Cheating day at the Augusta Masters. The sun disguised a bad enemy, a wind that whipped the players, played with the flight of the ball and fattened the cards. Nobody escaped a gale that tensed the flags as if they were sails on the high seas. The pieces were falling. The bogeys (or worse) jumped one after another in the ranking. The Masters turned into a nightmare under those 15 mph gusts…for everyone but Scottie Scheffler. The world number, an award that he won in just 42 days since his first professional victory on the American circuit, rose imperially like a beacon in the storm and is the leader of the Masters with eight shots under par, five ahead of Schwartzel, Im , Lowry and Matsuyama. It’s the longest lead in Augusta history after 36 holes, equaling Herman Keiser in 1946, Jack Nicklaus in 1975, Raymond Floyd in 1976 and Jordan Spieth in 2015. They all went on to win the green jacket.
Jon Rahm and Sergio García are in 23rd position with +2 after a day of sweat. As an example, only 13 players went below pair on the day. The statistics of some holes explain the bleeding well: the 11 registered 56 strokes over par in the round (there were almost as many bogeys, 36, as pairs, 41); the five, +36; the 1st and the 18th, +30…
From the mud to the wind. Jon Rahm started the day in the middle of the pack, two over par after an opening round in which the mud smeared his ball on four holes (5, 8, 10 and 11) and subjected it to damned effects in the air. He had to row and row so as not to lose sight of the leaders, and the Basque got out of bed with his work overalls on. Two birdies followed in the first holes changed the dynamics and the gesture of his face. She was then at peace with the field. A clean slate in search of the sensations that he had not found in his debut. The obligatory recovery path that he had to travel on Thursday now became a handful of occasions to discount blows and approach the red numbers. In number three and number four, two putts from birdies They didn’t fall for a little finger. And then the curves began.
landing on the bunker on the fifth hole marked the beginning of a rocky path. Rahm spent one stroke returning the ball to the fairway and another putt failed by a tab loaded him with the first bogey of the day The Basque was closer to that version of the player who dominates all clubs, but Augusta was up for no jokes. very windy and greens hard. The sunny picture was an illusion and any mistake was severely punished.
In the biggest troubles you also see that huge golfer that is Rahm. That ball dropped in the pinnace of the seventh hole gave way to a approach under the green who left the ball very close to the flag to the acknowledgment of applause from Augusta. Another visit followed. bunker in eight. Options birdies They faded as the round progressed and the wind grew more muscular. More than one had to stop when hitting because in those conditions it was like playing Russian roulette.
The trees allied themselves with Rahm. Twice. In the 11th his ball bounced off the branches and he returned to the street when it seemed that Augusta swallowed it. Same in 13. In between a bogey at 12, heart of Amen Corner, after a short shot from bunker. Each hole was already a fight for survival. And in battle, Rahm is a hell of a competitor. Far from settling, with his sights set on cutting positions, the world number two gritted his teeth. Taking some risk was worth it. The 14th hole that had given him a joy on Thursday once again deducted a birdies, and in the next step he confirmed that in the par fives he has not found the key: of eight played in the two rounds only in one, the second hole this Friday, he has signed four strokes. The rest, even or worse. And to finish, another hit on the 18th: bad swing out and wrong putt of arrival, for the pair on the day, +2 in total.
“That’s what pisses me off, that everything I’ve fought for ends this way,” Rahm explained. I haven’t been comfortable since teeespecially with the drive. Still, I see myself in the fight. Good round this Saturday and I’m on it,” he added, before Scheffler finished his round.
Sergio García remains at the same crossroads, who traveled from less to more to continue in the trenches. El Niño touched the glory when in 2017 he won his first major, the Augusta Masters. However, since he donned the green jacket he hasn’t raised his head in the tournament. He missed the cut in 2018, 2019 and 2021 (he did not play in 2020 when testing positive for covid), and this Friday he was saved with two birdies end of a new stumble: +2 in total. He recovered like this from a triple bogey at 11 by sending his ball into the water. Since he conquered the Masters, the man from Castellón has not managed to complete a round under the pair of Augusta. Olazabal was left out of the cut with +17.
Tiger Woods had prepared to resist, but he did not count on a guest as uncomfortable as the wind. After his -1 on Thursday, El Tigre began engulfed by the whirlwind with four bogeys on the first five holes and a collection of misaligned shots in every corner of the course. The myth was human again. He alternated some strokes of genius with moments in which he showed that, after more than 500 days away from official tournaments, he still has to grease the machinery. What was clear is that he had not suffered so much to die on the shore and not pass the cut. With +2 on the day, he marches +1 on the total. He has two more days of tributes left.
TV: Movistar Golf. Saturday, from 6:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Sunday, from 18.00 to 0.30.
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