John Merrick loses the lead at the FedEx St. Jude Classic
John Merrick, the overnight leader at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, carded a one-under par 69 in the second round at TPC Southwind to slip to the fifth spot on Friday, June 8, 2012.
Merrick, along with Jeff Maggert, shared the lead after the opening round of the tournament, as he carded a four-under par 66 on Thursday.
However, Merrick was not able to maintain the same performance in the second round and managed to score only two birdies against a bogey to finish two strokes behind the pace set by Rory McIlroy.
Golf commentators believe that he lacked accuracy on the second day, which did not allow him to make birdies in the end. Therefore, he had to settle for 15 par putts, which are never enough to go low in a round.
They believe that he still has the chance to surge to the top of the leaderboard if he makes some improvements in his ball striking.
In the meantime, the other leader of the opening round, Maggert, was a little better on the second day, as he carded a two-under par 68 to share the second spot on the leaderboard.
On the other hand, McIlroy looked really happy following his performance on the second day, as he made the cut for the first time in the last four events that he played.
Therefore, it was a good sign for him to get back in form prior to the start of the US Open, scheduled for the upcoming week.
“It's nice to see my name on that part of the leaderboard,” the world number two said. “It's not nice when you're struggling to make the cut on a Friday afternoon”.
“It was great. It's nice to be through to the weekend, obviously. It's obviously even nicer to be leading and have a great chance”.
“This is really what I wanted heading into next week,” he added. “For the time being, my mind is focused on trying to win this golf tournament and give myself a great chance of that going into the weekend”.
He is now confident to make a good run in the final two rounds and enter the second major event of the year with a victory in hand.
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