McIlroy tied for lead at Memorial by making fewest mistakes

DUBLIN, Ohio: Rory McIlroy realized Muirfield Village was playing so tough that he set a goal of just trying to break 70. He didn’t quite get there, and his 2-under 70 still was enough for him to share the lead Saturday in the Memorial.

It helped that Hideki Matsuyama went from leading to dropping off the leaderboard in a span of six holes. And that Patrick Cantlay went into the water and over the green on his way to a triple bogey. David Lipsky bogeyed his last two holes.

What remained amid a few rumbles of thunder — but no weather delays — was an opportunity for just about everyone who had a tee time Sunday.

Thirteen players were separated by two shots. Nine more were only three shots out of the lead.

Lipsky’s two closing bogeys gave him a 72, while Si Woo Kim overcome two double bogeys for a 71. They joined McIlroy at 6-under 210.

It’s the highest 54-hole lead since 1990, when the weather was so atrocious that the final round was canceled and Greg Norman won at even-par 216.

McIlroy ran into trouble in the right rough on the 10th and had to scramble for a bogey. He pulled his tee shot on the par-5 11th and caught a break when it stopped short of going into the creek. That’s when he set his goal for the day to break 70 by avoiding mistakes and picking up some birdies on a few of the more scorable holes.

It didn’t quite work out that way. He chipped in for birdie on the dangerous par-3 12th. He also hit an approach to a back pin on the 17th that rolled past the cup to 7 feet and set up one of only eight birdies on that hole all round.

Just as sweet was the 18th, where his putt from the back of the green to a front pin ran nearly 10 feet by the cup and he holed that for par. McIlroy had several par putts from