Round 2: the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance

When Justin Rose began his second round Friday afternoon, he was well aware that Rickie Fowler had moved into a commanding spot atop the leaderboard with a record-tying 36-hole performance.

Rose, who had shared the first-round lead with Fowler and Geoff Ogilvy, also knew something else — there was little chance he would be able to match Fowler’s score.

“In some ways, I knew that wasn’t really an option for me today,” Rose said. “I knew the course was going to play tougher this afternoon.

“In some ways, I knew my challenge today was going to be a little bit different, just to almost keep myself in the tournament, not get too far behind.”

Mission accomplished.

Finishing with a birdie at the 18th hole, Rose posted a 3-under 69 that moved him to 10 under for the tournament and solo second, three shots behind Fowler.

Faced with a day that required more grinding and less scoring chances, Rose doesn’t mind his position on the leaderboard. Although he opened with a bogey for the second consecutive round here, he was steady the rest of the way, managing to birdie three of the four par-5 holes, as well as the par-4 ninth and 18th holes.

“I was probably more pleased with today’s 3 under than yesterday’s 7 under,” Rose said. “Yesterday was benign. I played well. There wasn’t any real challenges to the round.

“Today, there were a lot of challenges out there. Every shot was a grind.”

And now he’ll be in the final threesome of the third round, able to keep tabs on Fowler and keep him in reach.

“I’ve never played with him,” Rose said of the PGA TOUR rookie. “I’ve seen the way he plays, pretty fearless. Going to enjoy it. Someone I can feed off of tomorrow.

“Go out and have some fun and see what happens.”