Jordan Spieth put together a strong round at Muirfield Village for The Memorial Tournament, and he is one of only 11 players under par.
Spieth shot up nine spots after he signed for a 3-under 69 to sit at 3-under overall.
He made a bogey on the par-3 4th and a birdie on the par-5 7th to make the turn at even par. Spieth’s round stayed level with a birdie on 13th, followed by a bogey on 14. He was struggling to get anything going.
And then he closed with precision, getting himself in the mix.
Spieth picked up a birdie on 15 before he closed with back-to-back par-breakers on 17 and 18.
“I played well. I didn’t make anything to start, and then I got a birdie to drop on 7, and then I made a nice par save on 8, and it felt like the lid came off, and I putted well from there,” Spieth said after his round on Friday.
Statistically, Spieth sits atop the field in strokes gained approach to the green at +3.223. He hit 13 of 18 greens and was 3-of-5 in scrambling. In strokes gained total, he is +3.958, which is tied for fifth. To pick up almost four strokes when this golf course is playing this hard is impressive.
“It was a really good ball-striking round,” he explained. “When the rain stopped, I was able to take advantage coming in. It was nice going off later today because when that stopped on — what was that, 8 or so, 7? It was a big difference.”
The former Texas Longhorn battled the elements to finish well on Friday, and that grit looked like the old Spieth.
“It’s nice because this course, you can’t fake it. It tells you where you are. I’ve been feeling like I’ve been pretty close, and I want to stay the course, and it’s nice to get rewarded the last couple of holes there with some nice shots, looking at the weekend with some heavy wind tomorrow, and know that I have a chance.”
Spieth sits four shots behind the 36-hole leaders in Ben Griffin and Nick Taylor at 7-under. Griffin won the Charles Schwab Challenge this past weekend, and his good play continued. He is red hot and could claim his first Signature Event victory.
However, Scottie Scheffler lurks at 4-under and sits in solo fourth despite his putting woes. Akshay Bhatia is in solo third at 5-under overall.
Spieth will play alongside Tom Hoge for Round 3 of The Memorial at 2:37 p.m. ET.
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