From the late wave, World No. 190 Francesco Molinari fired a day-tying-low 4-under 34-34=68 in R2 of the Memorial Tournament for a 36-hole total of 5-under 139, climbing 25 places to T9, three adrift of leader Cameron Smith (69).
The 39-year-old is making his first appearance since a missed cut by five in 2016 (71-76) and also debuted a T3 the year prior on 13-under 271, where he was T2 thru 54 holes (68-67-69-71). This is his first time in the halfway top 10 since last season’s AmEx (Jan. 2021), where he was T7 before finishing T8 (69-66-69-70). At the midpoint, the Los Angeles resident has signed for rounds of 71-68, totaled 10 birdies against five bogeys, five versus one today, and ranks 17th SG: Tee-to-Green (4.716) and 23rd SG: Putting (2.210), including a 1.859 SGP today. His most recent of three TOUR victories in 177 events is the 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational 45 starts ago as a pre-tourney 33/1 outright, where he was T3 (4 back) at the midpoint (69-70-73-64).