Nick Taylor conjured 4 birdies with no bogey in a four-under-par 68 on Friday to tug right into a tie for the lead with Ben Griffin within the US PGA Tour’s Memorial Event in Dublin, Ohio.
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Taylor, who claimed his fifth PGA title on the Sony Open this 12 months, navigated rain-soaked Muirfield Village with little actual hassle on the way in which to a 36-hole whole of seven-under par 137.
“The iron game was very, very sharp,” Taylor stated. “Putting, made bunch of nice five-, six-footers on that back nine for par.”
In a single day chief Griffin, coming off his second win of the season at Colonial final week, had one bogey and one birdie in an even-par 71 to keep up a share of the lead.
The main duo have been two strokes in entrance of American Akshay Bhatia, who carded a 69, with world primary Scottie Scheffler three adrift after his second straight 70 for 140.
“I think everyone would probably say it was kind of a grind,” Griffin stated. “Fortunately, having a later tee time, I didn’t have to battle the elements quite as much as some of the early groups.
“However a day like right this moment when it is actually moist, I believe hitting it within the tough is simply much more penal. The ball simply type of goes straight to the underside with the moisture, after which when there’s moisture, it is tougher to get to the ball down within the tough. So I had some very difficult 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.”
Taylor coped admirably, getting issues transferring with a 24-foot birdie put on the fourth gap. He added a two-foot birdie on the eighth and rolled in a 20-foot on the ninth.
He grabbed his ultimate birdie on the thirteenth.
“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,” he stated.
“It was nice to keep it as simple as possible.”
Bhatia put himself in rivalry within the signature occasion hosted by Jack Nicklaus with 5 birdies.
“I felt like this was the best my iron play has been, ever,” Bhatia stated. “I mean, I hit two flagsticks today and then felt like pretty much anytime where my caddie told me to hit it, I was literally hitting it there.
“In order that was very nice.”
Scheffler called his two-under effort a “stable day” despite a double bogey at the 10th.
“I had some beauty on the entrance 9 that I did not gap, however on the again I rolled it very nice,” Scheffler stated.
After his double bogey on the tenth the place he was within the tough off the tee and at last three-putted from 43 toes Scheffler responded with birdies on the eleventh and twelfth.
He completed the day alone in fourth, one stroke in entrance of Sam Burns, Shane Lowry and Jordan Spieth.
Burns climbed the leaderboard with a powerful seven-under par 65, whereas Eire’s Lowry posted an excellent par 72 and Spieth carded a 69.
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