Christiaan Bezuidenhout during the first round of the 2024 Memorial Tournament. | Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Christiaan Bezuidenhout carded an impressive round early, but now he gets to sit back and watch his fellow players struggle.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout had a terrific second round at the Memorial Tournament, a day when the wind gusted up to 25 miles per hour. The breezy conditions created havoc for many players, leading to a second-round scoring average of 73.4.
But not Bezuidenhout, who signed for a 5-under 67 during the morning wave to vault into contention alongside Adam Hadwin and Scottie Scheffler.
“I’m going to definitely sit on my couch at home now and watch the coverage and laugh a little. Bezuidenhout joked.
“But there’s two more rounds to go, and hopefully, I can just keep my position and do my best over the weekend.”
The South African vaulted up the leaderboard more than 20 places on Friday, going from even par to 5-under for the championship. He will likely play his third round in one of the final pairings.
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Christiaan Bezuidenhout chats with his caddie on the 1st hole during the second round of the 2024 Memorial Tournament.
“[My round] obviously started off well with a 40-footer on the first hole. I knew it was going to be tough today, so I just said to myself, just try to keep it simple, just try to hit the greens, give yourself putts,” the South African added.
“The greens at Muirfield Village are so pure. If you read it well and start it well, you can make a lot of putts, and that’s what I did today.”
Bezuidenhout gained almost five strokes on the greens on Friday, which leads the field. But he also got lucky on the 6th hole, where he chipped in for par after making a mess of things on this 440-yard par-4.
“No. 6 was a bonus,” Bezuidenhout added.
“Normally, if you shoot a special round like that, things have to go your way in the round, and it did, but, yeah, I’m happy with the round today.”
He has every reason to feel satisfied after his marvelous 67, which likely felt more like a 64 or 63. Still, nobody else has carded lower than a 3-under 69 midway through the second round, a testament to the challenging conditions.
“The wind is going to pick up a little bit more [this afternoon], and it really blew quite a bit [ this morning],” Bezuidenhout explained.
“I just think if you can take advantage of the downwind holes where you can push the ball up there, softer greens as well, then you can make a score. Then just keep grinding for those holes that are into the wind.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
