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Brian Harman hasn’t been in great form of late. Even so, he was mentioned in dispatches before the Tournament began as a dark horse, with the fiery conditions negating his length disadvantage, and his short game so sweet. However, form trumped hipster punditry as he opened with a dismal 79. However the 2023 Open champion bounced back spectacularly with a 69 yesterday, and he’s in even better nick this afternoon, with birdies at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 14. Just the one dropped shot at 7, and he’s level par overall.
Alex Noren was out in the first group this morning. The veteran Swede has absolutely no history at Augusta National to speak of – a tie for 62nd in 2019 is his best return – but he’s looking to amend that record this year. A round of 69 today to follow yesterday’s 71; how he’ll be ruing his opening 77. But as things stand he’s in the top 40 at +1 overall and very much trending in the right direction. Ladies and gentlemen, your very early clubhouse leader.
In terms of importance and sheer breathtaking drama, Rory McIlroy’s run of six birdies in the last seven holes last night is unlikely to be matched this week. If it is, we’re in for an era-defining treat. But the course does seem to be offering opportunities. The 2011 PGA champion Keegan Bradley reached the turn a wee bit earlier with four consecutive birdies, 6 through 9; he’s level par for the Tournament. And now Rasmus Højgaard has matched that feat with birdies at 13, 14, 15 and 16. The run’s unlikely to continue, as he’s just whistled his tee shot at 17 into the trees down the right, although that’s what Rory did yesterday and look what ended up happening there. Anyway, Højgaard is +3 overall for now.
There have only been three aces in Masters history at the famous short par-three 12th Golden Bell. Claude Harmon (1948 champion and father of Butch) in 1947; the amateur William Hyndman in 1959; and two-time US Open champion Curtis Strange in 1988. Three in 89 years … then nearly two in two days. Yesterday afternoon, the 18-year-old amateur Mason Howell landed his tee shot a couple of inches away from the hole; today the 2011 winner Charl Schwartzel smacked his wedge flush onto the base of the flagstick, a couple of feet up, and away. So close, but yet so far. Howell’s ball stopped near enough to tap in for birdie; Schwartzel’s nearly twanged back off the green but at least he saved his par.
The world number one Scottie Scheffler, twice a winner here, started the day 12 shots off the lead. But he’s only six off second spot, and you can be darn sure he won’t have given up the ghost just yet. To this end, he creams a high fade into the 2nd green from 265 yards to six feet, and makes no mistake with the eagle putt. That’s his second eagle at Pink Dogwood of the week, and it whisks him up the standings to -2. He followed up the first on day one with birdie at 3, but he can’t repeat that today, missing a relatively straight seven-footer on the next green. But there’s an early reminder for Rory that there’s plenty of trouble lurking in the pack should he slip up.
-12: McIlroy
-6: Burns, Reed
-5: Rose, Lowry, Fleetwood
-4: Clark, Hatton, Li, Reitan, Day, Young
-3: Gotterup, Koepka, Griffin
-2: Gerard (4), Scheffler (4), Homa, Knapp, Schauffele, Matsuyama
Welcome, patrons, to another sunny day in Augusta, Georgia. Temperatures are expected to make the mid-80s this afternoon, and the wind shouldn’t get up too much. So expect the course to get harder and faster as the day progresses … though the early signs suggest the greens might have been treated to a sprinkle of water overnight or early this morning, because they’ve been fairly receptive and agreeable so far. That seems a fairly logical thing to do if you’re hoping to keep this Tournament competitive: more birdies, more chance of someone taking a run at Rory McIlroy and making a game of this tomorrow. Then again, that also gives Rory the chance to attack the pins, and look what happened with relatively agreeable greens yesterday afternoon. Who’d run a professional golf tournament?
Preamble
It’s Moving Day! Here’s what the top of the leaderboard looked like after 36 holes …
-12: McIlroy
-6: Burns, Reed
-5: Rose, Lowry, Fleetwood
-4: Clark, Hatton, Li, Reitan, Day, Young
-3: Gotterup, Koepka, Griffin
-2: Homa, Knapp, Schauffele, Matsuyama
-1: Brennan, Taylor, Fitzpatrick, Morikawa
E: Campbell, Åberg, Scheffler, English, Gerard, D Johnson, Henley, Cantlay
… here are some big names who have missed the cut …
Danny Willett, JJ Spaun, Bubba Watson, Zach Johnson, Nicolai Højgaard, Akshay Bhatia, Robert MacIntyre, Cameron Smith, Fred Couples, Jose Maria Olazabal, Mike Weir, Vijay Singh, Angel Cabrera and perhaps most shockingly of all Bryson DeChambeau …
… and today’s tee times can be found here. We’ll get going at 6pm BST. It’s on!
