Dublin, Ohio — Nick Taylor brought the best golf on a day needed more at the monument. He putts birdies on every hole except one on Friday, somehow pulling bogey away from the card and had a 4-under 68 that gave him a share of the lead with Ben Griffin.
Taylor faced the worst weather, rainfall fell, and Canadians leaned against their college days as Washington Huskys. He doesn’t like these conditions, but he knows them.
The most impressive thing was minimizing stress.
“It was a pretty card and wasn’t necessarily what I expected,” Taylor said. “But it’s good that I was able to keep it as simple as possible.”
Griffin took a slight break when the rain was tolerant in the afternoon and Muirfield Village was soft. He had 16 pars, birdies and 72 bogeys, so he placed him at Taylor and 7 under 137.
Akshay Bhatia (69) was two shots behind, followed by defending champion Scottie Scheffler. The world’s number one player seemed to be constantly hiding, and his 70 was probably as high as he could shoot the way he was hitting the ball in the rain.
Schaeffler missed the birdie chance trio within 10 feet of the front nine and hit the wedge in the water on the 14th for a bogey, but otherwise not far away.
“So many good balls on the front nine get me a good score,” he said.
This was the highest 36 holes score that led the monument since 2012. The rain was an annoying thing added to what is already a difficult test that players feel will prepare the US in two weeks at Oakmont.
“Rough is almost second at least for ‘regular’ tour events,” Taylor said. “The Tory Pines were pretty thick this year. Bayhill was always thick. But it seems a little thick here and it seems much more difficult.
“We can take a break here too, but we were just on the fairway.”
Taylor showed that playing ball and hitting good irons could come a long way, and that he wasn’t alone.
Sam Burns played in tougher morning situations, earning a 65-11 shot better than his opening round – within four of his lead. Justin Rose drilled a hole from the fairway on No. 3 for the Eagle and made six birdies behind him. More 66-12 shots were added above than Thursday, bringing him back evenly.
The drama came to the cut line. As this is a player host’s signature event, in this case there was a 36-hole cut in the top 50 and tie. It traveled all the way up to 149 over five, which includes Matsuyama Hideki.
The Japanese star birded on the 17th and needed a par to reach the weekend on the 18th. He hung the drive badly into the final hole and cleared the stream running down the left side of the fairway. From Manglerough he belted it up and downwards, moving it up and downwards.
Jordan Spieth seems to be constantly involved in conversation. Spieth drew a tee shot in par 5 11th place in the hazard line just above the stream. He removed his socks and shoes and rolled his pants to his knees to try and hacked them out.
He then picked up the ball and took a penalty drop. This was not a long discussion.
“The stream was too deep so we couldn’t actually stand under the water,” Spieth said. “Also, I was able to reach green by dropping on the short grass.
What if that was that simple. He sent three trees well to the right, rattling the trees and landing rougher. But the lies were decent and he managed to take a flop shot on the bunker.
There was more in his round. Spieth birded three of the last four holes. For 69, he suddenly realizes he is in the mix and then a 4-shot from the lead.
Only 11 players remained at face value. It included Morikawa Forest, which was tied up and took place on a par 5, leading six holes. He played them in 3, including taking five shots from 50 feet away from the hole. Muirfield’s rough can make everyone look stupid.
Morikawa saved pars from 75 bunkers at 185 and was in the 2-under 142 group. This included Xander Schauffele.
