AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – The stage is set for the weekend at The Masters, after the field was cut to the top 50 (plus ties) after Friday’s second round.
Scottie Scheffler (-8), ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking after winning three times over the last two months, shot a 67 in windy, difficult conditions on Friday to take a five shot lead into the weekend. It matches the largest 36 hole lead in Masters history. Three of the previous four players to hold a five-stroke advantage entering the third round won, with the latest being Jordan Spieth in 2015.
“I played solid golf today. I kept myself in position,” Scheffler said. “I had a really good back nine and I’m looking forward to the challenge of tomorrow but you know, I wouldn’t say much changes. I mean, I’m still playing the golf course. There’s still 50 guys in the field, something like that, I’m sure, and I can’t worry about what those guys are doing. I’m just going to go out and play my game and just keep doing what I’m doing.”
Scottie Scheffler plays his shot from the seventh tee during the second round of The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 08, 2022 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
There is a four-way tie for second. 2011 champion Charl Schwartzel, from South Africa, first round leader Sungjae Im, from South Korea, 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry, of Ireland, and defending champion Hideki Matsuyama are all at -3.
“It was one of my better rounds of my career, I think,” Lowry said after shooting 68 on Friday. “It was quite tricky out there, quite difficult, and I managed to play some good golf and hole some nice putts at the right times. I’m, obviously, very happy with my score. There was a lot more disappointed standing here yesterday, and, yeah, I’m in a great position going into the weekend.”
Five-time champion Tiger Woods (+1) made his 22nd consecutive cut at The Masters. He shot 74 on Friday and enters the weekend nine back of Scheffler. Woods is competing for the first time since the car accident in which he was seriously injured in February of 2021.
“I’m proud of the fact that my whole team got me into this position,” Woods said Friday evening. “We worked hard to get me here to where I had an opportunity and then not to have, as I said, any setbacks this week, and we haven’t. Kept progressing.”
“But Scottie is running away with it right now,” Woods continued. “Tomorrow is going to be tough. It’s going to be windy. It’s going to be cool. It’s going to be the Masters that I think the Masters Committee has been looking forward to for a number of years. We haven’t had it like this. It’s going to be exciting, and it’s going to be fun for all of us.”
Woods will play with Aiken’s Kevin Kisner (+1) in Saturday’s third round. Kisner shot 70 in the second round and is tied for 19th. After his round he was frustrated by a bogey-bogey finish.
“I played solid, really solid,” Kisner said Friday. “I’ve just got to get my driver a little more dialed in. Just can’t make the momentum putts. It’s driving me crazy. Those two putts on 17, 18, I should make those and post 4-under and be right there in the hunt. So running a little hot right now.”
Augusta resident Luke List (+8), making his first Masters appearance since 2005, and 1987 champion Larry Mize (+11), an Augusta native, both missed the cut.
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