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It is at the peak of 2020 that even the Masters are forced to slow down the results. According to the schedule, we have reached half of the tournament… except that about half of the peloton has not yet arrived.
So be very careful. Here’s what we know so far:
There have been a lot of spills already (looking at you, Bryson DeChambeau), but the thrill (Tiger Woods still chasing) might just be starting. Based on the mild conditions of the first two days and the meticulous scoreboards, this championship is set to break records.
Strong play was evident at the top of the table, where no fewer than four players – established stars Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, as well as lesser-known Cameron Smith and Abraham Ancer – shared the lead at 9 cents. But the battles for the main slots below are just as competitive.
There were four other golfers eight behind, including two, Hideki Matsuyama and Jon Rahm, who will finish the second round on Saturday morning with more than enough holes to steal the lead. And talk about the traffic: there are five other 7-penny golfers, three of whom also have a chance at first place as everyone on the course begins round three today.
As if that wasn’t enough of the excitement, aside from the 44-year-old Woods (4 under, with nine holes to complete), fellow aging titan Phil Mickelson (5 under) is also in the mix.
“I drive like a stallion,” said Mickelson, a three-time champion who made his first round at Augusta National since he turned 50 in June. “I will run.”
If so, Lefty won’t be the only one.
The green jackets who run the Masters knew that moving the tournament from April to November meant giving up some control. On the one hand, they were losing three hours of daylight and on the other hand, playing with Mother Nature is much more difficult in the fall than in the spring.
Throughout most of Friday there was an audible hum as the greenkeepers cranked up the motors of the course’s drywall system to extract moisture from the soft grass above and make the fairways and greens firmer and faster. It was an effort for the most part futile, in large part because of the thunderstorms which soaked the place and delayed the start of the first heat on Thursday by almost three hours.
“I think he can firm up a bit, but it’s going to be hard for him to firm up,” Johnson said. “I think it’s going to be soft enough to get to where you’re going to have to attack the golf course and play aggressively and keep swinging like me. I like where I am. “
He has a lot of company. The scoring average for the first round – which didn’t end until Friday morning – stood at 71.41, the lowest ever at the Masters. The average for the second round was even lower at 71.26, although we won’t know where that ends until the latecomers reach the clubhouse on Saturday morning. The cut line, which should be even, would set another record.
In a little bit of serendipity, DeChambeau, the pre-tournament favorite, will have to live up to that bill just to make the cut. He was 1 of 12 holes when darkness interrupted play on Friday, still reeling from a triple bogey 7 at the third of 350 yards, par 4.
DeChambeau arrived at this year’s Masters about 40 pounds heavier than when he appeared in 2019, beefing up his 6-foot-1 frame in an effort to throw tee shots past the bunkers and turns that make up a much of Augusta’s defenses. After all, that strategy worked almost perfectly when he tore Winged Foot apart to win the US Open in September.
DeChambeau even humbly boasted that his personal par at Augusta was 67, instead of the 72 he scored at the bottom of the scoreboard. So far, however, his ambitions have exceeded his goal.
Despite a few detours, DeChambeau managed to recover a very respectable 70 in Round 1. Barely suppressed, however, he tried to drive the No.3 green again in Round 2. His tee shot found a muddy stretch. well to the left of the fairway, but after a search he could not find the ball. Pushed back to the tee in a golf cart, DeChambeau sent his second attempt almost to the same spot and ended up hitting 7. He bugged the next two holes, turning the remainder of his round into a desperate rescue effort.
Subsequently, Rahm, one of his playing partners, was asked if he was involved in finding DeChambeau’s temperamental tee shot in the third. His answer perfectly summed up DeChambeau’s harshness so far.
“Which?”
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