Friday at the 2026 Memorial Tournament saw carnage up and down the leaderboard. Gusty, ever-changing winds, deep rough and increasingly crispy greens at Muirfield Village sent scores soaring.
The treacherous conditions inspired adjectives like “brutal” and “insane” from the likes of PGA Tour stars Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas (who needed a hug from Rory McIlroy after the round), while World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was left feeling like he was going to shoot “about 90.”
Even Ryan Gerard, who shot 69 and sits in second, said of Muirfield Village, “Mentally and physically this place is a monster.”
Justin Thomas on Memorial carnage: ‘Hardest round of golf I can remember’
While J.T. Poston, somehow, some way, managed to shoot an incredible 65 in Round 2 that gave him a one-shot lead, many stars were just happy to make the cut given the conditions on Friday. Jason Day (76), Jordan Spieth (79) and Rickie Fowler (82) all failed to earn Saturday tee times.
You can count Thomas among those thrilled to survive and play the weekend. After finishing his round, Thomas told reporters that it may have been the “hardest round of golf” he had ever played, even counting major championships.
“I can’t put into words how hard that was. That was the hardest round of golf that I can remember, major, non-major, it was just insane,” an exhausted Thomas said Friday evening in Ohio. “The wind wasn’t really the direction it was supposed to be or kind of forecasted to be for kind of like half the day and that usually isn’t something that happens when it’s at 25, 20, 25 miles an hour. It was just hard. You don’t have a bail out on half your shots out here so you have a lot of shots over water and you’re like, well, I hope it’s helping or I hope it’s not hurting. But everybody’s dealing with the same thing, but, man, it was brutal.”
He added: “I’m sure it sucks for all of us.”
Thomas also shared that while he’s happy he made the cut, he’s also happy he doesn’t have to play next week, because the brutal conditions have zapped his confidence.
“I mean, if I was playing next week, no, this would be absolutely terrible. I would be exhausted, I would be, I probably wouldn’t have a lot of confidence in my game. I probably would not want to do anything the next week. So I’m very happy that I have a week off next week,” Thomas said.
Thomas finished with a three-over 75, leaving him five over and T47 heading into the weekend at the Memorial. McIlroy finds himself T19 after shooting a 74 on Friday.
The two stars played alongside each other on Friday, and the experience was so taxing, they skipped the post-round handshake and instead comforted each other with a hug after putting out on the final green.
“It was a mutual hug,” Thomas said. “We just looked at each other and I think we both, we were like, we need a hug. He probably realized I needed one maybe more. It was a grind. It was a different grind for him, but, yeah, we were just battling out there.”
Scottie Scheffler: ‘I felt like I was going to shoot about 90 today’
If there’s one quote that sums up Friday’s round at this week’s Memorial, it’s this one from Scheffler, the World No. 1 and two-time defending champion.
“I felt like I was going to shoot about 90 today,” Scheffler remarked Friday evening. To be fair, Scheffler was talking more about how poorly he was playing, rather than the difficult playing conditions.
“I don’t know if you were out there on the course, but I was going to be hard to find if you were out watching my group,” Scheffler joked. “I felt like I got my first birdie putt of the day on the 13th hole. I maybe had one on 11, but I couldn’t imagine I hit more than six or seven greens today.”
He did add that the tough test Muirfield Village presents exacerbates bad shots.
“So around this golf course, with heavy rough and deep bunkers, you got to be hitting the ball in the right spots and for a long time today that was definitely not the case for me.”
Of course, it’s all relative. Scheffler toughed out an even-par 72 on Friday that featured three birdies. Only 13 players put together better scores in Round 2.
Scheffler only beat Fleetwood by one shot on Friday, but Fleetwood sounded more like Thomas when describing the conditions.
“Yeah, it was pretty brutal, actually. It was tough,” Fleetwood said on Friday. “If you could sort of process that the wind could do anything, and on top of that, it was very, very firm, the greens were crispy now. It was just tough.”
Fleetwood explained that at times the wind was so tricky, he and playing partner Cameron Young found themselves playing vastly different yardages from the same spots.
“When you’re in a two ball so you can see what the other player does as well and like, the 10th hole today… Cameron’s hitting 8-iron from where he was in the fairway and it carried 160 yards. I hit a wedge and carried it 160 yards in the space of what, a minute? And then 12, Cam hit a great shot, and I heard him say he was playing it 158 and, I mean it didn’t sniff the green. I played it three yards less, and it looked like it was struggling at one stage. It was confusing, but that’s what the wind did, it swirled around a lot. And then you got to pick your poison on where you want to chip from.”
As for Poston’s 65 in the face of brutal winds, Fleetwood said, “That’s phenomenal… how many people broke par this afternoon?”
