Paul Casey expected to be chasing someone on Friday in the Memorial, figuring it would be Rory McIlroy.
After two holes, Casey had the lead to himself at Muirfield Village and that was only the start of another big day.
He took advantage of the par-fives for another six-under 66, giving him a three-shot lead over Masters champion Bubba Watson going into the weekend.
McIlroy, whose 63 was the lowest first round in the 39-year history of the tournament, was barely in the picture. He was 15 shots worse with a 78, courtesy of three straight double bogeys and his fourth straight PGA Tour event with a nine-hole score of 40 or higher. McIlroy went from a three-shot lead to nine shots behind.
“To be honest, I thought I was going to be playing a round to try and maybe catch a couple of guys,” Casey said. “I woke up checking the scores to see what Rory was going to be. That’s really what I was going to be doing — see how many under I was going to have to try to shoot to chase. Obviously, that didn’t happen.”
Casey, taking another step on a long road back from injuries that nearly derailed his career, was at 12-under 132.
He made his first birdie with his best drive of the day on the par-five 11th, setting up a four-iron onto the green for a two-putt birdie. He made eagle on the par-five 15th hole for the second straight day and he stuffed it close around the turn for birdies to start pulling away from the field.
Watson gave him a good run in an active round that featured six birdies, five bogeys and an eagle. He only was angry at a few shots where he failed to concentrate. Even so, a bogey-bogey finish was not enough to entirely ruin his day. Watson has never finished better than 23rd in eight previous appearances.
Chris Kirk (70) was four shots behind. Hideki Matsuyama (67) and Martin Flores (68) were five back.
Adam Scott, who won Colonial in his debut at No. 1 in the world, shot 70 and was at five-under 139 still in the mix, depending on how Casey fares on the weekend. Phil Mickelson was happy to get in two more rounds. He shot a 70, though he was 10 shots back.
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