DUBLIN, Ohio – Seemingly on track to contend for yet another win, Jordan Spieth’s title hopes at the Memorial were derailed – at least temporarily – by the back nine Friday at Muirfield Village.
Spieth got off to a hot start in the second round, playing his first eight holes in 5 under to creep onto the first page of the leaderboard. After a double bogey on No. 10, Spieth dropped another shot on the par-3 12th and failed to make a birdie on his inward half. He carded splits of 31-39, and at 6 under he sits six shots behind leader David Lingmerth.
“That was about as good of golf I could play on one nine, and about as bad of golf as I could play on the other, given how many pars were with lob wedge in my hand or a reachable par 5,” Spieth said.
Memorial Tournament: Articles, videos and photos
Spieth is usually a cool customer, but he admitted that he became flustered on Muirfield Village’s notoriously slick greens as his round progressed.
“I got mentally off,” he said. “I got very uncomfortable, didn’t put good, solid strokes on it. I was very tentative.”
While Spieth ended his round in disappointing fashion, all is not lost. He heads into the weekend in a tie for 16th and classified his back-nine struggles as a speed bump on an otherwise smooth road.
“Just a fluke day, just a fluke hour of golf,” he said. “It normally doesn’t happen like that. It was just weird today.”
