On Masters second-round day, in which the gusty winds altered the best-intentioned shot, and the pins were tucked snuggly away like good little children, the scene was set for a Tiger Woods charge.
It was as if the conditions had pushed the pause button on the season’s first major while Woods could marshal his game and make his move.
Sure enough, Woods shot a 3-under 33 on the front and made the turn Friday tied for the lead.
Then a flagstick went all Dikembe Mutombo on him, and the balance in the golfing universe was scrambled again.
Woods’ immaculate day took a U-turn when his wedge to the par-5 15th clanged off the flagstick and ricocheted into the water fronting the green.
“The sun was in my eyes. I knew I started the ball on the flag,” Woods said. “Evidently, it was a really good one.” Too good, evidently. Even hitting it stiff was no guarantee on a day like Friday.
Woods went back to the spot of his original shot rather than the drop area and this time had the good sense to guide the ball three feet left of the hole. The unfortunate bogey counted just as much as all the others that were well-earned Friday.
Beginning the second round four back of the lead, he warmed to the struggles of many of those ahead of him. The silence all around Augusta National was music to his ears.
Until the flagstick incident, Woods had avoided making bogey or worse. After, he was a little off balance, three-putting No. 18 for the first time in his long relationship with the hole for another bogey and finishing at 1-under 71. At 3 under for the tournament, he is three shots behind Jason Day.
Authoring a 68, the low round of a day that was going to yield nothing spectacular, Day planted his flag atop the leaderboard. It is a distinct one, part Union Jack, part Southern Cross constellation, representing a nation that has never won the Masters.
There are two fellow Australians within three shots of Day’s lead, but now he leads the quest from Down Under.
“Obviously there’s a lot of pressure on my shoulders,” he said. “(Australians) have been very, very close, but I’ve just got to try to get that out of my mind and just plug away.”
Day’s was one of 25 sub-par rounds for the day. Scoring ticked up appreciably from Thursday. The field averaged 73.05 on the first round, 74.16 on Friday.
“The golf course is winning today,” Fred Couples declared after finishing early enough to avoid the worst of the building wind. The 53-year-old continued to hang in there, finishing with a second-round 71. He was at 5 under for the tournament, one back of Day, tied with Marc Leishman.
“I’m just having fun watching the (leaderboards),” Couples smiled. He is a big demolition-derby fan.
Friday was one of the worst days for the Spanish since their armada got routed in 1588. First-round leader Sergio Garcia shot 76 to fall four back of Day. He’s tied with another countryman in reverse, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.
Dustin Johnson played with the second-round lead for a bit before going supernova — six over of his final five holes. The first of his two double bogeys on that stretch was particularly painful. He laid up on No. 15 and still drowned his third shot the old fashioned way, without hitting the flagstick.
Johnson let his scorecard do the talking after the round, and it sounded a lot like the big one at Talladega. He was last seen going off into the sunset with his girlfriend, Paulina Gretzky.
Johnson will have the privilege of coming back Saturday and picking up where he left off.
For 32 other players, the cut came just in time to spare any further torment.
Meanwhile, say this slowly, to absorb the full impact: A … 14-year-old … made … the … cut … at … the … Masters.
And, now, give yourself a one-stroke penalty.
Fourteen-year-old Tianlang Guan, even after taking the first one-stroke slow-play penalty in Masters history, got in just under the cut line at 73-75-148.
That was stout enough to equal the score of defending Masters champion Bubba Watson, and better the scores of such other notables as U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson (149), 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell (149) and the world’s sixth- and 12th-ranked players, Louis Oosthuizen (150) and Ian Poulter (151).
Strange days indeed when the flagsticks fight back and a teenager shoots 4 over at Augusta National after two days without a single computer-game controller involved.
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