AUGUSTA – There will be four Georgia Bulldogs remaining in the Masters field when the third round tees off on Saturday. They started with six.
The two that didn’t make the cut, oddly enough, are the only Bulldogs with majors under their belts – Brian Harman and Bubba Watson.
Woodstock native and Athens resident Chris Kirk was one of the last Bulldogs to slip under the cutline, and just barely. He went 74-75—149, which at the time was right on the 5-over par cutline. The 38-year-old pro left the scoring tent not knowing whether he’d be around for the weekend.
Russell Henley was nowhere to be found when the cutline rose to 6-over par with only a handful of golfers still on the course. He was at 1-over when the second round began.
Kirk and Henley will join Harris English (72-74--146) and Sepp Straka, the low Bulldog after 36 holes at even par (72-72--144).
Straka had a chance to be the only Georgia player in red numbers before bogeying 18. On that, though, he was just joining the club. All but two Bulldogs carded 5s on the par-4 18th. Henley and Watson each birdied from the golf course’s wind-blown, highest point.
“The whole course was brutal,” said Straka, who hit his approach in the bunker. “… The putt was almost unmakeable with the wind whipping around the green.”
English, who came through two groups earlier, also bogeyed 18. Truthfully, though, both players were thrilled to just be off the course and assured of more holes over the weekend.
“This course is hard with no wind and then you throw in gusts like that, it can be three clubs different, depending on when you hit it,” English said. “Ten to 20 seconds later or earlier, it can be a totally different shot. It’s really tough.”
None of them had a tougher day Friday than Harman, the reigning British Open champion. The Savannah native bogeyed his last two holes of the day on Thursday when play was suspended just as he made his way to the tee on the par-5 13th hole.
Starting there at 7:50 a.m., Harman made the first of three double-bogeys to finish his round, plus a triple-bogey on the par-3 16th.
It was a shockingly bad ending to an opening-round that saw the normally steady Harman walk to the No. 11 tee on Friday at 2-under par. His score of 81 was his highest in 14 competitive rounds over six Masters appearances.
Worse, there wasn’t much time to address the shortcomings in Harman’s game. His second round with Brooks Koepka and Tom Kim started at 10:30 a.m., barely an hour after he walked off 18.
Henley might’ve been the favorite among Bulldogs coming in, based on a fourth-place finish here last year and his play coming in this year. He was only 1-over after the first 18. But Friday’s winds blew his second-round into Harris 5-over 77. Turns out that birdie on 18 was big.
English was low Bulldog at completion of the first round. The Sea Island resident and Valdosta native looked like he might play his way onto the scoreboard on Thursday going to the No. 16 tee at 2-under. But he three-putted from the top shelf on the 170-yard par-3, then made another bogey at 17 to come in at even-par. Friday was basically more of the same.
But though most of the Bulldogs are well back, they’ll enter the weekend hopeful.
“Anything can happen,” said English, who is playing in his fifth Masters. “I feel like I’m playing really well and giving myself a lot of chances. Get a couple more putts to go in and see what happens going into Sunday. But I think I can go out here and shoot a good round and get myself in the hunt a little bit.”
Said Straka: “Really looking forward to two days of good weather on this golf course. This is one of my favorites in the world and probably my favorite one in the world. It’s just a special treat.”
For the record, there are no side bets for being low Bulldog.
Masters Dawgs
Sepp Straka 73-71--144
Harris English 72-74-146
Chris Kirk 74-75--149
Russell Henley 73-77--150
Brian Harman 81-72—153 MC
Bubba Watson 74-80—154 MC
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