrick Cantlay another shot behind alongside David Lipsky.
Matsuyama and Cantlay played in the morning, two players who consider the course Jack Nicklaus built among their favourites all year. Matsuyama's putting was equal to Suh produced in the afternoon, rolling in big birdie putts on his way to a tournament-best 65.
The group four shots behind included Rory McIlroy (68) and Jon Rahm (70).
McIlroy was mostly satisfied after he banished the demons of Thursday and finished strong for a 68 that puts him in the mix going into the weekend.
Rahm opened with back-to-back bogeys and stayed the course, waiting for birdie opportunities that eventually fell his way. He played bogey-free the rest of the way, picked up two birdies on par fives and closed with a birdie on the 18th to get in range.
The cut was at 3-over 147, and Scottie Scheffler just made it.
Scheffler, who is back to No 1 in the world rankings, has not finished worst than 12th all year. Keeping that streak alive will take some work, not to mention some putts. He ranks last in putting among the 66 players who made the cut.
Watch day three of the Memorial Tournament live on Sky Sports Golf from 8.15pm on Saturday, with early coverage starting at 4.30pm.
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