Rory McIlroy creeps inside the cut at Memorial Tournament

Rory McIlroy endured a nervous wait but his challenge at the Memorial Tournament continues into the weekend after he carded a second round of 70 at Muirfield Village.

His two under par effort on Friday left him right on the level par cut mark at the halfway stage.

With the top 70 and ties set to make the cut, the four-time Major winner was left sweating to see if he would be part of the field for the third round - but he finished in a 13-way share of 69th place and will tee off at 1.11pm (Irish time) on Saturday.

Another player who will be teeing it up on Saturday is Tiger Woods, who followed his opening 72 with a five under par round of 67 on a weather-affected second day.

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Woods, a five-time winner of the Memorial Tournament, started with a bogey on the first - but bounced back impressively with birdies on three, five, seven and nine.

Woods was soon on the charge as he made a stunning eagle on the 11th - sending the galleries into raptures as he holed from 95 yards to move to five under par.

He was then stood over a birdie putt on the par three 12th when the siren went and play was suspended due to a bad weather warning, with the field then enduring a lengthy wait of more than an hour before play could resume.

However, when the hooter finally went for play to start again Woods couldn’t make his birdie putt - and his poor touch on the greens saw him settle for a 67.

At five under for the tournament, Woods is six shots off the halfway lead of America’s Kyle Stanley and 19-year-old Joaquín Niemann of Chile.

After his round, Woods lamented his work on the greens, he said: “I hit some good shots in there, felt I had nice control of pretty much everything. Unfortunately I missed a lot of short putts, which is something I don’t normally do, which is frustrating.

“I’ve got to clean that up come this weekend, hopefully I can get it going. If I hit the ball like this on the weekend, I’ve got a great chance of winning this tournament.”

Woods gets his third round underway at 4.20pm (Irish time) on Saturday, along with US Masters champion Patrick Reed.

Earlier McIroy, who shot a two over par 74 on Thursday, flew out of the blocks, picking up three shots in the opening four holes of his second round.

Teeing off on the 10th, McIlroy opened with a regulation par four. He got the ball rolling on the par five 11th however, clipping a 68-yard wedge to within 10-feet, before draining the putt for a birdie four.

McIlroy’s momentum continued with a birdie on the par three 12th, before he made par on the 13th. Another birdie soon followed, as he stitched his 115-yard second shot to within four-feet on the 14th - rolling in the short putt.

However, McIlroy couldn’t capitalise and it wasn’t until the par three fourth - his 13th hole - that he picked up another stroke.

At two under par for the tournament the 29-year-old looked set to make it into the weekend, but bogeys on the fifth and seventh - his 14th and 16th - left him relying on the rest of the field in order to survive into Saturday.

Shane Lowry’s involvement over the weekend had also looked touch and go - but the Offaly man battled his way to a rollercoaster second round of 69 - including seven birdies and four bogeys - to sit at two under par at the halfway stage.

Meanwhile in the US Women’s Open County Down’s Oliviva Mehaffey (a) missed the cut after she shot a 77 in a rain-affected second round. Australia’s Sarah Jane Smith leads by three heading into the third round.

Memorial Tournament collated scores (after second round)

133 Kyle Stanley 67 66, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 65 68

135 Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 68 67

136 Jason Day (Aus) 68 68, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 65 71, J.B. Holmes 70 66, Wesley Bryan 68 68, Bryson DeChambeau 69 67

137 Justin Rose (Eng) 71 66, Beau Hossler 66 71, Gary Woodland 69 68, Patrick Cantlay 68 69, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 66

138 Luke List 71 67, Adam Scott (Aus) 72 66, Bubba Watson 71 67, Tom Hoge 71 67, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 71 67, Keegan Bradley 68 70, Dustin Johnson 72 66, Julian Suri 71 67, Ryan Armour 68 70, Martin Laird (Sco) 72 66

139 Tiger Woods 72 67, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 73 66, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 69, Matt Kuchar 71 68, Alex Cejka (Ger) 69 70, Tony Finau 71 68, Grayson Murray 67 72, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 71 68, Peter Uihlein 69 70, Bill Haas 70 69, Patrick Reed 71 68

140 Nick Watney 71 69, Brian Gay 69 71, Branden Grace (Rsa) 69 71, Jamie Lovemark 67 73, Phil Mickelson 74 66, Whee Kim (Kor) 73 67, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 65 75, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 71 69, Ryan Moore 71 69

141 Lucas Glover 67 74, Sung Kang (Kor) 74 67, Kelly Kraft 73 68, Vijay Singh (Fij) 75 66, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 72 69, Justin Thomas 72 69, Patrick Rodgers 68 73, Rickie Fowler 72 69

142 Brian Stuard 72 70, Pat Perez 72 70, John Senden (Aus) 73 69, David Lingmerth (Swe) 69 73, Kevin Streelman 74 68, Ted Potter, Jr. 72 70, Ollie Schniederjans 73 69, Shane Lowry (Irl) 73 69, Kevin Tway 75 67, Brice Garnett 74 68, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 75 67

143 Rod Pampling (Aus) 73 70, Andrew Dorn 69 74, Chesson Hadley 73 70, Russell Knox (Sco) 74 69, Charles Howell III 73 70, Robert Streb 71 72

144 Chris Kirk 75 69, Zach Johnson 75 69, Andrew Landry 71 73, Adam Hadwin (Can) 74 70, Rory McIlroy (Nlrl) 74 70, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 76 68, Russell Henley 71 73, Marc Leishman (Aus) 74 70, Sam Burns 73 71, Patton Kizzire 72 72, John Huh 75 69, Kevin Kisner 70 74, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 73 71

145 Kenny Perry 73 72, James Hahn 78 67, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 72 73, Martin Piller 76 69

146 Scott Brown 72 74, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 77 69, Xander Schauffele 75 71, Aaron Wise 75 71, William McGirt 74 72, Cameron Davis (Aus) 72 74, Kevin Chappell 76 70, Billy Horschel 70 76

147 Doc Redman (a) 77 70, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 74 73, Charley Hoffman 74 73, Cameron Smith (Aus) 75 72, Jim Furyk 76 71, Sean O’Hair 75 72, Jordan Spieth 75 72

148 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 76 72, Jason Dufner 75 73, Will Zalatoris 75 73, Austin Cook 76 72, J.J. Spaun 77 71, Stewart Cink 75 73, Jonas Blixt (Swe) 71 77

149 Ernie Els (Rsa) 75 74, Brandon Harkins 79 70

151 Kevin Na 78 73, Daniel Summerhays 75 76

152 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 75 77

153 Trey Mullinax 77 76, Harry Ellis (a) (Eng) 73 80, Bud Cauley 77 76

154 Kyung Ju Choi (Kor) 80 74

156 Danny Lee (Nzl) 83 73, Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 79 77

158 Jason Kokrak 76 82

159 Keith Mitchell 82 77

Cut to take place at end of Round 2 for scores of no more than 144