June 02, 2018: The Memorial Tournament is poised for a thrilling weekend with thirteen golfers within four strokes of each other. Kyle Stanley powered to top with a fine 66 on Friday, as Joaquin Niemann held on to a share of the lead with a 68. The two men are at 11-under, one clear of Byeong Hun An. Wesley Bryan, Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day, J B Holmes and Bryson DeChambeau were all T4 at 8-under 136. Anirban Lahiri shot a committed 69 to move up to 4-under through 36 holes. Shubhankar Sharma battled in vain, but despite a well made 72, he had too much ground to cover to secure his weekend.
Anirban made a jittery start, firing his iron at the first into the rough to the right of the fairway. The third shot left him 11 feet from the flag, from where he two putted for bogey. The 30 year old made amends, showing world class course management skills, as he raced through the remainder of the front nine with birdies on the 2nd, 7th and 8th holes.
A fourth birdie made its way to the card when he nailed a 20 footer on the par-3 12th hole.
At the par-4 13th hole, Anirban found himself on the fringe with his third shot. He nearly made another brilliant putt to save par, but fell marginally short to concede another stroke. Anirban added a birdie at the par-5 15th hole before coasting home without any further incident.
Shubhankar needed a dramatically superior round to make the cut. After a 76 on Thursday, his back was to the wall at the Muirfield Village Golf Club.
The Chandigarh man began on the 10th and made his intentions clear with a fine birdie at the 13th. He set it up with a pin high tee shot, that left him less than five feet for birdie. Despite reading the lines well, Shubhankar was left with severely longish putts on the 16th and 18th, where he had to be content with bogeys.
Undeterred, Shubhankar went on to play some disciplined golf on the return stretch. He made eight straight pars before adding a birdie at the ninth to end the day on even terms. But he owed the course four strokes already and the knife sliced out everyone over par, leaving Shubhankar a couple of days to process the disappointment.
Byeong Hun An produced a spotless 67 in the second round to reach the halfway stage, just two adrift from the leaders. Hideki could not reproduce the magic he found in the first round, settling for a 71 that included three bogeys, two of which came on the par-5s at 11 & 15.
Overnight leader Abraham Ancer dropped 34 spots after signing on a 75 for his second round. Veteran golfer Vijay Singh went the opposite way, soaring 41 spots to T44 with a well made 66. Phil Mickelson mirrored the efforts of Vijay with a 66 of his own to end the day in T35.
66 seemed to be the rescue mantra for the day. Both Dustin Johnson and Adam Scott moved inside the top twenty with scores on 66 in the second round. Henrik Stenson climbed inside the top 10 with his card reading the same number.
Tiger Woods made the most of the long holes, including an eagle at the 567 yard 11th hole to post a 67 to his name. He is lying T24 at the halfway stage of the tournament.
Xander Schauffele (75-71) and Jordan Spieth (75-72) were among those that missed the cut. Rory McIlroy made the weekend right on the number, posting a 70 to help himself back to even par for the week.
