Steve Stricker holed out from the fairway for one of his two eagles Saturday, wound up with a 3-under 69 on a steamy day at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, and finished with a three-shot lead in the Memorial.
He still had to convince himself it was a good day.
When it looked like Stricker might leave everyone in his wake, he missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole that threw his round into reverse.
He made bogey on the par-5 15th. He missed a 4-foot par putt on the 16th, and had a 7-foot birdie on the next hole catch the lip. And when he got to his ball in the middle of the 18th fairway, it was in a sand-filled divot.
Stricker saved par, and perspective soon followed.
“All of a sudden, things seemed pretty hard, when at the start of the day, things were really going my way,” he said. “But I understand that, and I understand that’s the nature of this game. So you add them up at the end, and it was a 69. And it was a good score.”
The score that matters is 12-under 204, which was three shots ahead of Jonathan Byrd, who closed his 69 with a 2-foot tap-in birdie.
“I’m doing everything pretty well,” said Byrd, who won the season opener at Kapalua in Maui while playing in the final group with Stricker.
KERR SHOOTS 65
Cristie Kerr birdied the final hole for a 6-under 65 and a one-shot lead over Catriona Matthew after the second round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway Township, N.J.
Kerr, looking for her first victory this season, rolled in three of her eight birdies after making a double bogey on the 12th hole on the Bay Course at Seaview. She capped the round with an 8-footer at the par-5 18th.
ELSEWHERE
Champions Tour rookie Mark Brooks survived a shaky finish for a 4-under 67 (10-under 132) and a one-shot lead over Mark Calcavecchia going into the final round of the Principal Charity Classic in West Des Moines, Iowa. … Sweden’s Alexander Noren shot an even-par 71 for a one-stroke lead in the Wales Open, while defending champion Graeme McDowell shot an 81 and fell 11 strokes behind.
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