One player the field has to be sick of seeing at the top of the leaderboard around here is Jordan Spieth. He made the turn with a 33, one stroke ahead of Daniel Berger and a pair of Englishmen, Paul Casey and Matthew Fitzpatrick.
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Jordan Spieth of the United States on the second green during the second round of the 2016 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 8, 2016 in Augusta, Georgia.
Coming into the tournament as one of the favorites, Fowler had a nightmare back nine of 44, which saw him crawl in with an 80, one shot worse off than Jin.
He sure didn’t seem to be in a mood to celebrate.
He picked up further shots at the 10th and 13th, sank a clutch 15-footer to save par at the 16th and finished in style by rolling in a six-footer at the last before pumping his fist in celebration.
“Look, I know it’s a very big weekend for me”.
“I can’t make these kind of mistakes and expect to win”, he said.
On Thursday, McIlroy was 4-under par and challenging for the lead when he bogeyed two of the last three to fall four shots back. Friday marked the first time since the third round in 2007 that no player broke 70.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever been fourth in the world, but you have pretty good confidence; there’s only three guys better than you in the world”. “And I’m happy with that”. With more wind expected on Saturday, it feels more like everyone against Augusta National.
Spieth is the man to beat at the Masters.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry blamed mental errors for a second round of 76 which dropped him down the leaderboard on a testing second day of the Masters.
Amateur Bryson DeChambeau is also making a climb, joining McIlroy at three under after 13 holes.
By the end of the day, no one could do better.
Yet there was misery for the youngster at the 18th as he lost his drive left and then pulled a second tee shot before eventually holing out for a triple bogey that dropped him back to even par. He played the rest of the day at 1 over. “It’s another golf tournament I’m trying to win”.
Spieth is hoping to match Arnold Palmer’s record Masters streak of finishing six rounds with the lead. Frustration began to set in on the 10th when Spieth posed over his approach until it came up short of the green. With the wind and the conditions, it was hard. Watson won two green jackets in his illustruous career.
“We were way behind, so the only thing that I tried to ask to the rules officials that we could have a warning a couple holes in advance when it looks like you’re falling somewhat behind”.
“When the margins are as small as they are here that’s what makes it tough”. “There’s a potential for that with what I saw on the last six holes today, the way the course was playing”.
When Spieth arrived here this week as the defending champ, there was plenty of skepticism about an ability to repeat (something that hasn’t been done since Woods won in 2001-02), not merely a commentary on the state of his game, but on the difficulty of dealing with the pressure, attention and expectation that goes with having that chance.
“We kept reminding ourselves that even par is a good score, even par is a good score”. Spieth made it to the course in time for his Friday tee time and birdied the first hole to open up a four-shot lead. All eyes will be on 66-year-old Tom Watson playing in his final Masters.
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World No. 1 Jason Day played his last four holes in 5 over and shot a 72.
