Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy both endured incredibly difficult days on the golf course on Friday at The Memorial Tournament.
The conditions were incredibly challenging for the entire field at Muirfield Village on Friday, with the average score creeping over 74.
McIlroy posted a 74 on day two, while Thomas grinded hard for a round of 75.
Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy played in the most challenging conditions of the day, but they both made it through to the weekend at The Memorial Tournament.
Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
McIlroy changed to a heavier shaft in his driver before The Memorial, but he still struggled to keep the ball on the fairway.
Meanwhile, Justin Thomas has been working incredibly hard on his game since returning to action after undergoing back surgery in November, but for scant reward so far.
Justin Thomas says incident involving Rory McIlroy will never happen again
As Thomas and McIlroy struggled around Muirfield Village on Friday, an incredibly rare incident occurred.
Thomas spoke to the press after his second round and commented on the moment when his ball hit McIlroy’s coin on the green for the second day running.
“It’s funny, it happened yesterday,” the 33-year-old said.
Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
“My ball was directly in front of his coin yesterday. And I had to mark it and move it. Then he went first and he missed it, and then I moved it back, I went second, and I missed it to the exact same thing, my ball went right in front of his coin, mark it, had to move my coin.
“Then it happened today. Like it was like that, what was it, where Zalatoris a couple years ago or something, like had a ball finish on someone’s coin.
“It was the same kind of thing. Like it just doesn’t — it will never happen again in my career. It was nuts.“
It would have been incredibly rare if it just happened once, but for it to happen twice in two days was, as Thomas rightly said, ‘nuts’.
Justin Thomas on why he hugged Rory McIlroy after round two at The Memorial
Rather than shake hands on the last green as players usually do, Thomas and McIlroy shared a warm embrace.
And Thomas lifted the lid on exactly why he and McIlroy did that.
“It was a mutual hug,“ the two-time major champion admitted.
“We just looked at each other and I think we both, we were like, we need a hug.
“He probably realized I needed one maybe more. It was a grind. It was a different grind for him, but, yeah, we were just battling out there.“
Muirfield Village absolutely beat up Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy on day two of The Memorial Tournament, but they both loved to fight another day.