Nick Taylor brought his best golf on a day that required no less at the Memorial. He putted for birdie on all but one hole Friday, somehow kept bogeys off his card and had a 4-under 68 that gave him a share of the lead with Ben Griffin in Dublin, Ohio.

Taylor faced the worst of the weather, a rain that wouldn’t quit, and the Canadian leaned on his college days as a Washington Huskie. He doesn’t like these conditions, but he knows them.

“It was a clean card, which was not necessarily what I expected,” Taylor said. “But it was nice to keep it as simple as possible.”

Griffin caught a slight break in the afternoon when the rain relented and Muirfield Village was soft. He had 16 pars, a birdie and a bogey for a 72 that put him at 7-under 137 with Taylor.

Akshay Bhatia (69) was two shots behind, followed by defending champion Scottie Scheffler. The world’s No. 1 player always seems to be lurking, and his 70 was probably as high as he could have shot the way he was hitting the ball in the rain.

Scheffler missed a trio of birdie chances inside 10 feet on the front nine, hit wedge into the water on the 14th for bogey but otherwise was never too far away.

“Really a lot of good ball striking on the front nine to get me a good score there,” he said.

It was the highest 36-hole score to lead the Memorial since 2012. The rain was merely a nuisance that added to what already is a difficult test with rough that players feel will get them prepared for the U.S. Open in two weeks at Oakmont.

“The rough is almost second-to-none, at least for a ‘regular’ tour event,” Taylor said. “Torrey Pines was pretty thick this year. Bay Hill is always thick. But it seems to be just a little bit thicker here, playing that much more difficult.”

LPGA

Mao Saigo already won her first major title this year. She’s putting herself in position for another at the U.S. Women’s Open.

Saigo shot a 6-under 66 on Friday to take the second-round lead at Erin Hills. At 8-under 136, the 23-year-old Japanese player had a three-stroke advantage over a group of six led by top-ranked Nelly Korda.

If Saigo maintains this pace, she would finish at 16 under to match the score Brooks Koepka had in winning the U.S. Open at Erin Hills in 2017. Koepka matched a U.S. Open record.

Saigo was asked whether 16 under might be within reach.

“It is very difficult to compare,” she said through an interpreter. “All I can say is that I will do my best, and as a result, I would like to make a good result.”

Saigo won Chevron Championship in a playoff outside Houston just over a month ago for her first LPGA Tour title.

Korda had a 67. She was 5 under with Hinako Shibuno (69), Sarah Schmelzel (68), Maja Stark (69), Yealimi Noh (71) and A Lim Kim (71).