Furyk and Byrd flying high

US PGA Tour: Three-times champion Tiger Woods was let down by his approach play at the Memorial tournament as fellow Americans…

US PGA Tour:Three-times champion Tiger Woods was let down by his approach play at the Memorial tournament as fellow Americans Jonathan Byrd and Jim Furyk grabbed a one-shot lead in the second round.

World number one Woods, bidding for his second PGA Tour victory this year, carded a two-over-par 74 in breezy conditions at Muirfield Village Golf Club to lie six shots off the pace.

Byrd fired a flawless 68 for a seven-under total of 137, a stroke in front of compatriot Mark Wilson (70) and Canadian left-hander Mike Weir (69), before being joined at the summit by Furyk (70).

Ireland's Pádraig Harrington missed the cut after a 77 left him eight over for his two rounds.

READ MORE

Britain's Luke Donald, who set the first-round pace with a sparkling 64 in the PGA Tour event hosted by Jack Nicklaus, went backwards when he fired a 76 to drop back to four-under-par.

Woods, champion here for three consecutive years from 1999, was frustrated after wasting a good display off the tee with erratic iron shots and missed putts on lightning-fast greens.

"I drove it great," the 33-year-old told reporters after a round featuring five bogeys and three birdies. "But I hit my ball (for approach shots) on the short side and you can't do that out here.

"You've got to miss it on the correct side. If you miss it on the short side, you're not going to make pars here. Not with how Jack designs a golf course."

But Woods, who won his 66th PGA Tour title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, was pleased overall with the shape of his game.

"Yeah, no doubt," he said. "I'm driving it well right now and I only missed two fairways today. One was by an inch and the other was by two, three yards.

"I'm encouraged by that. I just need to hit my irons a little better and obviously make the short ones (putts). I missed two or three of those today."

Japan's Ryuji Imada birdied three of his last four holes for a 69 to lie two strokes behind Byrd at five under, level with American Matt Bettencourt.

Among the other big names in a typically strong field at Memorial, South African Ernie Els was at four under after shooting a 70 and 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson of the U.S. was level after a 73.

The cut was projected to fall at three-over 147 with Ryder Cup players JB Holmes of the U.S. and Justin Rose of Britain certain to miss out.