Memorial Tournament Round 2 wrap-up: Adam Hadwin aces No. 16, fewer score under par

Take a bow, Adam Hadwin. Or, why not? Go ahead and just lose it.

Already making eagle earlier in the day at No. 7, Hadwin decided one stroke was all he needed on the difficult par-3 16th. Taking a big bounce after hitting the front of the green, Hadwin’s shot rolled into the hole for the first ace of the 2022 Memorial Tournament.

Some players have simply fist-bumped their caddie. But Hadwin let loose, tossing his club, jumping around the tee box and high-fiving patrons. It was the highlight of the day and the tournament so far.

“We had a good number for the shot that we picked, just kind of a hold 7(-iron). And it came off perfect. It was cutting right to it,” Hadwin said. “There's a lot of luck involved with that of where it lands on the green and stuff. I hit the exact shot that I wanted to in that instance, and it just happened to find the right line on the green. Pretty exciting.”

Hadwin, who finished 4-under on Friday and even par for the tournament, said it was his third career hole-in-one — in case you needed any reminder these guys are really, really, good.

Cameron Smith held firm throughout the day, taking the outright lead on No. 12 with a birdie. Many players began to make a push at the end of the round, but Smith held on with a 3-under, 69. Others weren't so lucky and missed the cut.

The players behind Smith are all lesser-known players. Denny McCarthy and K.H. Lee are one shot behind Smith after shooting 69 and 70, respectively. Davis Riley, Luke List, Cameron Young, Jhonattan Vegas and Billy Horschel are all tied two shots back at 6-under entering the weekend.

The biggest names at the top are Rory McIlroy at 5-under, Shane Lowry, Patrick Cantlay and Will Zalatoris all at 3-under.

Here are the highlights from Day 2 at Muirfield Village.

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Biggest movers

Seven players shot a round-high 4-under, 68. Just two of them are in contention and only one other is under-par.

Horschel was the only player in the entire field on Friday without a bogey. He’s had only one bogey this tournament, which came on his very first hole. Francesco Molinari came out of nowhere to shoot 68, sinking back-to-back-to-back birdies on 13th through 15th holes.

C.T. Pan was among those at 4-under and showed why golf can be a silly game. After scoring a 10 on the par-5 11th hole on Thursday, he birdied the hole on Friday.

Biggest losers

William McGirt was two shots off the lead entering Friday. Now he’s heading home.

McGirt, the 2016 Memorial champion, shot 6-over, 78, to miss the cut by one stroke and finish the first two round at 3-over. He was 2-under par with nine holes to play and ended up bogeying Nos. 4, 7 and 8, with a double-bogey on No. 6 after hitting it into the water on his approach from the rough.

The other surprising second round came from No. 4 ranked Collin Morikawa, who shot a 77 and went from 1-under on Friday to heading home. Stewart Cink was also 1-under heading into Friday, but shot 9-over, 81, to miss the cut.

Fewer players scored under par

The rain overnight Wednesday created conditions that enabled players to score well. With drier conditions Friday and some tougher pin placements, there were 33 players who shot under-par compared to 46 on Thursday.

In total, there were 400 birdies or better made on Friday, which is 25 fewer than there were on Thursday. Players also made 465 bogeys or worse in the second round, compared to 432 in the first round.

Local round-up

Jason Day was the only local player to make the cut. He shot 2-over, 74, to enter the weekend at 1-over par and nine shots off the lead. Canal Fulton native Justin Lower shot 76 and finished 6-over par.

Ohio State alumnus and Columbus native Bo Hoag finished 7-over par and shot 75 on Friday.

Where world’s best stand after 36 holes

The 3rd world-ranked golfer sits atop the leaderboard and six shots ahead of No. 2 Jon Rahm, who is tied-24th after posting a 70 on Friday.

No. 8 Rory McIlroy is the closest to the top at 5-under par with four other players after shooting 69, including an eagle on No. 15. Patrick Cantlay, ranked sixth in the world, also shot 3-under and finished there in a tie for 17th with Shane Lowry and Will Zalatoris.

Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele, ranked 10th and 11th in the world, are well back of Smith at even-par and 1-under, respectively, after shooting a 74 and 73.

Seventh-ranked golfer Viktor Hovland is 1-over after Friday’s 73.

Other shots of the day

Hadwin’s ace on No. 16 was one of several excellent shots, most of which came around the greens.

Max Homa had a wild round that saw only two pars on the back nine and four birdies in the whole round, which finished 2-over par. After nearly falling into a hazard on No. 15, Homa finished in style.

Smith was incredibly clean around the greens. He hit just nine of 18 greens in regulation, but only had one bogey on the scorecard along with four birdies. His best was this silky, smooth chip shot that landed about 2 feet in front of him and rolled another 34 feet into the bottom of the cup.

One of us

A common phrase for all self-described average golfers — which is really code for saying they’re worse than they want to admit — is to say “one of us” when watching a professional hit a shot that so-called average golfer has hit, likely, dozens of times.

For this round, the award goes to Jon Rahm who shanked a shot so bad on No. 2 that it went over the creek on the right. Cut him some slack, however, because the ball was below his feet. He also threw his club and almost hit a woman carrying the microphone to pick up sound on the course.

He then went ahead and hit this shot, which is admittedly not “one of us.”

Stats

16: Ryan Palmer was the highest score through two rounds at 16-over par.

59: Doug Ghim moved up the leaderboard the most spot, shooting a 68 after a first-round 77.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Memorial Tournament Round 2 wrap-up: Adam Hadwin aces No. 16