For a couple of hours or so Friday afternoon, Jordan Spieth lost his gyroscope. Augusta National took it from there.
The defending Masters champion’s lead slipped to a single stroke — he needed to can a 14-footer on No. 18 to avoid a bogey-bogey-bogey finish — at the tournament’s midway point, the leaderboard a quagmire of busted rounds and hangers-on. Lesson for the weekend: With playing conditions even more squirrelly than Thursday’s gale, this championship has come down not to who manages this course, but who best endures it.
“Boy,” Spieth said, “that golf course changed very much throughout the day today.”
Thirteen players tee off Saturday within four shots of the lead, but the one to take most advantage of Spieth’s 2-over 74 — his first over-par endeavor in 10 Masters rounds — was Rory McIlroy, who can complete his career grand slam this weekend. Trailing by seven shots early in his back nine, McIlroy closed the last six holes in 3 under for a 71.
Two shots back at 142 were Danny Lee (after a 2-over 74) and Scott Piercy (72) while grouped at 1 under were Brandt Snedeker (72), Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen (74) and Hideki Matsuyama (72), who ripped off three consecutive birdies on Nos. 12, 13 and 14.
With Spieth’s dominance disturbed — he still leads the field for a sixth consecutive round — the re-racked odds have to favor McIlroy, who has finished in the top 10 the past two Masters and held the lead for three rounds in 2011 before succumbing to an 80 on Sunday.
Upon catching Spieth, he said, “If anything, I don’t really look at the names on the left of the leaderboard. I’m looking at the number that’s on the very far right just to see how many shots I’m back. Doesn’t make any difference to me who is up there.”
While the two were paired for the first two rounds of last year’s Masters, this twosome will play in a different realm. Said Spieth with a grin, “I’d rather be playing with someone less threatening, to be honest.”
Augusta National played the bully again as players were not only caught between clubs in swirling winds, but were factoring the wind on exposed putts. While 20 players were able to break par in Thursday’s steady 15-25 mph breeze, just four did so Friday in more swirling conditions.
“It’s very difficult to shoot any sort of number or even a couple under is difficult to do,” said Jason Day, who shot 73, but finds himself just five shots off the lead. “I mean today and even tomorrow, it’s just being about patient and just grinding it out the best you can. It’s about survival.”
Among those to miss the cut, which fell at 6-over 150, were a quartet of former Masters champions: Phil Mickelson, Trevor Immelman, Charl Schwartzel and Tom Watson, who at 66 competed in the last of his 43 Masters (74-78-152). His standing ovation at No. 18 led him to pause and tap his chest.
“I appreciate their applause for me and how they treated me today out there,” he said. “Lots of hats off to Tom today. It was pretty special.”
At the spectrum’s other end was Bryson DeChambeau, the 22-year-old SMU physics student with the self-designed clubs — he calls them instruments — who was drawing some sidelong glances until he nearly caught Spieth. He hit the 18th tee with a 3-under round going, one behind the leader, when he coughed up a triple-bogey seven, highlighted by a provisional drive winding up against the wall of a restroom in woods to the left.
“I hit it, I hit it, I hit it, I hit it, I make,” he said.
That Spieth came back to the field — he scooted away to a five-shot edge until bogeying his way around the turn — did not seem to catch McIlroy by surprise.
“Jordan got off to a very fast start (Thursday), got off to another fast start today,” McIlroy said, referencing Spieth’s chip-in birdie on No. 1. “The conditions are so tough, it’s hard to keep that going. You’re always going to make mistakes here and there and all of it evens out at the end of the week.”
Spieth became visibly agitated at times. On both No. 5 and 11, he tried to over-club his approach shots to combat the breeze and fell short of the green both times. He lost three shots to par on those two holes alone.
“It was very tough to stay cool,” he said. ” … You could say, ‘Looked like you got emotional out there.’ I mean, you guys try it.”
More of the same weather is forecast for Saturday, though conditions are expected to calm by Sunday. Translation: Those who can survive one more day of sand-blasting and stay around par can make a sprint in the final round.
“That’s going to be the biggest advantage for us,” Spieth said, “is to go out tomorrow, pretend it’s a new golf tournament and try to beat the field from here on in.”
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