Memorial Tournament 2013: Day 2 Leaderboard Analysis, Highlights and More
Friday's second-round action from the 2013 Memorial Tournament was scheduled to be finished before darkness struck Muirfield Village, but stoppages due to rain forced play to be cut short before all the golfers could reach the clubhouse with a complete scorecard.
Bill Haas is your Round 2 leader at the moment, following up his opening-round 68 with a five-under 67 to take a three-shot lead over Matt Kuchar, the only player at six-under to make it through both rounds.
Per this tweet from the Golf Channel, play is scheduled to resume at 7:30 a.m. (ET) on Saturday morning at the legendary Ohio course:
Here's a look at the top of the second-round leaderboard from Dublin, Ohio. For a complete look at the leaderboard after two rounds of action, click here (via PGATour.com).
| 1 | Bill Haas | 68 | 67 | -9 |
| T2 | Matt Kuchar | 68 | 70 | -6 |
| T2 | Charl Schwartzel | 65 | (15) | -6 |
| T2 | Bubba Watson | 71 | (14) | -6 |
| T2 | Kyle Stanley | 67 | (13) | -6 |
| 6 | Scott Stallings | 70 | (13) | -5 |
| T7 | Robert Karlsson | 69 | 71 | -4 |
| T7 | Justin Rose | 70 | (14) | -4 |
| T7 | Charlie Wi | 67 | (12) | -4 |
| Other Notables | ||||
| T10 | Hunter Mahan | 73 | 68 | -3 |
| T27 | Rickie Fowler | 72 | 71 | -1 |
| T27 | Adam Scott | 73 | (15) | -1 |
| T46 | Tiger Woods | 71 | 74 | +1 |
| T57 | Rory McIlroy | 78 | (14) | +2 |
Note: All statistics and video are courtesy of PGATour.com.
The big story of the afternoon, and the tournament so far, has been the strong play of Haas. After missing the cut at the Players Championship three weeks ago, he's roared back with two of the best rounds in the tournament.
His five-under 67 was the best scorecard turned in on Friday, as only Bubba Watson (five-under through 14) and Hunter Mahan (four-under, finished) were within striking distance and positioned themselves near the top of the leaderboard for when things open back up on Saturday.
Haas' highest finish on the PGA Tour this year is a tied-for-third mark at the Northern Trust Open back in February, but he'll have a three-stroke lead to use to his advantage the rest of the way.
Haas also spoke to the press following his stellar round of golf (via PGATour on Twitter):
Behind Haas, Kuchar, Watson, Charl Schwartzel and Kyle Stanley all have a share of the second-place slot. Kuchar has been one of the PGA's hottest golfers this month, as ESPN's Justin Ray noted following his two-under 70 on Friday:
Justin Rose is also back in the top 10 on a tournament leaderboard for the first time in what feels like a few weeks. He, too, missed the cut at the Players and hasn't finished in the top 10 since March's Arnold Palmer Invitational.
A solid two-under score through 14 holes has Rose primed to strike on Saturday morning and the rest of the way.
The bigger stars on the PGA Tour have been quieter so far this week.
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have both struggled out of the gate and find themselves nowhere near the tournament leaders after two (incomplete) days of action. Woods sits a distant 10 strokes off the pace, and after McIlroy had a horrific six-over 78 on Thursday, he's managed to make things look more respectable with a four-under score through 14 holes.
Here's Tiger on No. 9:
Woods, who finished with two birdies, two bogeys and a dreaded double bogey on the afternoon, also spoke to the press following his disappointing two-over day (via PGATour on Twitter):
It looks like both stars will be above the projected cut line of three-over, but there are still a few holes left on Saturday morning for McIlroy to prove his strong showing on Friday will not be in vain and result in a long weekend.
Other notable scores include longtime PGA Tour legends Davis Love III and Ernie Els staying in the mix after Friday's round. Both men have been in a bit of a dry spell of late, but are in the hunt here, as each sit at two-under par after their partial rounds.
Els, who had a streak of four birdies in six holes on Friday, added this one at No. 14 during the midst of that nice run:
2013 Masters winner Adam Scott sits at one-under in an incomplete round, while fellow Australians Jason Day and Marc Leishman are not faring as well as they did at Augusta. Day is right near the cutline at three-over, while Leishman will have four holes to get his score above the line on Saturday morning (currently four-over).
Others below the projected cut include Lee Westwood, D.A. Points and Tianlang Guan, the young 14-year-old international star who captured our hearts at the Masters. After playing even golf over the first 18 holes, Guan had a rough afternoon at Muirfield, finishing seven-over and well below the cut line.
The shot of the day belonged to Ken Duke, another man who sits right near the projected cut. His approach on No. 18 landed right on the deep side of the hole, where a steep enough incline lies to spit the ball back.
It fell all the way back down into the cup, and gave Duke a leg up on making the cut the rest of the way.
The golfers will tee it up on Saturday morning to finish the round, and head right into Round 3 during the rest of the day (weather permitting). There haven't been perfect conditions so far, but these pros have pushed through. We'll have to wait and see if the weather affects the clubs the rest of the way and what kind of adversity the eventual winner will have to overcome.
