|
Starting on the back nine, overnight leader
Finau struggled out of the gate with bogeys on two of his first
three holes.
But momentum shifted his direction when he saved par with a
greenside bunker shot out of an awkward stance on the par-three
fourth that rolled within inches of the hole.
He went on to birdie three of his final five holes and sits atop
the leaderboard with Palmer at nine-under-par 135 heading into
the weekend.
"I was very pleased to finish that way," said the 30-year-old
Finau, who is looking to capture an elusive second win after
claiming victory at the Puerto Rico Open in 2016.
"At the end of the day, still at the top of the leaderboard.
Pretty satisfied."
His countryman Palmer suffered his first bogey of the tournament
on his second hole but went error-free the rest of the way to
card a 68 under sunny skies at the Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Woods, competing on the tour this week for the first time in
five months, made two late birdies to salvage a four-over-par 76
that left him three over on the week.
The cut line settled at three over, giving the 44-year-old a
chance to win a record-breaking 83rd tour title this weekend.
"Well, not very good," Woods said, when asked to assess his
round.
"I three-putted two holes early and, whatever kind of momentum I
was going to create, I stifled that early and fought it the rest
of the day."
Woods added that his range of motion was limited on Friday by
his surgically repaired back.
World number four Dustin Johnson struggled mightily on Friday,
posting his second consecutive round of 80 for an unsightly
16-over par for the tournament after winning the Travelers
Championship in his last start last month.
Bryson DeChambeau's second-round 76 included a quintuple-bogey
10 on the par-five 15th as he joined Johnson, Rickie Fowler and
Justin Rose in missing the cut.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles and Frank Pingue in
Toronto; Editing by Ken Ferris and Sonya Hepinstall)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
