The world's top two players both had difficult second rounds at the Memorial Tournament, leaving them well back in the field as the competition heads into Sunday's final round.
The leaderboard became unusually crowded after Saturday's play, with 21 players sitting within four shots of the lead. Alex Smalley, ranked 78th in the world, emerged atop the standings at six under par, holding a two-shot advantage over a five-way tie for second place.
Scottie Scheffler acknowledged the tightly bunched nature of the competition. "I've never seen anything like this," he said. "I've never seen a leaderboard this bunched up. It's quite literally anybody's tournament." Scheffler found himself five shots back after struggling with his putting on Saturday.
Rory McIlroy bounced back impressively from a difficult opening round. After shooting a poor first round where he made four consecutive bogeys and sat tied for 105th place, he carded a 66 on Saturday to move back into contention. "I've climbed my way out of that hole and I'm proud of myself for doing that," McIlroy said. "There's one more day left, and I feel like I'm close enough to the lead that I've still got a good chance."
McIlroy had been vocal about the difficulty of the course setup through the first two days. On Friday, both he and Scheffler complained about the pin placements. "When you have a set of greens like this, you can start to frustrate people pretty easily," McIlroy explained. He noted that while the challenging setup frustrated players, it created compelling entertainment for spectators. "If I wasn't playing this tournament, I'd love what's going on this week, but watching and playing are two different things," he said. "No profanity today," he added as he arrived to speak with the media.
The tournament committee appeared to adjust the difficulty on Saturday, moving pins to more accessible locations and benefiting from favorable weather conditions. The wind shifted and sunshine emerged, making some of the shorter par-fours reachable off the tee.
Smalley, making his first 54-hole lead in a professional tournament, had recovered from a rough start. He made four bogeys in his first eight holes before shooting five under par on his final ten holes. "I don't like being in the spotlight a whole lot," Smalley said. "I'm still trying to get used to playing in front of large groups of people like there are at tournaments like this one."
Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed all sat just one shot behind Smalley. With such a congested leaderboard, Schauffele summed up Sunday's outlook: "It is going to be an absolute free-for-all."