Surprises and disappointments: Tyrrell Hatton’s 66 provides 2nd-round boost
A player from LIV Golf may win the 90th Masters, but it won’t be either of the two who entered the week with all the mojo on their side.
Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm struggled to make the cut — DeChambeau didn’t, Rahm did — but Englishman Tyrrell Hatton of Legion XIII shot a 6-under-par 66 and moved into contention to win his first major championship. It was his best score at the Masters.
Hatton started the day at 2-over after a first-round 74. Birdies at No. 2 and No. 3 pulled him back to even and he added birdies at No. 7, 9, 12, 15 and 16. He three-putted the final hole after leaving himself a challenging 4-footer for par, which spun out and caused him to swat the air with his hat.
“Today was a great day,” Hatton said. “Actually, walking up 18, I was pretty confident that I couldn’t mess it up enough that I wouldn’t shoot my best round here. Naturally, I tried with a three-putt, so that was disappointing, but I certainly would have taken 6-under before I went out.”
Hatton should be overlooked at your own peril. He has eight wins on the DP World Tour and won the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour. He tied for fourth at the 2025 U.S. Open and is a four-time member of the European Ryder Cup team.
His record at the Masters is solid; he’s only missed the cut twice in nine appearances and last year finished tied for 14th. His career-best finish was a tie for ninth in 2024.
“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “There’s always going to be someone that deals with it very well and they’ll be putting on a green jacket on Sunday. I’ll just try to do the best I can and see if I get a bit of luck for a change.”
Other surprises
Wyndham Clark shot even-par in the first round but got in the picture with a 68 on Friday, leaving him at 4-under 140. Clark hasn’t done much since winning the 2023 U.S. Open and ruffled a few feathers with an offhand comment about children at the Par 3 Contest. His best finish in two previous Masters is last year’s tie for 46th.
Kristoffer Reitan had patrons scrambling for their Spectator Guide when he made his move on Friday. The 28-year-old Norwegian is making his Masters debut. After opening with an even-par 72, Reitan shot 67 and is tied for seventh.
Haotong Li is making his first Masters appearance since 2019 a memorable one. Li, the only representative of China in the field, shot 69 and is tied for seventh. Li generated four straight birdies starting at No. 13 and nearly aced the par-3 16th.
UGA grad Brian Harman had a 10-shot improvement over the first day. The Savannah native shot 69 and made the cut at 148. Harman was a birdie machine, rolling in four straight from Nos. 5-8 and adding three more on the second nine.
Dustin Johnson shot 71 and will play the weekend at the Masters for the first time since 2023. Johnson has not scored well since his record-setting victory in the 2020 Masters, missing the cut in three of the ensuing five years. The 71 was his best score since the opening round in 2023.
Disappointments
Amateurs: None of the six amateurs made the cut, the second straight year none advanced to the weekend, meaning no one gets a Silver Cup or a chance to share time with the winner on Sunday in Butler Cabin. Thomasville’s Mason Howell, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, shot 4-over 76 and finished at 9-over. British Am champion Ethan Fang and U.S. Amateur runner-up Jackson Herrington both finished 8-over 152.
Scottie Scheffler is ruining a lot of Masters pools. The two-time champion shot 74, his second-worst score in 26 rounds at Augusta National. He had only one birdie on the par 5s and bogeyed both on the second nine.
“Just the little things that I felt like I was close to having a really good round today,” Scheffler said. “Poor swing on 13 and then a few breaks that didn’t go my way. The margins are small.”
Bryson DeChambeau missed the cut when he made a triple bogey on the final hole. He sliced his tee shot into the woods and punched his second shot into the left greenside bunker. But DeChambeau left his third shot in the bunker and his fourth shot rolled off the green. He missed the cut by two shots.
Gary Woodland, the feel-good story of the PGA Tour this year with his victory over brain cancer, had his chances to hang with the leaders derailed with an improbable double bogey at No. 2, the second-easiest hole on the course. Woodland also made bogey at the par-5 13th and shot 75.
Kurt Kitayama’s nightmarish second nine knocked him out of contention. Kitayama, who shot a personal-best 69 on Thursday, was 3-under for the tournament when he hit a wall. He made double bogey at No. 10 when his pitch to the green came up short and the ball spun back to his feet. He had another double at 15 after his chip from behind the green rolled into the pond.
About the Author
Stan Awtrey has been covering sports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 1977. He currently writes about high school sports, Georgia State University athletics and golf.
