Three On Top
by Dave Weissman, Columbus Wired

Justin Rose, Ben Curtis and Stephen Ames share the lead after two rounds at the 2004 PGA Memorial Tournament. Rose was the first atop the leader board after carding a 5-under par 67 and move to 7-under for the tournament. Ostrander, Ohio native and last year’s British Open champion, Ben Curtis was next up after finishing his second consecutive round without a bogey on his card. Late afternoon player Stephen Ames checked in with a 4-under par today to be in the hunt.

Rose has not yet won a tournament since joining the PGA Tour last year. His best finish was in 2003 placing third in the Deutsche Bank Championship. It looked as if he would end his day at 8-under and alone atop the leader board but he could not escape the dangers of the 18th hole with a double-bogey.

He credited his putting lesson given to him by David and Kelly Leadbetter on the telephone last night. “They said my stroke was a little bit too long, and when the greens are this quick you can’t really commit to the putt, so I just tried to shorten it up a little bit today.”

Rose has history of leading early in the tournament, but faltering at the end. In the Masters last year, he led the opening round with a 5-under-par 67 before imploding on Saturday with a 9-over par and ending tied for 22nd.

Tiger in the hunt? – Tiger Woods made the most of his day through 11 holes. The three-time champion had birdies on 2, 3, 7 and 11 before a double-bogey on 12 dropped him to 3-under per. He would birdie 15 to end his day three shots out of the lead.

Jack Plays For The Weekend – Host Jack Nicklaus did well enough today to make the cut for the first time since 2000. He shot a 2-over-par-74 to stay at 3-over par for the tournament. He had an exciting ride on the 12th hole as the ball almost went in the cup on the fly, but bounced out. “I must have bounced 20 feet up in the air from the bottom of the hole, never touched the edge of the hole,” he said. “It ends up on the front fringe and I end up missing the green.” He would par the hole.

On 18, he was the only one in his group to put the ball in the fairway. Approaching the green, Nicklaus was greeting by a standing ovation from the overflowing crowd. He two-putted to earn a par, but the 64-year old tournament host will be playing the weekend. “Pretty decent round of golf for an old man,” he said.

Talk of his retirement will have to wait a few more days, as he was pleased with his performance. “I don’t expect to play like I’m 35 years old,” Nicklaus commented. “But today at my age to come around and shoot 147 (through two rounds). It was not bad golf, not great golf like I’ve played before, but not bad golf.”

18 Still Biting - Jack has done an excellent job of making 18 the hardest hole on the course and this year in no exception. By putting in new bunkers and making the current ones deeper, he certainly has toughened the hole.

Thursday saw early leaders J.L. Lewis and Stephen Ames disappear from the leader board after disastrous scores on 18. Today, leader Justin Rose shot a double-bogey. “You’ve got to hit the perfect tee shot really,” Rose said. “On the right is the new bunkers and on the left the creek that follows along the fairway. There’s no bailout. Obviously right is better than left, but you can’t bank on getting a decent lie in the trap, which unfortunately I didn’t today.”

Couples Goes For Two – 1998 Champion Fred Couples posted 69-69 to move within two shots of the lead. Couples skipped the Memorial a few times which he as regretted. “I love the golf course,” he said. “I did skip it a few times, but it’s a great spot. Looking back, I probably wish I never would have skipped it.”

Notables not making the cut. Mark O’Meara, Lancaster native Joe Ogilvie, Nick Price, Jesper Parnevik.  Dudley Hart, David Edwards Andre Stolz withdrew.