The U.S. Open started a week early in Dublin, Ohio.
“This is probably more U.S. Open like than the U.S. Open’s going to be next week (at Pinehurst No. 2),” Rory McIlroy said.
Jackson Koivun didn’t mince words in describing Muirfield Village Golf Club on Friday.
“I think today is probably the hardest golf conditions and course I ever played,” said Koivin, who shot 4-over 76 to make the cut by one.
Koivun, who just finished his freshman year at Auburn by winning the Haskins Award and made his debut in a PGA Tour event this week as the Division I winner of the Jack Nicklaus Award, may be new to playing in the big leagues but he wasn’t alone in his assessment of how difficult Jack’s Place played.
“It’s always tough out here at Memorial, but today was extra tough,” Keegan Bradley said. “It’s one of the best rounds I’ve played all year.”
“Anything under par I think is a good score,” McIlroy added.
What made it so tough?
“The wind, the rough, the greens are firming up. It’s a real test out there,” Bradley said. “It’s tough.”
Adam Hadwin, the overnight leader, shot even-par 72 and called Muirfield Village “a tricky place to play.”
“There’s so many shots where you have to be spot on and when you’re playing, whether it’s a 10-mile-an-hour gust or a 20-mile-an-hour gust you’re not sure, you kind of have to pick and hope you pick at the right time,” Hadwin said.
Gusty winds wreaked havoc and made approach shots a guessing game.
“I’ll be shocked if any other player said it was anything other than a guess,” Hadwin said. “I mean, that’s all we’re doing, it’s just educated guessing, really. You try and control the ball flight to limit the amount the wind will affect it, that’s probably one of the biggest things that we can do out here…You’re tossing up a prayer hoping that you picked right in a lot of cases.”
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Most concerning for the field is the general consensus that the course is only going to get harder.
Scottie Scheffler tees off on the 10th hole during the second round of the 2024 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports)
Scottie Scheffler with a three-stroke lead heading into the weekend is a scary proposition for the rest of the field.
Scheffler made an 8-foot eagle putt at No. 15 and a 12-foot birdie putt at the last to post 4-under 68 and improve to 9-under 135.
Of the eagle that lifted him back into the solo lead, Scheffler said, “It was just a kind of nice hold 3-iron and, yeah, felt like I had a good number and it’s nice when I have a number where I want to cut it and the pin’s on the right.”
The world No. 1 has won the Masters, Players Championship and two other signature events and looks poised to get a handshake on Sunday from Nicklaus, the tournament host. Asked if golf is feeling easy these days, Scheffler said, “Easy is definitely not the right word. I feel like what I love about this game is how difficult it is. I love coming out here and competing against the best players in the world on the best golf courses, and this is obviously a pretty challenging track.”
Viktor Hovland watches after teeing off on the fifth hole during the second round of the 2024 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports)
Viktor Hovland is three shots back after shooting his second straight 69 on Friday. But he was much happier with his second round than his first.
“It’s just hard to get it close to the hole, but I managed to do that today somehow,” Hovland said of Friday’s challenging conditions.
After the first round, Hovland went to the range and did a FaceTime session with his coach Joe Mayo. They reunited before the PGA Championship last month and whatever they’re doing, it’s working.
“We just talked through some feels and simple cues that I saw some immediate kind of improvement, so it was nice to take those feels out to the course today,” he said.
Adam Hadwin reacts during the second round of the 2024 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports)
Adam Hadwin followed up his 66 on Thursday with an even-par 72 on Friday. He was the solo leader at 8 under before he made a double bogey at No. 17.
“Through 36, I’ve hit one shot where it kind of didn’t work out how we thought. So that’s pretty darn good in 36 holes,” Hadwin said.
The Canadian needs a T-3 or better to pass fellow countryman Corey Conners in the world rankings and improve his chances of securing a spot on Canada’s Olympics team but he’s not obsessing over it.
“I am going to do my best to try and win a golf tournament. That’s it. That’s my sole focus,” he said. “It’s been seven years since I’ve won, so I think it’s about time.”
Christiaan Bezuidenhout lines up his putt on the 14th hole during the second round of the 2024 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports)
Christiaan Bezuidenhout putter heated up on Friday and the South African rolled to a 5-under 67. He made 152 feet and 3 inches of putts, which ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting, and took just 20 putts. He was hot from the get-go, canning a 40-footer at the first.
“I knew it was going to be tough today, so I just said to myself, just try to keep it simple, just try to hit the greens, give yourself putts,” he said. “The greens at Muirfield are so pure, if you read it well and start it well you can make a lot of putts, and that’s what I did today.”
It didn’t hurt that he holed out from off the sixth green too.
“Normally, if you shoot a special round like that things have to go your way in the round, and it did,” he said.
Bezuidenhout said he hadn’t had a putting day like Friday in a while. In fact, he lost nearly three strokes to the field with the short stick in the first round, ranking 69th of 73 in the field in SG: Putting.
“Like yesterday wasn’t my best putting round at all,” he said. “It was nice to see the ball go in for a change and post a low number.”
Asked if he was going to enjoy watching the afternoon wave struggle on a windy, tough day at Jack’s Place, he said, “I’m going to definitely sit on my couch at home now and watch the coverage and laugh a little.”
Jackson Koivun plays his shot from the fifth tee during the first round of the 2024 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Jackson Koivun keeps on rolling. The Auburn freshman, who cleaned up on all the Player of the Year awards in college golf, shot 72-76 to survive the cut on the number in his PGA Tour debut.
Friday’s second round was a struggle at times but he did enough to make the weekend.
“I saw the leaderboard kind of posted up and the projected cut was 4. In the back of my mind I’m like, you got a lot of birdie holes coming up and it could move to 5, so as long as you get through 10 or 11 and 12, they were playing straight in the wind and playing really hard, I had some good opportunities coming in, just needed to play smart coming through,” he said.
Koivun said it helped to have a comfortable pairing with veteran Brandt Snedeker.
“Right off the gate he was very nice and talkative, and it helped me kind of just settle into the round,” Koivun explained. “Those first two holes yesterday were, definitely had, felt some nerves. Then today it was not as nervous, which was nice. We hit it off great and I can’t say enough good things about him.”
Koivun went to practice on Thursday after shooting 72 but ended up spending much of his time on his phone, which was blowing up with well-wishers.
“I had to put it away on the range, otherwise I would be just scrolling for an hour or so,” he said.