Justin Rose was relieved to stay in contention with leader Rickie Fowler after the second round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in Ohio.
Rose already knew Fowler, who had tied for the lead with the Englishman and Geoff Ogilvy on the opening day, had carved out a commanding lead when he began his second round.
So Rose was just relieved to reach the halfway stage in the tournament three shots off the pace on ten under following a 69 to add to his opening 65.
Fowler scored 66 to add to his 65, with fellow Americans Tim Petrovic and Jim Furyk tied for third on 135 nine under totals.
But despite being three shots back from Fowler, Rose was not downcast at not matching the rookie for a second day.
He said: “In some ways, I knew that wasn’t really an option for me today.
“I knew the course was going to play tougher this afternoon. In some ways, I knew my challenge today was going to be a little bit different, just to almost keep myself in the tournament, not get too far behind.”
Rose finished with a birdie on 18 after opening with a bogey for the second successive day.
“I was probably more pleased with today’s three under than yesterday’s seven under,” said Rose.
“Yesterday was benign. I played well. There wasn’t any real challenges to the round. Today, there were a lot of challenges out there. Every shot was a grind.”
Rose admitted being paired with Fowler would be a new experience.
“I’ve never played with him. I’ve seen the way he plays, pretty fearless. Going to enjoy it. Someone I can feed off of tomorrow. Go out and have some fun and see what happens.”
Northern Irishman Rory McIlory will need to make a significant move even after a 68 as he lay nine shots off Fowler in joint 20th, one stroke better of than Tiger Woods.
Woods admitted he was pleased with his round of 69.
Woods said: “I hit more good shots today than I did yesterday and really putted well today. I had five lip-outs today, so it could have been a pretty good number.
“Here we are in June, and I’m at the point which most guys are beginning of the year. So it’s just one of those things where the more times, the more good shots I hit, keep building, and it’s a process.”
Among the players who missed the cut were England’s Brian Davis and South Africa’s Ernie Els.
