Nick Taylor carded a bogey-free 68 to reach 7-under and take a share of the lead at the Memorial Tournament.
“It was a great round,” said Taylor. “The iron game was very, very sharp. Putting, made bunch of nice 5-, 6-footers on that back nine for par. For me, at this place, I need to be in the fairway. That’s everybody. But if I’m in the rough, it’s pretty much a chop out and try to get up-and-down with a wedge or something. So keeping it in the fairway has been key.
“The nice thing was for most of the day my speed was very good, so it was a lot of tap-in pars if I wasn’t making birdie. And that’s huge out here to kind of relieve some of that extra energy if you’re having 3-, 4-footers all day on these tricky greens.
“So, yeah, it was a clean card, which not necessarily that I expected, but it was nice to keep it as simple as possible.”
68 ties his low score (R1/2021) – and first bogey free – in 18 career rounds at Muirfield Village. He sits second in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (4.005) and entered the week 92nd in Strokes Gained: Putting this season (.045).
Taylor holds his third 36-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour. He is 1-for-2 in converting the victory (2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am).
The Canadian has had two top-10s in fourteen starts this season, including his fifth career Tour title at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Ben Griffin started the day with a two-shot lead and made one bogey at the 10th and one birdie at the 11th for an even-par 72 to retain a share of the lead.
“It was kind of a grind. Fortunately, having a later tee time, I didn’t have to battle the elements quite as much as some of the early groups. Definitely had some heavier rain at times, but it looked like the early guys had more the tougher draw. So for me I was fortunate to try to take advantage of some of that. I didn’t really make a lot of birdies, but had a really steady round, and yeah, just the one hiccup on 10,” said Griffin.
“But a day like today when it’s really wet, I think hitting it in the rough is just even more penal. The ball just kind of goes straight to the bottom with the moisture, and then when there’s moisture, it’s harder to get to the ball down in the rough. So I had some very tricky lies. I got some good breaks on a couple holes where I was in the rough and was able to get it up to the green. So all in all, coming off of yesterday where I made just about everything I looked at, you can’t do that every day when you’re playing golf. So I’ll take it and I’m excited to kind of keep the pedal down on the weekend.”
The American holds his third career 36-hole lead/co-lead on Tour and is 1-for-2 in converting the victory (2025 Charles Schwab Challenge).
Griffin entered the week coming off his first individual PGA Tour victory at last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge and seeks to become the first player to win in back-to-back weeks on Tour since Scottie Scheffler at last year’s Masters Tournament and RBC Heritage.
Akshay Bhatia of the United States made five birdies and two bogeys to record a 69 and lies in third place at 5-under. He has made eleven birdies through two rounds, tied for the most in the field with Xander Schauffele (T8/-2). Bhatia has had three top-10s in fourteen starts this season, but none since a season-best T3 at The Players Championship. He seeks to become the first left-handed player to win the Memorial Tournament.
American defending champion and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler made five birdies, one bogey and one double bogey at the par-4 10th to sign for a 70 and move into fourth place at 4-under. He has sat T5 or better through 36
holes in six of his twelve starts on Tour this season.
