Because the wind swirled round Augusta and the low scores dried up within the gusts, the World No. 1 emerged to seek out the birdies required to grab management of The Masters. Scottie Scheffler, with wins in three of his final 5 begins, will take to the ultimate group on Saturday with a five-shot lead over the sector, after what was a fraught and troublesome day that tightened the chasing pack heading into the weekend, however left one man stood above the remaining.
Nobody thought it might be potential to take such a wholesome lead into the third spherical after a day like this. Certainly, a five-shot lead on the midway stage is the most important in Masters historical past. Nobody noticed that coming.
It was thought a spherical of stage par would have stored loads of these within the area in competition – however that was earlier than Scheffler’s magnificent again 9. Many had been unable to maintain with the tempo, particularly these caught by the worst of the situations, as Scheffler pulled away with a string of birdies on his remaining holes.
Cameron Smith and Danny Willett had been amongst these to fall away from the highest of the leaderboard. Rory McIlroy couldn’t discover momentum to get his problem on observe. Charl Schwartzel, Shane Lowry and Hideki Matsuyama rose, and amongst all of it Tiger Woods battled on to make sure that he made the lower – which stays as exceptional a narrative as any that shall be produced at this opening main of the 12 months.
There have been moments the place it seemed like Woods, after the exertions of Thursday’s gorgeous return, would fall away utterly. The five-time Masters champion made 4 bogeys in his opening 5 holes and twice discovered himself at +3. The response to that adversity was simply as spectacular to his earlier spherical of 71, as he made consecutive birdies on the thirteenth and 14th to tug himself again and proceed his exceptional story.
Scheffler, who was taking part in within the remaining group and shall be doing so once more on Saturday, made a affected person begin after bogeying the first however impressed play after the flip moved him to a rating of -8 that didn’t look reachable earlier. He shall be joined within the remaining group by Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters champion, who regardless of carrying little kind ino the match soaked up some birdies earlier than they for some time appeared to vanish within the situations.
The early window for scoring was quick lived. Of the early strikes, Jon Rahm opened with back-to-back birdies to get to stage par. McIlroy took benefit of his first par 5 to affix him. Collin Morikawa seemed to have been heating up as he hit the flip with consecutive birdies to get into the purple for the primary time this week. Earlier, Dustin Johnson was purring as his tee shot on the par-3 4th landed inside six toes to maneuver inside a shot of the lead.
However the situations had been altering and the wind was beginning to choose up. As McIlroy took an extended stare on the flag on the third after it modified path, it was clear Augusta was baring its tooth. McIlroy faltered and Johnson had slightly mid-round disaster across the flip, which is the place the wind was swirling and gusting with menace.
Sungjae Im, the in a single day chief at -5, made it there at stage par for the day, recovering from a gap bogey, however his again 9 could be an eventful journey. Dropped pictures on the tenth and twelfth had been rescued by sensational birdies on the thirteenth and sixteenth, however even they had been sandwiched between discovering the water for a bogey-six on the par-5 fifteenth.
As Im held the lead at -3 it opened up the competitors to even those that began the day within the constructive figures. He was joined by Schwartzel who bought out early to put up a three-under-69. “It’s getting more durable,” he mentioned of the wind from the security of the clubhouse. “I believe we had some fortune teeing off earlier. It’s going to be a tricky afternoon.”
And so it proved. Smith bogeyed the first, an enchancment on his double bogey there yesterday, however a second bogey on the 4th noticed him relinquish the lead. For a participant who got here into the week in such promising kind and who appeared to grasp the greens in between his first and final holes on Thursday, such a spherical was sudden, even when he did get again to -2 with improved play in a while. In stepped Willett, the 2016 Masters champion on the hunt for one more style of victory at Augusta, who birdied the 2nd to take the outright lead.
Johnson held it collectively on the again 9 with a string of pars to stay firmly in competition at -2, or so it appeared primarily based on these early scores. Morikawa birdied the sixteenth to put up a helpful spherical of 70, though would have been questioning what may have been after a weird error along with his normally trusty irons led to a bogey after discovering the water on the eleventh. That was additionally the place McIlroy met his undoing, a double-bogey six puncturing his probabilities, earlier than he performed out his spherical beneath par to complete +2 total. He has already conceded that his await a Masters title will prolong to a different 12 months.
For a second, three former Masters winners shared the lead as defending champion Hideki Matsuyama joined Schwartzel and Willett, however it might not final for lengthy. WIllett landed in bother along with his strategy at 10 earlier than the eleventh discovered one other sufferer, his putt operating by the inexperienced. Three bogeys in a row had been capped at 12 and in such a good leaderboard he plummeted down. “A difficult day,” he later admitted.
Matsuyama’s management of Augusta from final 12 months gave the impression to be persevering with and the defending champion hitting the entrance appeared to be an ominous signal for the remainder of the sector, though Scheffler was unmoved.
The American rounded the entrance 9 with a pair of birdies to hit the entrance and when the strain moments got here he held his nerve. A testing uphill putt on the lightning eleventh inexperienced saved par earlier than he drilled his strategy to inside 12 toes of the opening on the twelfth to arrange birdie. One other adopted on the thirteenth after discovering his ball amongst the photographers on his strategy, solely to stand up and down in two.
He was thriving in his standing because the World No. 1, simply as Lowry was additionally starting to have some enjoyable. After a bogey on the first left him at +2, he quietly started working down the entrance 9 earlier than a chip-in for birdie on the tenth to maneuver him into the purple ensured he couldn’t slip beneath the radar any longer. He then performed the par 5s to perfection. Afterwards, the previous Open champion mentioned it was one of many rounds of his life.
However the afternoon was Scheffler’s. He additionally picked up pictures on the par-5s, earlier than a superb birdie at 16 made a mockery of the sooner difficulties skilled all through the course. The inexperienced jacket is now his to lose.
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