A fascinating second day at Augusta ended with the same leader, but just about everything else had changed.
Justin Rose still leads on the same seven-under mark he set on Thursday, but there was a madly pushing and shoving crowd assembling behind him to get in a good spot for the weekend.
Some, like Will Zalatoris and Brian Harman sharing second place, are untried and untested on the major weekend examination. Some, such as Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, are flush with form and confidence and look set to make a big assault.
The winner at the Masters almost always comes from the top ten on Friday night. That takes us back as far as Xander Schauffele on three-under. How the course is presented – fast and hard like Thursday or softer and pliable like Friday – over the final two rounds will be crucial.
Rose grinds it out, but he’ll need more on the weekend
Tee times and pairings for the third round. #themastershttps://t.co/o8sAzRjIbO
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 9, 2021
Rose knew his four-shot advantage from the first round wouldn’t stand up to the second day, and probably expected to be assaulted on all sides.
The Englishman blocked his opening drive of day two into the trees and had to hack out sideways, and that set the tone for the front nine. By the time he reached the turn his lead had evaporated, and Marc Leishman was about to go ahead of him.
But Rose still had those easier holes to play as well, and he birdied 13, 14 and 16 to get back to par for the day. Despite the afternoon wave advances, his lead held up by a shot at the end.
“I’m not kind of brimming with confidence right now, so today was always going to be challenging,” said Rose, who had little or no form coming into Augusta. “I felt like I grew a little bit from today, which was good.”
The back nine shows he can recover the brilliance of Thursday, but you get the impression Rose is feeling his way a little – really he’s a work in progress like Rory McIlroy, who predictably missed the cut.
And there are plenty assembling behind him for the weekend who are brimming with confidence right now.
Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas move into position
He loves this place #TheMasters pic.twitter.com/ERFdjLuCPb
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 10, 2021
As the last two tournament winners coming into Augusta, and each of them with a Masters pedigree – and some for Spieth – it was an ominous advance by the two long-time friends and Ryder Cup foursomes partners.
Spieth dropped one shot, on his old nemesis, the 12th. Otherwise it was pretty seamless progression for the 2015 champion, with the bonus of a 30-footer on the 17th to get him two behind Rose.
“At the halfway point, I would have been pleased to be two back,” he noted, adding that, with the probability that the course will harden up again over the weekend, -10 might be enough to win it.
Thomas was left frustrated by a three-putt at the 18th which meant it was “just” a 67, but he’s easily capable of making up the deficit on his friend and on Rose over the course of the weekend.
With Dustin Johnson seemingly sliding into dry dock right now, World No 1 status is attainable for JT.
Temper, temper
Si Woo Kim breaks his putter while three shots off the lead and 3-under on the day. Psycho move. pic.twitter.com/abCtnXmt7a
— By The Flagstick (@ByTheFlagstick) April 9, 2021
No (basically racist) jokes about inscrutable Asians. At the 15th Si-Woo Kim, in fury at a bogey on the previous hole and a poor – but certainly not disastrous – chip, slammed his blameless putter into the turf and broke it.
This was potentially calamitous for the former Players champion at just three shots behind Rose, but he two-putted supremely well with his three-wood the rest of the way. It looked like he’d had plenty practice, which suggest broken putters are not an uncommon occurrence for him.
And a stat by number-cruncher Justin Ray shows Kim might be a serious contender. Using the strokes gained measurement, he’s miles ahead of anyone tee to green this week so far. I wonder what the weakness in his game might be…
Most strokes gained 'long game' (off the tee + approach) through 2 rounds this week:
Si Woo Kim, +10.33
Corey Conners, +6.21
Xander Schauffele, +5.31
Abraham Ancer, +4.62
Will Zalatoris, +4.61
Justin Rose, +4.61— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) April 10, 2021
Bryson makes par
Twitter yesterday groaned with memes and videos of DeChambeau railing in frustration, golf schadenfreude at its most merciless.
But actually on the course he was making ground up fast, a 67 (his declared par for Augusta, of course) pushing him to one-under and six behind Rose.
“You have to experience failure in order to understand what success is,” he said. “It’s just not realistic to expect success all the time.”
That, he pointed out, was the beauty of Augusta. And as he said pre-tournament, it’s not so much the power and the technique and the bells and whistles in his game that count, it’s the actual basic execution. On Friday he executed his shots far better than Thursday, and five-under was the result.
November was a guide to nothing
New invitees and past champions alike struggled with firm and fast course conditions this week. #themastershttps://t.co/121RjA5ZQp
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 10, 2021
No previous Masters has proved as irrelevant to what followed than the last one. Dustin Johnson became only the third champion to miss the cut following year.
We knew the World No 1 was struggling a little with form. He has a decent record at Augusta even prior to the 20-under record pace five months ago. But it always seemed like an unlikely repeat with the course playing so more challengingly.
Sungjae Im was many people’s sleeper, after his second place and all-round consistent form coming in. But the chip back into the water at 15 on Thursday led to a nine and he never recovered.
The other man who impressed in November was Australia’s mulletted Cameron Smith. He got to five-under after an eagle at 13 but gave both strokes back in the pond at 15, and finished two-under.
MacIntyre’s magic
Onto the weekend we go 💚🏴🇺🇸 @TheMasters pic.twitter.com/ynhG6qxUPd
— Robert MacIntyre (@robert1lefty) April 9, 2021
Will Zalatoris is the leader in debutant pyrotechnics this week so far, one off the lead after his late surge home in 31. But our Bob is the other rookie in for the weekend. He had to undergo a stiffer examination in the trickier conditions of the morning wave.
At three-over after seven, and again after 11, it might have all unravelled. Augusta’s done that plenty times to much more experienced heads than the 24-year-old. But there followed birdies at 12, 13 and especially 14. His second shot from the pine needles over and around a line of trees to ten feet was a thing of rare beauty.
There were even a few smiles from the young Scot after that. He’d been a bit tense and poker-faced all week, but thinks he plays his best when he’s visibly enjoying himself.
The key now is not letting the relief of making the cut lower the guard on Saturday. A top 20 is there for the taking this weekend, and that would be a huge leap forward for MacIntyre.
