Round 2: the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance

By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM

DUBLIN, Ohio — It was a good news, bad news kind of round for Rory McIlroy on Friday at Muirfield Village.

The good news? He’s still tied for the lead at the Memorial Tournament. And the bad? Well, he simply had too many miscues — four bogeys and a double bogey to go along with his six birdies.

McIlroy

"I felt as if I played good enough to shoot something in the 60s but I just made too many mistakes out there," McIlroy said. "I made two bogeys on the front nine from the middle of the fairway with a 9-iron and a sand wedge in my hand. You just can’t do that sort of stuff. And then 14 was playing tough today with that pin position, but to make double there was quite disappointing.

"But you know, I was happy with how I handled everything because I did make mistakes, but it seemed like every time I made a mistake I came back with a birdie or came back to just sort of rectify it. I feel like I’m playing okay, just need to limit the mistakes going into the weekend."

McIlroy had said on Thursday that he generally likes late-early tee times in the first two rounds. He simply wasn’t able to build on his success in the first round and found himself tied with Ricky Barnes, Rod Pampling and Jonathan Byrd when the morning wave ended.

"Some of the pin positions out there were very tricky," McIlroy said. "… If you miss these fairways, you don’t really have a chance to get it close because the rough is so much thicker than it has been previous years.  You’ve got to hit it really well out here to give yourself opportunities.

"I still made six birdies out there today and shot even par. I feel like there’s a lot of birdies out there, but it’s tough to sort of keep it going the whole way around."

McIlroy, who tied for 10th in last year’s Memorial, only hit eight fairways and 12 greens on Friday. Even so, he’s made 13 birdies in 36 holes so he needs to focus on the positives  as he stalks his  second title on the PGA TOUR.

"I’ve just got to accept whatever happens out on the golf course," McIlroy said. "Frustrated with some of the mistakes I made, but I’m happy enough. I’m thereabouts going into the weekend.

"There’s still a lot of golf left to play. I know that and everyone else knows that. I just need to, as I said, just limit those mistakes. If I can keep the silly bogeys off the card, I think I’ll be all right."