Rory McIlroy bounced back from the scary conclusion to his opening round on day two of the prestigious Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.
The Northern Irishman trails Justin Suh by four strokes on eight under par, while former Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama leads by one stroke over Patrick Cantlay and David Lipsky, who have both won the Memorial twice.
The four-time major champion carded a triple bogey on the 18th hole for a level-par 72 only two days after tournament host Jack Nicklaus bemoaned his occasional concentration lapses. However, Friday produced a second-round 68 for an overall score of four under at the halfway point.
In his pre-event news conference, Nicklaus stated, “I don’t know if his is a chronic lack of being able to retain that concentration for the entire thing or not, because sometimes he (goes) par, par, par, double, eight.”
“He does that occasionally.”
On Thursday, it was a devastating seven on the par-four 18th, when his drive landed in heavy rough on a sudden side slope, rather than an eight.
A 4-under day so far has @McIlroyRory just 3 off the lead. pic.twitter.com/TvQD14NMjz
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 2, 2023
It took McIlroy four shots to reach the back of the green after hacking his ball almost sideways into additional rough with his third stroke and catching a flyer with it.
Following his second round, which included six birdies and two bogeys, McIlroy remarked, “I felt good about everything that I did yesterday.”
“On hole 18, I had a terrible break since the ball landed on the bunker’s bank. My perception is that I am one stroke away from taking the lead in this golf event.
“If (that) rolls down into the bunker, hopefully, I can hit it on the green and make a four, and instead of now being at four under, I would be at seven under and feeling pretty good about things.
Perfect touch from @McIlroyRory 🤌 pic.twitter.com/GfBIWQkZBh
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 2, 2023
“I felt like I accomplished a lot of very nice things and a lot of excellent things right yesterday, so I can’t let that one unfortunate break disguise the fact that everything else was functioning really well.”
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