Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler both picked up a couple of shots on Saturday to move to one-under par at the Memorial Tournament, before the third round was brought to a premature halt due to ferocious weather.
Both men still sit way off the pace set by JT Poston and Ryan Gerard, who hold the outright lead at nine under par, as heavy rain, wind and even hail began hammering Muirfield Village.
McIlroy and Scheffler both completed the majority of their rounds, with the Northern Irishman completing 16 and Scheffler just a couple fewer, before the storm saw play halted for a second time.
The leading players on the other hand, only managed to complete five holes before the inclement weather, which saw a TV tower blow down near the tenth green.
Course officials subsequently announced that play would not continue at 6pm local time.
A further announcement from the PGA Tour account following the suspension, said: “The third round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday will resume on Sunday at 7.30am [12.30pm UK and Ireland time].
“Final-round tee times will be approximately 11am to 12.45pm off hole numbers 1 and 10 in groups of three.”
It might have come at a good time for Scottie Scheffler, who was making quite a charge until two bogeys in three holes, the last one from an iron off the tee into the water.
And it probably won’t help the players like Poston who face a long Sunday to make up for the lost time and then have 36 holes of US Open qualifying on Monday.
Poston and Gerard were tied at nine under through five holes, one shot ahead of Sam Burns, who was through six holes.
Even with four hours of daylight available, the PGA Tour felt there was enough thunderstorm activity on the way to call it a day. The third round was to resume at 7am, followed by a final round off both tees in threesomes for the first time all week.
Only 21 players finished the round, with Harris English (69) posting the best clubhouse score at three under.
Scheffler, trying to join Tiger Woods as the only players to win three in a row at the Memorial, started 10 shots behind and bogeyed the first hole. And then in a matter of minutes, or so it seems with Scheffler, he was in fourth place after a birdie-birdie-eagle stretch approaching the turn, and then an eight-foot birdie to start the back nine.
But then he had a three-putt par from some 65 feet, back to front, on the par-five 11th. He found a back bunker on the par-three 12th, a spot where it’s nigh impossible to keep it on the green, leading to another bogey.
Then on the 14th, his iron drifted left and led to a splash and a penalty stroke, adding to a bogey that dropped the world’s No 1 player to two under for the round, still eight shots behind.
Scottie Scheffler hits from the third tee
And this was no longer the same Muirfield Village, fast and firm and frightening all week, suddenly softened by bursts of extreme precipitation.
Nobody felt it quite like Justin Thomas, who made a superb par save from behind the 18th green on Friday to make the cut on the number. That got him to the weekend, and he played as a single. Thomas figured that would at least give him the best weather, the best conditions to put up a good number and salvage the week.
But he only played 12 holes in dry conditions before the first delay of one hour and 40 minutes. Enough rain fell to make the course a touch easier. And now 32 players still on the course return to a course much softer and easier.
Thomas could only chuckle at his bad luck after his round of 72.
“That’s kind of the joy of being first off because you normally get no wind and an easier course,” he said. “But I missed the window. You know, you’ve got to play better.”
Poston, meanwhile, can take a little stress off with one more long day of good play. A victory or even a runner-up finish would be worth enough world ranking points to move him high enough in the world ranking to be safe for the top 60 next week and get into the US Open.
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