Justin Suh shook off a late bogey with a birdie at 18 to grab a one-shot lead ahead of former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama on Friday at the US PGA Tour Memorial tournament.
But the second round saw an Aussie meltdown, with only Adam Scott making the cut – and that despite a three-over par 75.
Scott started the day in 10th after a first-round 70, and impressed in the front nine with three birdies and one bogey leaving him two-under at the halfway mark of the round.
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But he unravelled on the back nine in a five-shot meltdown, with back to back double bogeys on 12 and 13. On 12, his tee shot found the water, before his tee shot on 13 sailed out of bounds. He pulled back one shot on 15, before bogeys on the 16th and 18th saw his promising round come undone. He sits tied for 44th on one-over overall, nine shots behind leader Suh.
Scott wasn’t the only Aussie to struggle.
Jason Day narrowly missed the cut after a bogey on the last hole, despite an even-par round that featured an eagle on the par-five 11th.
He double-bogeyed the par-three fourth hole after a poor approach shot saw him only scramble his next attempt into a bunker. Day picked up a birdie on seven before a sloppy bogey on 10.
Then came a brilliant eagle on the 590-yard par five 11th, with a sublime 355-yard drive before his approach left him a 43-foot putt – which he remarkably rolled home for his fourth PGA Tour eagle of the season.
Another birdie on 15 had him one-under for the round and two-under overall, but he slipped up on 18 when his approach found the left greenhide bunker – and he couldn’t quite scramble his way to par.
Lucas Herbert, meanwhile, followed his four-over par first round with a two-over 74, while Cam Davis carded a truly wild seven-over 79 featuring three double bogeys, three bogeys, and four birdies. He finished nine-over overall, level with another Aussie in David Micheluzzi after his 78.
Suh, a 25-year-old Californian chasing a first tour title, had seven birdies in his six-under par 66 and a 36-hole total of eight-under 136.
That put him one in front of Matsuyama, the 2014 Memorial winner who set an early target with a bogey-free seven-under par 65 for 137.
Suh had climbed the leaderboard with three front-nine birdies, including a 20-footer at the fifth. He tied Matsuyama on seven-under with a 17-foot birdie putt at the 14th and took the solo lead with a birdie at the 15th.
But he was unable to get up and down from a greenhide bunker at the par-three 16th, dropping back into a tie before rolling in a nine-foot putt for a textbook birdie at the last.
Suh said holing a 16-foot putt from off the green at the opening hole was crucial to the round in difficult conditions at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio.
“That was a big momentum swinger just off the bat,” he said. “For that to go in, I thought it just kind of put a little more pep in my step for the next 17 holes.”
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Suh has plenty of star talent on his heels heading into the weekend, with Matsuyama one stroke clear of world number four and two-time Memorial winner Patrick Cantlay, who was tied on six-under with David Lipsky.
Reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm, the world number two, carded a 68 to join a group on four-under that also featured third-ranked Rory McIlroy.
Matsuyama, who has two other top 10 finishes at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial in addition to his victory, said putting was the key to his sizzling round.
He birdied three of his last four holes, including a 25-foot birdie at the seventh and a 33-footer at the eighth.
“To make those putts at seven and eight were huge,” said Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion who has struggled with a neck injury over the past year and has just one top-five finish in the last four months.
McIlroy rebounded from a triple-bogey on 18 on Thursday to card a four-under par 68, and said it wasn’t difficult to refocus.
“I got one bad break on 18 with that ball finishing on the bank of the bunker,” McIlroy said of his first-round effort. “I felt like I did a lot of really good things (Thursday) so I can’t let that one sort of unlucky break sort of hide the fact that everything else was working pretty well.”
Rahm, who could overtake Scottie Scheffler atop the world rankings with a victory this week, joined the group on 140 with his second straight 70.
“I feel really comfortable tee to green all day,” said Rahm, who opened with back-to-back bogeys but had four birdies the rest of the way.
“Hit a lot of good putts that just didn’t go in.
“But I always like to think that things usually even out and we kind of guessed the wind very well on 16 and made three really good putts on 15, 17, and 18 to post a really good score.”
Scheffler, meanwhile, struggled for the second straight day, making the cut on the number at three-over after a one-over par 73.
