Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy sits three off the lead at the Memorial Tournament after a three-under 69 left him well positioned to make a weekend charge in Dublin, Ohio.

Shane Lowry slipped down the leaderboard as an even-par 72 left him on three-over. Seamus Power meanwhile has missed the cut. McIlroy opened his tournament with a two-under 70 and improved on that on Friday to move to five-under overall.

DUBLIN, Ohio – Rory McIlroy has a great rapport with tournament host Jack Nicklaus, whom he sees all the time at the Bear's Club in South Florida.

He made the putt for eagle to reach 6 under par, only to hit his tee shot in the bunker and bogey the par-3 eighth, his second-to-last hole of the day, to leave a slightly bitter taste. Case in point, McIlroy hit a 269-yard fairway finder at the par-5 fifth hole Friday, then nuked a 271-yard 3-wood to within roughly six feet of the pin. It's sort of like a 2-wood in a way which I think will be good to utilize this week.” “It just seems like the length advantage has sort of been nullified here over the last few years,” he continued. “I feel like my game is in good shape,” he said. And he’s embarking on a busy four-week stretch that will include not just the Memorial but a (2019) title defense, of sorts, at next week’s RBC Canadian Open and the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Boston the week after that.

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy remains in contention to win the Memorial Tournament for the first time, trailing by three shots in Columbus, Ohio.

I'm right in contention going into the weekend. "Overall, two solid rounds of golf. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy remains in contention to win the Memorial Tournament for the first time, trailing by three shots in Columbus, Ohio.

Rory McIlroy insists he can still build on his US PGA failure in Ohio this weekend.

- PGA Tour - PGA Tour He recovered to win the US Open 15 days later. So I’m excited for this run and excited to give myself a few more chances to hopefully win golf tournaments. So I’m going to playing a lot of golf coming up and I feel like my game is in good shape. You know, I feel like Southern Hills was a missed opportunity but I have to take the positives from it,” he told a press conference in Ohio.

Rory McIlroy has a great rapport with Memorial tournament host Jack Nicklaus, whom he sees all the time at the Bear's Club in South Florida.

Afterwards, the Cavan woman tweeted: “On to the weekend @uswomensopen. Enjoying playing in NC again”. Yeah, happy with how everything is sort of going.” “It just seems like the length advantage has sort of been nullified here over the last few years,” he continued. “Couple of silly bogeys. McIlroy hit a 269-yard fairway finder at the par-5 fifth hole, then fired a 271-yard 3-wood to within roughly six feet of the pin. As for the bond between world No. 8 McIlroy and Muirfield Village, host of this week’s tournament, well…

The red-hot Australian is on the cusp of adding his third title of the year.

In three prior trips to Muirfield Village, Morikawa had collected a victory and a playoff defeat to Patrick Cantlay at last season's Memorial Tournament. With this being his last start until the U.S. Open at The Country Club, one has to wonder how the two-time major champion will fare in Boston. The world No. 5 experienced a similar shot of his own in the final round at the Southern Hills, recovered for bogey and eventually captured his second major championship. With the golf course becoming firmer and faster, ball-striking competence will be even more important, which may spell trouble for Smith. Corey Conners (-2) at 100-1 leads the field in strokes gained approach and has missed only five greens in regulation up to this point. Oddly enough, we have seen Smith in this position before at a Nicklaus design, as he was the 36-hole leader at The Concession Club last year before a poor weekend saw him tumble down the leaderboard. I thought it was going out of bounds, and I was staring at a 7." I was able to save a bogey, which was minimizing the mistake. Former Memorial Tournament winner Jon Rahm looks primed to contend for a second title at Muirfield Village over the weekend, but that is not why he is making news today. Instead, it has been his short-game prowess, as Smith has gotten up-and-down 15 of 18 times and leads the field in strokes gained around the green. Following up his opening round of 5-under 67 with a performance of 3-under 69, the Australian looks primed to continue his breakout season and capture his third victory of the year. It will be interesting to see if this part of his game will continue to bail him out, as the 28-year-old has connected on only 18 fairways and 21 greens in regulation through 36 holes. At 6 under, they are only two strokes off the lead and well-positioned to capture their first victory on tour. There's no reason why I shouldn't be [at the top of the leaderboard]," said Smith. "I'm playing some of the best golf of my life, and I feel I'm getting more consistent with the longer stuff.

After the Memorial's first two rounds, Rory McIlroy has his sights on finally getting that coveted handshake from the Golden Bear.

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The Offaly man rebounded from a slow start with four birdies on the back nine on Thursday at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Lowry is joint third on three under ...

World number three Cameron Smith features among a six-way tie for the lead after he split seven birdies with two bogeys en route to a score of five-under 67. The Offaly man rebounded from a slow start with four birdies on the back nine on Thursday at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Shane Lowry is two shots off the lead at the Memorial Tournament after an opening round 69 in Ohio.

Cameron Smith pulled ahead of the field to take a one-shot lead at halfway point of the Memorial Tournament in Ohio.

He shot a 68 to get to even par, tied for 39th with Viktor Hovland of Norway, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and others. McCarthy, meanwhile, is ranked No. 145 in the world and in search of his first win on tour. His chip barely landed on the green, and it rode a downslope from there for a holeout of almost 36 feet.

Cameron Smith continued his fine start at the Memorial Tournament by ending the second day at the top of the leaderboard, but Rory McIlroy is still very ...

"Not much really, just hit a few more balls. "I'm playing some of the best golf of my life, Queenslander Smith said. "I think mentally I'm in a good spot.