Jason leads second day
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Australia’s Jason Day tapped in a par putt on the 18th at 7.36 p.m. Augusta time, to take the lead after the second round of the 77th Masters.
He leads by a shot from another Australian Marc Leishman, and former champion Fred Couples. Couples is 53 now, and certainly the crowd favourite; but whether his back and stamina can see him to another Green Jacket over the weekend, is another matter.
No Australian has ever won the Masters, even though Greg Norman and many others have been very close. There are now two in the top three, and they will both know history is against them.
Day’s tap in on the 18th also ended the hopes of nine other players (all at 5-over-par). If Day had finished at 5-under rather than 6-under, then Laird, Donaldson, Manasssero, Yang, Mize, Potter, Webb Simpson and Graeme McDowell would all have qualified through the ’10-shot rule’ which allows all players within 10 shots of the leader to make the cut.
On a very dramatic Friday, Tiger Woods came to the 15th in the lead at 5-under par. He played a quite brilliant approach, which hit the flag and rebounded into the water. The world number one didn’t let it throw him though, and hit another approach, from exactly the same spot, to 18 inches.
“I felt it was a pretty good shot,” Tiger said afterwards. “I had 87 yards. And when it went in the water, I was pretty pissed.”
And the 14-year-old Tianlang Guan will again be close to the headlines, after another terrific round of 75, following his first round 73, which enabled him to become the youngest player ever to make the cut.
Among those to miss the cut were Webb Simpson, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, Mike Weir, Ian Poulter, Padraig Harrington and Francesco Molinari
1 (-6) Day
T2 (-5) Couples, Leishman
T4 (-4) Cabrera, Furyk, Snedeker
T7 (-3) Scott, Dufner, Lynn, Westwood, Rose, Choi, Woods
T14 (-2) Fernando-Castano, Langer, Garcia, McIlroy, Schwartzel, Senden
T20 (-1) Immelman, Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Kuchar, Haas, Moore, Donald
T27 (Level) Toms, Thompson, Piercy, Fowler
T31 (+1) Els, Van Pelt, Jacobson, Lyle, Sterne, Zach Johnson
T37 (+2) Paul Lawrie, Bjorn, Stenson, Singh, Bradley, Gay, Na, Petterson, Clark, Olazabal, Cink
T48 (+3)Points, Watney, Mickelson, Kaymer, Garrigus, Hanson, Huh
T55 (+4) Olesen, Guan, Glover, Grace, Peterson, Ishikawa, Bubba Watson
