The Memorial Championship – Round 2 Recap
February 28, 2020 by Bennett Wineka in Recap with comments
2020 Memorial Championship Round 2
The second and final run-through of Fountain Hills saw similar hot rounds and leaders stay at the top, but the rest of the top 10s got hefty shake heading into moving day.
Open Women
- For the second day in a row, Paige Pierce found trouble near the turn with a double-bogey yet maintained momentum and held onto the lead at 15-under par 97 total. She is first in 6 of 8 major UDisc Live statistical categories — fairway hits, Circle 1 and Circle 2 in regulation, parked, birdies, and C2 putting.
- Jennifer Allen matched Pierce’s round 1 score to capture the day’s hot round at 8-under par 48. She moved into second place, three strokes off the lead at 12-under par.
- Making big jumps into the top five were Rebecca Cox (up six spots to fourth) and Lykke Sandvik (up five to fifth). Cox will be on lead card and Sandvik was 100% from C1 and the only player to finish blemish-free.
Heard
“I got a little bit of [flack] for the Vegas thing but I just try to look at it like I will every tournament for the rest of the year. What’s best for me, my family. Vegas was probably the highest entry the Masters Women’s will have all year, so I looked at the numbers of entry and felt like Masters would be a fun, new way to start the year relaxed. And maybe it helped.” – Jennifer Allen, on playing and winning the Las Vegas Challenge in the Masters division.
Statline
The average OB strokes per Open Women’s player over two rounds at Fountain Hills dropped from 4.9 in 2019 to 4 in 2020. Was it the weather? A slightly smaller field? Or better quality?
Highlights
2020 memorial championship jennifer allen hole 1 drive
2020 memorial championship paige pierce hole 17 drive
Open
- The top three remain the same, for the most part, as Calvin Heimburg, Paul McBeth, and Eagle McMahon sit 1-2-3, at 28-under par, 27-under, and 26-under respectively. All three had some struggles early, either a bogey or double-bogey on hole 2 or hole 3, but rallied to finish the round with only birdies. McBeth had an 11-hole streak over the middle stretch of the course.
- Heimburg was able to convert an edge of the circle tester on hole 18 with McBeth under the basket for birdie to hold onto the outright lead. He leads the tournament in finding Circle 1 in regulation.
- McBeth was one of only four birdies of the day on hole 9. He also got it in round 1.
- Shooting the hot round 14-under par was Väinö Mäkelä, moving up 23 spots into a tie for fifth with Simon Lizotte, Cale Leiviska, and Drew Gibson at 23-under par.
- Jumping that logjam to take the final spot on the lead card for moving day was Emerson Keith, whose bogey-free 13-under was buoyed by a division-leading 39% parked rate. His other driving stats were also all tied for best on Friday.
- The Ace Whisperer Jeremy Koling got a hole-in-one of his own on hole 13.
- Gibson was rattled by the public park crowds at least twice on the day, having to step off a putt on hole 5 and reset his drive twice on hole 11.
Heard
“I didn’t drive as well today but definitely made a lot more putts. Little windier today, was looking for double digits and got a little more.” – Calvin Heimburg
Statline
Mäkelä’s 1092-rated round is the highest of his career. The lowest-rated round included on his current player rating was shot at last year’s Memorial, a 973-rated second round.
Highlights
2020 memorial championship drew gibson hole 1 putt
2020 memorial championship paul mcbeth hole 9 drive
