Bryson, Rory mount charge to cut Rose's Masters lead
Justin Rose remains in front through two rounds at the Masters, but the story from Augusta National on Friday belongs to Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy, who lead the star-laden chasers.
Rose's early-morning 71 held up at the top of the board, but DeChambeau put a serious dent into that lead with a sparkling 4-under 68. The U.S. Open champ flexed some serious short-game muscle around the challenging greens, holing out from the bunker on No. 4 to get his round started. At the final tally, he was just one shot shy of Rose to claim sole possession of second place.
McIlroy and Corey Conners sit one back of DeChambeau, with the former certainly playing the loudest round of the day. It was going to take something monumental to erase the pair of closing double-bogeys from Thursday, but that's exactly what McIlroy did with an electric 6-under 66, the lowest round of the day.
| Place | Player | Round 2 score | Total to par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Rose | 71 | -8 |
| 2 | Bryson DeChambeau | 68 | -7 |
| T-3 | Rory McIlroy | 66 | -6 |
| T-3 | Corey Conners | 70 | -6 |
| T-5 | Scottie Scheffler | 71 | -5 |
| T-5 | Tyrrell Hatton | 70 | -5 |
| T-5 | Shane Lowry | 68 | -5 |
| T-5 | Matt McCarty | 68 | -5 |
| T-9 | Jason Day | 70 | -4 |
| T-9 | Viktor Hovland | 69 | -4 |
| T-9 | Rasmus Hojgaard | 67 | -4 |
| T-12 | Ludvig Aberg | 73 | -3 |
| T-12 | Hideki Matsuyama | 68 | -3 |
| T-12 | Collin Morikawa | 69 | -3 |
| T-12 | Patrick Reed | 70 | -3 |
| T-12 | Sungjae Im | 70 | -3 |
Scottie Scheffler had it to 6-under heading to the 18th, but the defending champion bogeyed 18 to fall three shots off the pace. However, that's enough to keep Rose up at night. After all, the 44-year-old veteran has arguably the three best players in the game chasing him.
Add the likes of Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, Jason Day, Ludvig Aberg, Hideki Matsuyama and Collin Morikawa, and there's an endless supply of top talent to make a push this weekend.
DeChambeau and McIlroy provided one of the most thrilling majors in recent memory last year at Pinehurst and showed Friday that they're looking to repeat that this week at Augusta. DeChambeau's short-game brilliance had the crowd buzzing, as he finished second in the field in strokes gained: around the green. The headliner was his bunker hole-out on No. 4, but his up-and-down from the forest on No. 10 was outrageous.
"I was hitting it a lot better today, and there's just a few moments where, like on 10, I kind of got out of whack, and I was able to save this round with my wedges and some huge key putts," DeChambeau said postgame, according to ASAP Sports. "Getting up-and-down on 10 was one of the better up-and-downs of my life."
McIlroy supplied the most memorable shot of the day, one that had him asking, "You idiot, what did you do?" while the ball was in flight. Faced with 214 yards from the pine straw on No. 13, McIlroy flighted a 4-iron that barely cleared the water in front and settled just nine feet from the hole for eagle. He would make the putt to hit 4-under through the first four holes of the closing nine, with that stretch providing the rocket fuel for McIlroy to fly up the leaderboard.
"Overall, just proud of myself with how I responded today after the finish last night," McIlroy said. "I just had to remind myself that I played really good golf yesterday, and you know, I wasn't going to let two - you know, two bad holes sort of dictate the narrative for the rest of the week."
Those two will certainly take center stage this weekend, but Scheffler is surely primed to charge and claim a third green jacket. The two-time winner looked like his usual self over the first six holes Friday, but five sloppy bogeys coming home kept him from threatening the top of the board.
"It's really tough out there with the conditions," Scheffler said after his round. "Extremely challenging when you get greens this fast and you get that much wind, especially when it's gusty. It can be quite challenging.
"I did a good job of making some key up-and-downs, and I had the chip-in on 12, good up-and-down for par on 13, took advantage of a look there on 14. Overall, I felt like I did some good things out there to stay in the tournament."
With sunny weather and light winds in the forecast for the weekend, conditions should be very favorable for some brilliant play at the iconic venue. With the firepower at the top, the stage is set for what could be an all-time finish to the latest edition of golf's most prestigious event.