The Memorial Tournament is off to a fast start as the weekend approaches and after Friday's play Tiger Woods ended up at two over par on the day and nearly missed the cut at Muirfield Village Golf Club, but after a solid finish he remained in play sitting 10 shots behind leader Bill Haas, who shot a 5-under 67.
Woods was at one over par for the tournament and finished at 145 overall to just make it into the 36 hole cut and he will have to have quite the weekend to catch Haas at the top of the leaderboard at nine under. The weather didn't do Woods any favors and he now will head into the weekend with some ground to cover while he is playing his final tournament before the U.S. Open Championship. Woods has been fantastic on tour this year while winning five of his seven starts and after winning the Players Championship he entered the Memorial as the defending champion and favorite, but after two mediocre days he will have to improve just to hang on. Woods has been excellent from the tee and fantastic with his putter through the PGA Tour season, but his putter failed him on Friday and he will need to bounce back with some strong play to salvage the tournament.
Woods entered play after winning the Players Championship and after dealing with some drama with Sergio Garcia about distracting him during a shot, Garcia made a racist remark and the two went back and forth in the media and Woods said the matter was at rest. During the Memorial, Woods came in shooting 16 of his past 17 rounds under par and he only hit four greens over the first nine holes of the day. Keegan Bradley shot a 74 and Fred Couples shot a 75 and Woods' biggest trouble was on the ninth hole when he ended up with a bogey.
The course is usually a kind one to Woods, but this time around he had a rough time and ended up over par after previously going over just nine times in his last 53 rounds in Dublin. Woods has been killing it on par five holes all year and he had trouble on the 15th when he finished with a double bogey. Woods has shot a round that high just twice over the past 52 rounds and he said on Friday that he felt good on the course, but the shots just weren't working. Woods added that he thinks it won't have an affect on the next major and that he hopes to improve on Saturday.
Some play ended up being suspended on Friday due to rain and the second round will have to be played on Saturday morning starting at 7:30 with names like Charl Schwartzel, Bubba Watson and Scott Stallings still needing to finish up. Rory McIlroy had another rough day after opening with one of his worst career rounds and he finished with a 74 after making a double bogey on the par five 15th hole. McIlroy and Woods both were close to the cut line and surviving the weekend could be some trouble if they don't improve in the third round on Saturday at Memorial.