DUBLIN (Ohio), May 31: Kenny Perry shot a four-under-par 68 to move into the second-round lead at the Memorial Tournament on Friday as Tiger Woods stayed in contention on his first U.S. appearance since the Masters.
Coming off a win at the Colonial last week, the 42-year-old stands on 11-under-par 133 at the par-72, 7,224-yard Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Perry leads by a shot over former U.S. Open winners Retief Goosen of South Africa (67) and Lee Janzen (67).
Former champion Fiji’s Vijay Singh (69) and Spike McRoy (68) are tied for fourth on eight-under 136, a shot ahead of second-year tour professional Chad Campbell who shot a 70.
Easing himself back into the tour after knee surgery in December, world number one Woods went round in 71 to join defending champion Jim Furyk (70) and two others at six-under 138.
Woods is seeking to win the event for a fourth time.
Perry has not slowed down since the Colonial scoring record of 19-under-par last week for his fifth PGA Tour win and has the lowest second-round total since Scott Hoch’s record performance of 13-under-par in 1997.
He is an impressive 30-under-par over his last 108 holes.
Perry’s stretch over the last weeks is reminiscent of 1995 when he was tied for the 54-hole lead in three straight events.
He ultimately tied for third at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am, won the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and tied for second at the Nissan Open.
Both Janzen and Goosen shot one better than Perry on a more difficult day for scoring than Thursday’s benign conditions.
Staying in sight with the leader is important for both players as each is in the midst of a dry spell on the PGA Tour.
Janzen’s last win came at the 1998 U.S. Open at The Olympic Club, while Goosen has not since the 2002 BellSouth Classic.
Janzen had a chance to win earlier this year at the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta, but a final-round 77 ruined his chances.
He finished tied for 14th and 18th during the tour’s latest swing through Texas.
Second round scores:
133 Kenny Perry 65 68
134 Retief Goosen (South Africa) 67 67, Lee Janzen 67 67
136 Vijay Singh (Fiji) 67 69, Spike McRoy 68 68
137 Chad Campbell 67 70
138 Robert Gamez 70 68, Tiger Woods 67 71, Charles Howell III 64 74, Jim Furyk 68 70
139 Stewart Cink 70 69, Luke Donald (Britain) 70 69, Mark Calcavecchia 69 70, John Rollins 70 69, Adam Scott (Australia) 67 72
140 Tim Herron 72 68, John Huston 66 74, Justin Leonard 71 69, K.J. Choi (South Korea) 70 70, Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 70 70, Lee Westwood (Britain) 72 68
141 Ben Crane 73 68, John Daly 68 73, Tim Petrovic 70 71, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 70 71, Jeff Maggert 68 73, Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) 70 71, Bob Tway 69 72, Dudley Hart 69 72
Wales Open second round scores
132 Ian Poulter 65 67
134 Phillip Price 68 66
135 Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 68 67
136 Mark McNulty (Zimbabwe) 69 67
137 Richard Green (Australia) 67 70, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spain) 68 69, Nick O’Hern (Australia) 65 72, Jonathan Lomas 66 71, Andrew Coltart 68 69, Santiago Luna (Spain) 68 69
138 David Drysdale 68 70, Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina) 67 71, Carlos Rodiles (Spain) 68 70
139 Alessandro Tadini (Italy) 69 70, Peter Fowler (Australia) 67 72, Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 71 68, Jamie Donaldson 68 71, David Howell 70 69—Reuters