DUBLIN, Ohio — Drama ensued late Friday afternoon in the second round of the Memorial, and it had nothing to do with the top of the leaderboard.
The Tournament leader, Swede David Lingmerth, had finished his round some six hours earlier and was comfortably in the clubhouse at 12-under after shooting 65.
So, too, was Jason Dufner, who’s one shot back at 11-under. Ryan Moore and Andy Sullivan, both 10-under, were done, too, along with defending-champion Hideki Matsuyama, Jim Furyk, Justin Rose, Brendon Todd and Francesco Molinari, all of whom are 9-under.
As the afternoon sun set on Jack Nicklaus’ Midwest pride and joy, Muirfield Village Golf Club, Tiger Woods — as he always is — was in full focus, in the midst of a queasy roller-coaster-ride struggle to make the cut.
And, after bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17 placed his weekend in jeopardy, Woods did just that, making a stressful par save on No. 18, with a chip-and-putt up-and-down, to make the cut on the number at 1-under.
It was Woods’ 15th consecutive cut made at Memorial, the longest active streak at the tournament he has won five times.
Barring a miracle, though, Woods will be a mere footnote over the weekend, unlikely to catapult himself into contention from 11 shots back with 36 holes to play.
This tournament, at the moment, belongs to the likes of Lingmerth, who’s seeking his first PGA Tour win and who has missed four of his last five cuts and has a little bit of Ohio synergy going: His uncle, Goran Lingmerth, kicked for the Cleveland Browns for a short time.
This tournament belongs to Dufner, who’s trying to make a comeback from a broken marriage, injury and mediocre play over the last year and a half.
It belongs to Sullivan, an Englishman playing in only his second PGA Tour event.
And it belongs to Matsuyama, who’s trying to become the first player to win back-to-back Memorials since Woods did it in 2000-01, and to Moore, who has six top-25 finishes in nine tries at Muirfield but no win.
This was the second consecutive tournament in which Woods has had to grind over a make-or-go-home par putt on the 36th hole to make the cut. He had to make a 10-footer to stay the weekend at the Players Championship last month.
Asked what he needs to do to turn those putts into strokes that put him into contention to win for the first time in nearly two years, Woods said: “Play more tournaments. This is my fifth event [of the year] and this is June. I need to play more. Now I just need to put myself in the position where those putts are to win tournaments, not to make cuts.
“I am making progress. Progress, however slow, is still progress, and I’m creeping up on it. But I need to put a few more pieces together to really, really get it going. I feel like [Friday] I made some progress from [Thursday], and now I need to go work on it again and I’ll make some progress [Saturday].
“Keep doing that and hopefully it will all come together this weekend. And if not, two weeks from now [at the U.S. Open].’’
For now, Woods will have to settle for an early-morning tee time Saturday — third off at 8:28 a.m. and more than five hours before Lingmerth and Dufner tee off in the final group — paired with someone named Zac Blair.
