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Memorial Tournament Sees Tie Atop Leaderboard At Halfway Point
Mother Nature had her say early and throughout Friday’s second round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and when the dust settled, Ben Griffin and Nick Taylor each held the lead at 7-under par.
Griffin, already a two-time winner this season including last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge shot an even-par round remaining tied atop the leaderboard. His flinch on the 10th hole, was overcome by birdie on the very next. Griffin’s round could have resulted in a blemish earlier, but a nearly eight-foot effort feel true.
In total, he is seventh in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, third in SG: Around the Green, third in Strokes Gained: Putting, is fourth in scrambling and his 94’2″ of made putts ranks fifth in the field.
This is Griffin’s first time in three tries making the cut. A victory would move him from fifth place to third in the FedExCup points standings.
“I think everyone would probably say it was kind of a grind,” Griffin opined. “Definitely had some heavier rain at times, but it looked like the early guys had more the tougher draw. For me I was fortunate to try to take advantage of some of that. I didn’t really make a lot of birdies, but had a really steady round, and yeah, just the one hiccup on 10. A day like today when it’s really wet, I think hitting it in the rough is just even more penal… 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. I’ll take it and I’m excited to kind of keep the pedal down on the weekend.”
Taylor had his first ever bogey-free round at Muirfield Village Golf Club, with his best finish to date at this signature event a tie for 27th place.
He improved his score by three strokes on the front nine with birdies on the fourth, eighth and ninth holes. One more birdie on 13 allowed him to secure his position in the final group.
The biggest change to Taylor’s game this week is his second placement in Strokes Gained: Putting which is at 4.005, compared to a 92nd placement at .045 overall this season. He won earlier this season triumphing in a playoff at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
“The iron game was very, very sharp,” pointed out Taylor. “Putting, made bunch of nice 5-, 6-footers on that back nine for par. For me, at this place, I need to be in the fairway, that’s everybody, but if I’m in the rough, it’s pretty much a chop out and try to get up-and-down with a wedge or something. Keeping it in the fairway has been key.”
Another thing going for Taylor is the Canadian who went to college at the University of Washington consistently had to contend with rain.
“Usually, October through March or April this was a pretty standard day,” he observed. “College was the same. I went to school in Seattle. I don’t enjoy playing in this, but I’ve played in it enough where I kind of know what to expect.”
Akshay Bhatia is two shots behind at 5-under improving his score by a stroke with his round of 69. Bhatia is tied with Xander Schauffele for most birdies in the field with 11.
Bhatia is also tied for first in driving accuracy hitting 22 of 28 fairways and converting all four of his sand saves. He is second in Strokes Gained: Approach to Green and third in scrambling.
He would be the first left-handed golfer to get the sought-after Jack Nicklaus handshake.
“I felt like this was the best my iron play has been, ever,” beamed Bhatia. “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. So that was really nice. I felt like a little better with the driver, which is good. Still stepped over a couple and didn’t really know where it was going to go, if it was going to go right or left. That’s definitely getting better. I’m starting to see it go in the fairway, and I feel like the curvature of the driver is getting there.”
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler had it going early making three birdies in his first five holes, to get to within two shots the led. He was able to remain in position until a double bogey on the 10th hole and would bounce back to finish at -4, three shots behind the lead.
“If I holed a few more putts probably would have been a little bit of a different score,” he posed. “I felt like I was hitting my lines out there and hit a lot more fairways today. Definitely felt better with my ball striking. So overall, 2-under in these conditions was definitely not a bad score today. I had some good looks on the front nine that I didn’t hole, but on the back, I rolled it really nice. Yeah, outside of — you know, I think I was 1-under through 10 after a sloppy double on 10, and then I played pretty good from there to the house to get to that 2-under.”
Jordan Spieth, one of four sponsor’s exemptions awarded by the Captains Club is tied for fifth at 3-under.
“I played really, really well,” an appreciative Spieth responded. “I was 1-over through 6 and I had missed one green and only had one birdie putt outside of 15 feet. So, it was a really good ball-striking round. Then when the rain stopped, I was able to take advantage coming in. It was really nice going off later today because when that stopped on 8, it was a big difference. It wasn’t a heavy rain, but it was just annoying, and it was heavy for those guys that went off pretty early.
“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 just want to stay the course, and it’s nice to get rewarded the last couple holes there with some really nice shots, looking at the weekend with some heavy wind tomorrow, and know that I have a chance.”
The most normal @JordanSpieth par 😅
(presented by @CDWCorp) pic.twitter.com/BO2pe7Y91a
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 30, 2025
A total of 57 golfers made the cut, with the final 45 minutes of play allowing eight golfers to stay the weekend, this includes 2014 champion Hideki Matsuyama who will play as a solo when the third round commences at 10 a.m.
The day also was a Folds of Honor Friday with a National Anthem rendition. After play was concluded a Patriot Parachute joined by Good Good’s Tom “Bubbie” Broders and Sean Walsh executed a flag jump on the 18th green as the anthem once again played.
Spokesperson and Golf Star Army widow Wesley Bauguess, whose husband United States Army Major Larry J. Bauguess Jr was deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1997 and served in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and lost his life when he sacrificed his life to save his men after leaving a peace meeting in Pakistan. Bauguess’s courage and belief in Folds of Honor’s mission were put on full display to media and later to those who stayed after the round.
THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY WORKDAY SECOND ROUND LEADERBOARD
T1. Ben Griffin -7
T1. Nick Taylor -7
- Akshay Bhatia -5
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Scottie Scheffler -4
T5. Sam Burns -3
T5. Shane Lowry -3
T5. Jordan Spieth -3
T8. Russell Henley -2
T8. Tom Hoge -2
T8. Colin Morikawa -2
T8. Xander Schauffele -2
