Christiaan Bezuidenhout played well in the second round of the Memorial Tournament in winds that reached 25 miles per hour. The wind caused confusion for many players and resulted in an average score of 73.4 in the second round.
That wasn’t the case for Bezuidenhout, who shot a 5-under 67 in the morning wave to move into contention for the win alongside Adam Hadwin and Scottie Scheffler.
“I’m definitely going to sit at home on my couch now and watch the reports and have a bit of a laugh,” Bezuidenhout joked.
“But there are still two rounds to go so hopefully I can keep my position and do my best this weekend.”
The South African improved to five under par for the championship on Friday, moving more than 20 places up the leaderboard, and will likely play the third round in one of the final groups.
“[My round] “Obviously I started well with a 40-foot putt on the first hole and I knew it was going to be a tough battle today so I just told myself to keep it simple, hit the green and make the putt,” the South African added.
“The greens at Muirfield Village are so pretty, if you read well and start well you can make a lot of putts, and that’s exactly what I did today.”
Bezuidenhout led by about five strokes on the green Friday, but after a fumble on the 440-yard par-4, he had some good luck chipping in for par on the sixth hole.
“Sixth place was a bonus,” Bezuidenhout added.
“Usually when you hit a special round like this, things have to go well during the round, and that’s what happened today. But yeah, I’m happy with my round today.”
He’s happy with a 67 that would have felt more like 64 or 63. Still, no one else had a score worse than 69, three under par, midway through the second round, a testament to the tough conditions.
“The wind will get a little stronger. [this afternoon]and it really blew me away. [ this morning]” explained Bezuidenhout.
“If you can hit the ball high on the downwind holes, the greens are softer and you can improve your score. Then keep working your way up to the upwind holes.”
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
