Dublin, Ohio: Charl Schwartzel was at the top of the leaderboard after the first round, but the second round belonged to Bill Haas.
Haas bogeyed his last hole but still managed to shoot a brilliant five-under par 67 in windy conditions at Muirfield Village Golf Club on Friday.
He has won four career PGA Tour events and the 2011 FedEx Cup, but he definitely came in this week under the radar. Haas commented on his performance leading up to the Memorial,
“I’ve missed my last two cuts before this week, so certainly my expectations were a little lower than they were earlier this year. I had two great weeks off. I had a son….. I think I am in a better frame of mind than I was three weeks ago after missing my second cut in a row.”
Haas’ wife gave birth to their first child on May 13 and it was difficult for him to leave home to play in the Memorial.
When asked how hard it was to leave home, Haas answered,
“It was difficult. Only way I would have skipped would have been if he were born last week. I felt like I needed to help my wife.”
Haas had caddied at this tournament while still in college for his father, Jay Haas. Jack Nicklaus had given Bill a sponsor’s exemption to play in the Memorial right after he first turned professional.
He commented,
“It’s something that I’ll never forget. This is one of the greatest fields in golf to play when you are just out of college. It meant a lot to me. I love coming back and look forward to it every year.”
It was warm in the Columbus, Ohio area and the ball was flying but heavy winds gusting to as much as 40 miles per hour affected scoring.
Tiger Woods mentioned in his post round interview the winds created difficult scoring conditions on the course.
Of his several uncomfortable par saves throughout the second round Woods said,
“I had a hard time with the speed. They don’t look that fast, but they are putting fast. They have a little more moisture on them than they did yesterday afternoon. It was kind of a little mental thing I was struggling with out there.”
He added that the wind affected putting also,
“They (the golf balls) were moving all over the place and the wind is moving balls. It’s tough. You try and stay below the hole as best you can.”
Woods started on the back nine, bogeyed No. 13 and made double-bogey on the par-5 No. 15. He made birdie at both of the par-five holes on the front side (his back nine), but the finishing bogey at No. 9 moved him to one-over par for the tournament and ten shots back of the leader Bill Haas.
Rory McIlroy, No. 2 in the Official World Golf Rankings, shot a poor first round of six-over par 78. His second round was interrupted by two rain delays.
Play was halted for the day at 7:07 PM EDT with 42 players left on the course to complete their second rounds.
McIlroy will have to finish his last four holes early Saturday morning. He is four-under par for the second round through 14 holes and one shot inside the current cut line of three-over par.
14-year-old Guan TianLang, in the field on a sponsor’s invitation from Nicklaus, failed to make the cut. He posted an even-par 72 on Thursday, but ballooned to a seven-over par 79 on Friday.
Matt Kuchar is three shots back of Haas at six-under par.