Round 2 resumes at 7:30 a.m. ET; Round 3 begins at 10:30 a.m. ET
Second cut? Please. At this fall Masters, Augusta National has old-fashioned rough
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The rough around Augusta National is usually so benign it has a precious euphemism: the second cut. But things are different this year, as Bryson DeChambeau discovered Friday afternoon whilst playing the 3rd hole. He sniped his tee shot 15 or 20 paces into the left rough and then his ball simply disappeared, never to be found again.
It was a wickedly unlucky break and the ensuing triple bogey pushed the pre-tournament favorite to the wrong side of the projected cut line. It also vividly underscored how much longer and thicker the second cut is this year. Traditionally it’s cut to exactly 1 3/8”, but Danny Willett said on Friday “you could maybe call it close to three inches.”
The heartier Bermuda grass has been sprouting in an unseasonably warm autumn while sporadic rain this week has made it impossible for Augusta National to run mowers on the soft ground. “I played a practice round Monday and I noticed it was longer then and they haven’t cut it since,” Bernhard Langer said on Friday. “It’s getting longer every day.”
Grainier, too, as the ryegrass and Bermuda comingle. “If you have a down grain lie,” says Tiger Woods, “yeah, you can get to the green, maybe even control it, but when the grain is sitting down, there’s really no chance, so you’re going to have to rely on short game and angles.”
Click here to read the rest of Alan Shipnuck’s column.
Here’s what happened to Bryson DeChambeau’s mysterious lost golf ball
AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s hard to believe just how many things had to go wrong for Bryson DeChambeau to lose his golf ball on the 3rd hole at Augusta National on Friday. A return to the scene of the crime some 30 minutes later revealed some clues about how the most-anticipated golfer at this year’s Masters lost a tee shot in plain sight.
So how did it happen? Let us count the ways. Sure, there was the golf shot itself, which was a contributing factor. DeChambeau was three under par for the tournament when he pulled driver on the short par-4, hoping to land his tee shot on or around the green, some 350 yards away. He yanked the shot slightly left of his target line, and when the ball eventually came down from orbit (DeChambeau likely hits it higher than any golfer in the history of the PGA Tour) it settled somewhere in the left rough.
But that on its own should not have been much of an issue. Had DeChambeau found his ball, he would have been left with a tricky pitch shot to an elevated green — but from 50 yards and a nice lie, plenty of things are possible. Instead, what followed was a frantic search-and-rescue operation that resulted in a lost ball, a re-tee and a triple bogey that ejected him from contention.
Click here to read the rest of Dylan Dethier’s story about Bryson’s lost ball.
Four share the lead after Friday at the 2020 Masters
Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Abraham Ancer and Cameron Smith went the lowest.
All were at nine under and one stroke ahead of Patrick Cantlay, Sungjae Im, Hideki Matsuyama and Jon Rahm, with the second round to be completed Saturday morning. Johnson, the World No. 1, shot a two-under 70. Thomas, the World No. 3, shot a three-under 69. Cameron Smith shot a four-under 68, and Abraham Ancer a five-under 67.
At seven under were former champion Danny Willett, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, C.T. Pan and Louis Oosthuizen, and at six under were former champion Patrick Reed, Xander Schauffele, Sebastian Munoz, Dylan Frittelli and Paul Casey.
Five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods, who didn’t make a bogey in his four-under 68 in the first round, made one on his third hole on Friday. He made another, along with two birdies, and was even par for his second round through 10 holes.
Among other players, three-time champion Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka were at five under, and Rory McIlroy and two-time champion Bernhard Langer, at 63 the oldest player in the field, were at three-under. Langer will become the oldest player in Masters history to make the cut, which, as of Friday night, was expected to be even par.
Click here to read the complete Masters Friday recap.
