The second round of the 89th Masters Tournament was a thriller and full of must-see moments.
Justin Rose remains in the lead, shooting 1-under 71 on Friday. LIV golfers Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton are firmly in the mix, locked in at second and tied for fifth, respectively, heading into the third round on Saturday.
Here are the highlights from Round 2 at Augusta National:
Day 2 leaderboard
1. Justin Rose (-8)
2. Bryson DeChambeau (-7)
T2. Rory McIlroy (-6)
T2. Corey Conners (-6)
T5. Matt McCarty (-5)
T5. Shane Lowry (-5)
T5. Scottie Scheffler (-5)
T5. Tyrrell Hatton (-5)
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Justin Rose stays in the lead with some All-Star company
Rose kept his name atop the leaderboard Friday, and he doesn’t have to look far to see an All-Star collection of contenders lining up behind him.
Bryson DeChambeau is off to his best start in the Masters. Rory McIlroy made perhaps his greatest recovery at Augusta National. Still lurking on the course was defending champion Scottie Scheffler.
Rose, who took a three-shot lead into the second round, made short birdie putts at both par 3s on the back nine that allowed him to atone for a few mistakes on his way to a 1-under 71. He was one shot ahead of DeChambeau (68), two clear of McIlroy (66).
“That’s the company that I expect to keep, and that’s where I have tried to be my whole career,” said Rose, whose lone major was the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. “I’ve been a top-10 player in the world for a decade or more. So yeah, this is nice to be back in that mix.”
He set the target at 8-under 136 for Scheffler and the rest of the players in the afternoon, as the wind began to snap flags and cause uncertainty, a most uncomfortable feeling at Augusta. This was the fifth time Rose had at least a share of the 18-hole lead at the Masters, and he has never done better than 71 in trying to follow that up.
McIlroy had two double bogeys in his last four holes that ruined an otherwise good start on Thursday, leaving him closer to the cut than the lead.
He played the front nine with one birdie and eight pars on Friday, but he came to life quickly, stuffing a three-quarter 8-iron to a foot on No. 10 and a similar play with a 9-iron to about 4 feet on No. 11. Best of all was hitting a 4-iron off the pine straw on the par-5 13th that narrowly cleared the tributary of Rae’s Creek and set up a 10-foot eagle.
“I had to remind myself I was playing well,” McIlroy said. “I couldn’t let two bad holes dictate the narrative of the 16 good ones. I also had to remind myself this morning not to push too hard too early.”
That was a mistake he made in 2023, the year he faced a 10-shot deficit when he began his second round, tried to catch up as quickly as he could and wound up missing the cut. This time, he had a steady start and “things sort of clicked into gear on the back nine.”
DeChambeau enters the weekend in the hunt for his first Masters title at 7-under 137 after 36 holes. The 31-year-old two-time U.S. Open winner remained calm throughout the first two rounds. After his tee shot on the par-3 fourth hole landed in the bunker on the left side of green, he regathered himself and holed a difficult chip from the sand.
That birdie led to another on the difficult fifth hole, where he striped his drive 369 yards down the middle of the fairway. He added another birdie on the eighth and made the turn at 4-under 32. His only bogey came on the par-3 16th hole, but he bounced back with a birdie on 17 and finished with back-to-back rounds in the 60s (69-68) at the Masters for the first time in nine years.
Matt McCarty’s eight birdies in 12-hole span leaves Masters rookie in the mix
The PGA Tour rookie knocked his tee shot on the 180-yard, par-3 sixth hole at the Masters to within 8 feet to set up his first birdie and then sank a bending 28-foot putt for another on a par-4. Five holes into the second round on Friday, the 27-year-old McCarty thought his first Masters appearance was going to be a short-lived one.
He was 3-over par for the day and 2-over par for the tournament with the cut line looming. Then, the left-hander from Scottsdale, Arizona, settled down, and strung together eight birdies over the next 12 holes. It not only assured him he’d be playing over the weekend but also vaulted him near the top of the leaderboard at 5-under 139.
McCarty spent three seasons on the lower-level Korn Ferry Tour, where he won player of the year in 2024 and earned his tour card following three wins. He secured a spot in the Masters when he won the Black Desert Championship — he shot 23-under 261 — in just his third career event on tour.
Age is just a number
More than 30 years ago, Fred Couples helped Bernhard Langer slip back into the green jacket at the Masters.
On Friday, both of them nearly made the cut.
Langer, playing in his 41st and final Masters, made a couple of birdies on the second nine at Augusta National to get to even for the tournament. But a shot into the water at the 15th led to a double bogey and, needing a par at the last to make the cut on the number, the 67-year-old Langer watched his 10-footer slip past the edge of the hole for a bogey.
The patrons encircling the hole nevertheless gave the 1985 and 1993 champion a standing ovation as he finished up, then walked hand-in-hand with his wife toward the clubhouse to sign his scorecard one last time.
“It was a very special last two days for me,” Langer said afterward. “Even starting off walking to the first tee yesterday, I got a standing ovation and the people really, you know, applauded. I almost teared up and almost started crying right there, and I said, ‘Come on, get it together, you’ve got some golf to play!'”
A few minutes after Langer finished, the 65-year-old Couples came to the 18th with the cut in mind. He opened with 71, making him the second-oldest player behind Tom Watson to shoot a subpar round at the Masters. But back-to-back bogeys on Friday left the 1992 champ needing a birdie at the last. He made bogey instead and missed the cut by two.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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