Nick Taylor makes it look easy in the rain and shares the lead at Memorial

Associated Press

a day ago

DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Nick Taylor brought his best golf on a day that required no less at the Memorial. He putted for birdie on all but one hole Friday, somehow kept bogeys off his card and had a 4-under 68 that gave him a share of the lead with Ben Griffin.
Taylor faced the worst of the weather, a rain that wouldn't quit, and the Canadian leaned on his college days as a Washington Huskie. He doesn't like these conditions, but he's knows them.
Most impressive was keeping the stress at a minimum.
'It was a clean card, which was not necessarily what I expected,' Taylor said. 'But it was nice to keep it as simple as possible.'
Griffin caught a slight break in the afternoon when the rain relented and Muirfield Village was soft. He had 16 pars, a birdie and a bogey for a 72 that put him at 7-under 137 with Taylor.
Akshay Bhatia (69) was two shots behind, followed by defending champion Scottie Scheffler. The world's No. 1 player always seems to be lurking, and his 70 was probably as high as he could have shot the way he was hitting the ball in the rain.
Scheffler missed a trio of birdie chances inside 10 feet on the front nine, hit wedge into the water on the 14th for bogey but otherwise was never too far away.
'Really a lot of good ball striking on the front nine to get me a good score there,' he said.
It was the highest 36-hole score to lead the Memorial since 2012. The rain was merely a nuisance that added to what already is a difficult test with rough that players feel will get them prepared for the U.S. Open in two weeks at Oakmont.
'The rough is almost second-to-none, at least for a 'regular' tour event,' Taylor said. 'Torrey Pines was pretty thick this year. Bay Hill is always thick. But it seems to be just a little bit thicker here, playing that much more difficult.
'You can catch a break here or there, but you just got to be in the fairway.'
Taylor showed that keeping the ball in play and hitting good irons could go a long way, and he wasn't alone.
Sam Burns played in the tougher morning conditions and shot 65 — 11 shots better than his opening round — to get within four of the lead. Justin Rose holed out from the fairway on No. 3 for eagle and made six birdies on the back. It added to a 66 — 12 shots better than Thursday — to get him back to even par.
The drama came at the cut line. Because this is a player-hosted signature event — Jack Nicklaus in this case — there was a 36-hole cut to the top 50 and ties. It moved all the way down to 5-over 149, and that remarkably includes Hideki Matsuyama.
The Japanese star birdied the 17th and needed par on the 18th to get to the weekend. He hooked his drive so badly on the final hole that it cleared the stream running down the left side of the fairway. From mangled rough, he belted it up toward the green and got up-and-down.
When it comes to all-world pars, Jordan Spieth always seems to enter the conversation. Spieth pulled his tee shot on the par-5 11th inside the hazard line, just above the creek. He removed his socks and shoes and rolled his pants up to his knees to try to hack it out.
And then he picked up the ball and took a penalty drop. This wasn't a long discussion.
'The creek's too deep so I couldn't actually stand in the water,' Spieth said. 'Also, I could reach the green (by taking a drop on shorter grass), which was a big reason why I took a drop.'
If only it were that simple. He sent his 3-wood well to the right, clattering around trees and landing in more rough. But the lie was decent, and he managed to hit a flop shot over the bunkers and onto the green, rolling out to 4 feet for a par save.
There was more to his round. Spieth birdied three of the last four holes. for a 69 and suddenly finds himself right in the mix, four shots out of the lead.
Only 11 players remained under par. That included Collin Morikawa, who was tied for the lead through six holes and was done in on the par 5s. He played them in 3 over, including taking five shots from 50 feet away from the hole. The rough at Muirfield can make anyone look silly.
Morikawa saved par on the 18th from a bunker for a 75 and was in the group at 2-under 142 that included Xander Schauffele, who started his day with a double bogey and finished it with four birdies on his last five holes.
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