Justin Thomas shoots 80-69 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, makes cut on number

DUBLIN, Ohio - World No. 5 Justin Thomas shot 80 in the first round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, yet he rallied to earn a weekend tee time.

Thomas carded a second-round, 3-under 69 at Muirfield Village Golf Club, playing in mostly rainy conditions throughout the morning and into the early afternoon, to make the cut on the number at 5-over.

Thomas, a 16-time PGA TOUR winner, stood three strokes outside the cut line with five holes to play at the brawny Jack Nicklaus design.

Still, he rallied with birdies on 14 and 15 and then drained a 7-foot birdie at the par-4 18th that was ultimately enough to earn two more rounds at the season’s seventh of eight Signature Events.

As a player-hosted invitational, the 72-player Memorial field is cut to the top 50 and ties after 36 holes (The Genesis Invitational and the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard also use this cut rule). Thomas was among an esteemed group to make the cut on the number, with others at 5-over, including major champions Hideki Matsuyama, Wyndham Clark and Matt Fitzpatrick.

Notables who missed the Memorial cut include Sahith Theegala (7-over), Daniel Berger (9-over) and Brian Harman (10-over).

The cut line remained in question until Friday’s penultimate pairing, as Matti Schmid arrived at the par-4 18th hole at 5-over for the tournament and in a tie for 50th place. Had Schmid made birdie at 18, he would have knocked all players at 5-over outside the cut line. Schmid made bogey to finish at 6-over, missing the cut by one.

Cameron Young made the cut on the number in adventurous fashion, flying his approach on the par-4 18th into a back greenside bunker before blasting his third shot back over the green and into the fairway well below the putting surface. He then played a sublime high pitch to 2 feet, converting the bogey to post 5-over and earning a weekend tee time in central Ohio.

Thomas is no stranger to making the cut on the number in dramatic fashion. Earlier this season, he rallied from an opening-round 78 at THE PLAYERS with a second-round 62 at TPC Sawgrass’ THE PLAYERS Stadium Course, matching the course record, to earn a weekend tee time (Thomas finished the week T33).

Thomas, who ended a three-year winless drought at last month’s RBC Heritage, would prefer to be a bit closer to the lead. He enters the weekend 12 strokes off the pace, a sizable deficit, but he has a chip and a chair. For those who sweated the cut line into the Friday twilight at Muirfield Village, that’s all they could ask.

Ben Griffin and Nick Taylor share the 36-hole lead at 7-under 137, two strokes clear of Akshay Bhatia. Griffin won last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge and is seeking his second TOUR win in as many weeks. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler holds solo fourth at 4-under, well positioned to chase his second straight title at the Memorial this weekend.