Augusta, Ga. — After two rounds at Augusta National, the 89th Masters Tournament delivered the item.
Fourteen of the world’s top 25 players find themselves within six shots of the lead heading into the weekend, and two bet favorites – Scotty Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are three shots and two shots respectively.
Justin Rose continues above the tournament, but finishing the job isn’t easy. The best part of the sport is chasing him.
What does stacked leaderboards bring?
Mark Schlabach: There are countless options with eight golfers within three shots of the lead and only 11 behind Rose. Can we get the Rory vs Scotty showdown on the Sunday that everyone wanted? Will Rory and Scotty be holding the PGA Tour flag against Liv Golf League captain Bryson Decanbaugh on the last 18 holes?
Viktor Hovland, Jason Day, Matsuyama, Morikawa and LudvigÅberg are also within five shots when you have this loaded leaderboard. There are endless possibilities.
“It’s exciting, it’s the Masters,” said three-time Green Jacket winner Phil Mickelson. “The best players seem to be on the rise. That’s going to be an exciting weekend.”
Paolo Object: I think Augusta National has pulled out the best in the world in two days, as it tends to do. Looking at players who missed the cut, there are no true big names (maybe other than Brooks Coepka) that they couldn’t reach the weekend. That means the course has done its job of identifying who is playing the best golf right now, and that the world’s top players have brought the A-game to the first majors of the year.
It was impressive to see the incredible moments we’ve already witnessed and elite shotmaking. Outside of Rose’s opening round 64, the round doesn’t look easy or easy.
“This course removes it physically and mentally more than most other golf courses,” McIlroy said. “There are 36 holes to get to a very strict golf course.”
Despite the rainy weather up to Monday night and Thursday Friday, Augusta held on incredibly well, maintaining its firmness and can now be thought of as players chart around the course. The course should continue to get stiffer and faster on weekends. And warm Sunday forecasts should set a great finish.
“This place is good at putting golf courses in this state, setting them up properly and letting them get away from the weather, which is a surprise to everyone,” Justin Thomas said. “But it’s going to be very challenging to feel what the weather will look like this weekend.”
Who else outside the top 10 still has the best chance to win?
Schlabach: There are a few former Masters champions Matsuyama Hideki (2021) and Patrick Reed (2018). Obviously, they both know what it takes to get it done on their weekend at Augusta National, and they wouldn’t be surprised if either of them charged for the final 36 holes.
Matsuyama, the only Japanese man to win the major championship, will raise the leaderboard even more if he didn’t make a double bogey in par 5 13th place in the first round. He had eagle in second place on Friday, adding four birdies and two bogeys to post a 4-under 68 in the second round.
Matsuyama’s putter has to be heated for him to do it. According to Datagolf.com, he lost more than three strokes to the field on the green on the first 36 holes. But his iron play and driver was light out. He scored the greens in the second round from 4.43 strokes and 6.52 stroke tees on approach.
Reed helped Augusta State win the national championship in men’s golf in 2010 and 2011. He then held back Ricky Fowler, Jordan Spieth, John Lahm and McIlroy to wear the green jacket in 2018. He has made his way into the top 12 in four of his last five starts here.
Reed is fighting despite his putters betraying him so far.
uggetti: There are a lot of people tied to 12th place at an intriguing 3-under, but we’ll go a little further down to two-time major champion Xander Schauffele.
Schauffele is not in midseason form after missing a handful of early season tournaments with a rib injury, but his game is clearly still there. The 2024 Open and PGA champions won nearly four strokes on the field with his approach play on Friday, taking fifth place in the Strokes: approach by Datagolf.
“I think you can hit a shot. Confidence is kind. I’m going to have to build it,” Schaufele said. “That’s not – as much as I want to wake up and feel like last year, it’s not how it goes. I’m getting really great shots and it helps me with confidence.”
As Schaufele pointed out, his putter doesn’t exactly help the cause. He’s losing almost perfect strokes to the field with his putter. This means that if you go on a run on the weekend, you will need to get some heat. However, after winning two of the last three majors, Schaufele’s game seems to be able to do just that, even if he’s not fully reverted to his main form.
“I didn’t shoot myself then,” Schaufele said. “But I have to move on the day of my move.”
Who was the biggest surprise?
Schlabach: I’m going with Hovland, tied up at 4 under 9th. There is no doubt that Hovland is one of the most talented golfers in the world. He won the PGA Tour seven times and won the 2023 FedEx Cup.
Hovland won the Valspar Championship on March 23rd, his first win in a row at the 2023 BMW Championship and Tour Championship, but his game is in turmoil.
Norwegian golfers are always looking for perfection, passing through swing coaches like patrons and Augusta National’s Pimento Cheese Sandwich.
Hovland looked nearly satisfied, even after playing a 3-under 69 card on Friday, which included six birdies and three bogeys. On a scale of 1-10, he now described his swing as 6-6½.
“Just finding the old movements I had on my golf swing, it’s becoming more and more natural,” Hofland said. “My big right mistakes are becoming fewer and fewer and it’s easy to trust that I’m already doing what I’m doing when I look up and the ball is going in a pretty great direction.
Hovland was tied to seventh place in the 2023 Master and missed a cut in three of four majors last year (he was third in the 2024 PGA Championship).
Before capturing the Valspar Championship, he had missed three straight cuts on Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, and The Players. He still appears to have been lost in the golf wilderness.
He is clearly in a much better place heading for the weekend.
“That’s crazy,” Hofland said. “You know, it feels like it’s not right at all, but you can start the ball in some way, and even if it wasn’t ideal.
uggetti: It has to be Matt McCarty. No, not Denny McCarthy – it’s McCarthy, there’s no “H” in the name. The winner of the 2024 Black Desert Championship is a Corn Ferry alumni who won three times in a season and won a PGA Tour card. After winning Utah last October, he headed to this year’s Masters, finding himself tied up for the sixth time, this time towards the third round.
McCarty is a name you probably haven’t heard much, but he’s making his name this week. Although it ranks 52nd in the official World Golf Rankings, Datagolf said McCarty is similar to the 112th player in the world. In his Augusta National debut, McCarty birded his first two holes on Thursday, making a card for 1 under.
His encore was even better. McCarty started with double and bogeys on Friday, but began shooting 8 unders on the next 15 holes, including four straight birdies. He finishes at 5 under, with just three shots behind the leader.
“I don’t know. I’m just sticking to the game plan. I didn’t rattle too much,” McCarty said. “It was good, just staying focused and not thinking about what had happened before.”
McCarty knew he was hitting the ball well for a good score, but his putter was cold on Thursday. Once it got hot, there was no stopping him. According to Datagolf, he got almost four strokes on the field with his putt. More importantly, McCarty leads the entire field with strokes he acquired this week. It’s an approach.
“Obviously, this golf course is very difficult once you get out of position, but if you’re hitting a good shot and giving yourself some looks, you can make some birdies here,” he said. “That’s why it was fun.”
McCarty is to let the leaderboard slip over the weekend because there are so many principal names around him. But between Hot Putter and his elite approach game, it’s a recipe that spells out the retention.