Round 2 of the 2026 Masters goes down on Friday at Augusta National. Rory McIlroy begins the day tied for the lead, but World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is hoping to chase him down in the second round. GOLF’s writers and editors are providing live Masters updates on Friday’s second round all day long, from on-site at Augusta and beyond.
Masters Round 2: What you need to know
The opening day of the Masters saw an increasingly hard and fast Augusta National put the best golfers in the world to the test. McIlroy, the defending Masters champion, put together a five-under 67 to take a share of the lead with Sam Burns.
They have plenty of company near the top of the leaderboard, though, including Scheffler, Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth, who tee off in the early wave on Friday. Major champions Jason Day and Patrick Reed start the second round tied for third.
Notable Round 2 tee times: Jordan Spieth (9:55 a.m. ET); Justin Rose (9:55 a.m. ET); Scottie Scheffler (10:19 a.m. ET); Jason Day (12:56 p.m. ET); Patrick Reed (1:08 p.m. ET); Bryson DeChambeau (1:20 p.m. ET); Rory McIlroy (1:44 p.m. ET);
Quick links: How to watch Masters Friday | Masters Round 2 tee times | Scores on Masters.com
Follow live updates from Round 2 of the 2026 Masters below.
WYNDHAM CLARK’S EARLY CHARGE
The round of the day — thus far — belongs to Wyndham Clark, who just made three birdies in a row to move to three under for the tournament and a share of third place.
Augusta National isn’t playing easy. Even the par-5 2nd is over par thus far. But there are some accessible hole locations for precise shots. Sungjae Im is one under through eight; he’s the only other guy who’s played more than two holes and is in red figures for the day.
Temporarily on the cut line: Fred Couples, who just made birdie at No. 2.
Here’s what he said after his first round took a turn for the worse:
Thought I was making the dumbest mistake of my life today when I requested an interview with Fred Couples after finishing his opening round at the Masters quad-double-double-par.
To my surprise, Fred said yes, talked through every shot, and admitted he still had fun. Amazing pic.twitter.com/ZZWm6FURTv
— James Colgan (@jamescolgan26) April 10, 2026
MASTERS FRIDAY CONDITIONS
Thursday was plenty tough at Augusta National, with a scoring average of 74.65. Could Friday be tougher? It’s still probably too early to say. The weather is perfect, it’s 60 degrees, sunny and calm. But Augusta National is firm and fast and a few greens in particular — Michael Kim cited Nos. 3 and 15 — drove guys nuts on Thursday.
I was particularly struck by the reaction of Harry Hall, who shot 40 on the back nine and said he’ll switch putters, add a new driver and reassess the way he spins his irons before he plays the second round. The power of Augusta National!
Anyway, DataGolf is projecting the cut line to fall somewhere between 4 and 6 over par. That should make for some fascinating names right around the line on a challenging golf course this afternoon.
UPDATED MASTERS ODDS
It’s interesting to see where how the odds have shifted heading to Friday. Here are the favorites:
Rory McIlroy +300 (was +1100 pre-tournament)
Scottie Scheffler +350 (was +500)
Xander Schauffele +1000 (was +1600)
Sam Burns +1100 (was +10000)
Justin Rose +1600 (was +3000)
Patrick Reed +1800 (was +3000)
Tommy Fleetwood +2000 (was +2500)
Other than Burns, most of those guys were expected to be in the mix. What’s more surprising are the pre-tournament favorites who fell well off the pace on Thursday — notably Bryson DeChambeau (76), Jon Rahm (78) and Robert MacIntyre (80), while Cameron Young (73), Ludvig Aberg (74) and Matt Fitzpatrick (74) have plenty of work to do.
Happy Friday, gang! Dylan Dethier here with you for the next couple hours. A few groups are out on course, including one golfer under par (Brian Campbell, 1 under) and a couple more at even (Wyndham Clark, Sam Stevens).
The “marquee” pairings are in a slightly grayer zone here than elsewhere. At 8:38, for instance, Adam Scott-Daniel Berger-Brian Harman is a loaded group.
But the biggest names start teeing off at 9:43 a.m. with Jon Rahm, Chris Gotterup and Ludvig Aberg, with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at 10:19.
Call me naive but I’ll be locked into the adventures of 66-year-old Fred Couples, who was two under through 14 on Thursday before disaster struck at the par-5 15th. He’s six over beginning his second round — Let’s see a second-round 70 and a made cut, please.
I walked all 18 at Augusta National. These little details jumped out
AUGUSTA, Ga. — A couple hours after the 2026 Masters began Thursday morning, I set out to walk all 18 holes with three goals in mind: Watch some golf, offset the caloric intake of Augusta National’s press center (which Willy Wonka would deem a bit decadent) and take some time to admire the little things.
Our photographer Darren Riehl did the hard work. I mostly just pointed at stuff. Here begins our tour.
Editor’s note: This may be a strange, wandering story but it has good pictures, so feel free to skip the words and skim those.
No. 1
The entire Masters Tournament relies on a certain assumption of orderliness from its patrons. Even its insistence on calling them “patrons” helps set the tone. It’s easy to roll your eyes at some of that stuff, but here’s the result: When players walk from the clubhouse toward the 1st tee, they very often just walk through the sea of people gathered there. There are a few officials with ropes who can establish temporary order, if need be. Often need don’t be.
Fred Couples made a 9 at the Masters. Then he did something surprising
AUGUSTA, Ga. — If you can bear it, take a few seconds to imagine how it felt to be Fred Couples on Masters Thursday afternoon.
Your day starts with a warmup. But really it begins before that, when the first patron sees you on site at Augusta National, and you can feel the first thought in their head. You’re 66 years old, playing at Augusta National for the forty-first time, and the rumors surrounding your competitive retirement from golf’s first major have gotten so loud you can’t even pretend to ignore them.
Rory McIlroy showed us what his Masters freedom looks like in more ways than 1
Rory McIlroy said he didn’t feel any different. Fifty-two weeks after he crumpled to the ground in ecstasy after achieving his greatest dream, he arrived at the first tee at Augusta National, this time as a Masters champion, and still felt the same rush of emotions he had felt on that tee box for the last 18 years.
“I was nervous, I was anxious just like I always am on that first tee,” McIlroy said after his opening round on Thursday. “I’m thankful that I felt the same as I always have. I think it would be worrisome if I didn’t feel that way because it definitely still means something to me.”
What was the biggest surprise on Thursday at the Masters? by GOLF Editors
Day 1 of the 2026 Masters is complete, and the leaderboard so far is a good one. Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns share the lead at five under, with guys like Patrick Reed (three under), Xander Schauffele (two under), Scottie Scheffler (two under) and others in contention. Meanwhile, popular pre-tournament favorites Bryson DeChambeau (four over) and Jon Rahm (six over) have to work to do. What surprised you the most on Thursday at Augusta?
Josh Sens, senior writer (@joshsens): Me sorprendió mucho el terrible rendimiento de Jon Rahm. He was supposed to be in form. He loves the venue. The course conditions–even firmer and faster than usual — seemed ideal for a guy with his great touch around the greens. All the stars appeared aligned. And he put up an absolute stinker. The putter betrayed him, for sure. But he looked wildly out of sorts throughout the bag.
Zephyr Melton, associate game-improvement editor (@zephyrmelton): Gotta be Rory McIlroy’s blazing start. We wondered if winning the green jacket might free him up around Augusta National, but I didn’t expect him to come out and immediately take the first-round lead in such stress-free fashion. He couldn’t have asked for a better start to his title defense.
