Justin Thomas explains why he hugged Rory McIlroy after brutal PGA Tour round

A handshake would have been the normal way to finish.

Instead, during the second round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy shared an unexpected hug on the 18th green after a punishing day in brutal conditions.

Thomas later explained it was simply a natural reaction after both players had been pushed to the limit.

“It was a mutual hug. We just looked at each other and I think we both, we were like, we need a hug,” Thomas said.

It was a small moment that summed up just how hard the day had been.

Thomas carded a 75 to make the cut right on the number at five-over par after what he described as one of the toughest rounds of his PGA Tour career.

“I can't put into words how hard that was,” he said.

Then came his blunt assessment of the conditions:

“That was the hardest round of golf that I can remember, major, non-major, it was just insane.”

The wind, gusting around 20–25mph, wasn’t just strong — it was unpredictable, making every shot feel like a gamble.

“The wind wasn't really the direction it was supposed to be or kind of forecasted to be for kind of like half the day and that usually isn't something that happens when it's at 25, 20, 25 miles an hour. It was just hard.”

And there was no room for error.

“You don't have a bail out on half your shots out here so you have a lot of shots over water and you're like, well, I hope it's helping or I hope it's not hurting.”

McIlroy’s finish told a similar story.

The world number two signed for a 74, dropping three shots across his final six holes to fall back to one-over par alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler’s 72 looked steady on paper, but even he endured chaos at times, including a shanked bunker shot on the fifth that summed up just how difficult conditions were.

After the round Scheffler provided a comment that would make amateur hacks feel better about their own games this weekend. 

At the top of the leaderboard, J.T. Poston produced a brilliant 65 to move to nine-under par and one shot ahead of Ryan Gerard.

McIlroy and Scheffler enter the weekend 10 shots off the pace, with Thomas 14 back. 

After his round, Thomas also took to X to praise Poston’s performance in the same brutal conditions.

Thomas wrote: “I don’t think I can put into words how good @JT_ThePostman round was today… I’m out there trying to figure out where and how I can make ONE birdie, let alone shooting -7! Today was probably the most difficult round I’ve played on tour. On to the weekend!”

It was a fitting contrast: one player battling just to make it through the cut, another producing a round that stood out even in chaos.

But the lasting image wasn’t on the leaderboard.

It was on the 18th green at Muirfield Village — where two of the game’s biggest names briefly dropped the formality of competition and simply acknowledged the reality of the day: survival first, everything else second.