The good news for fans of Georgia Bulldog golfers is that four of the six former or future ‘Dawgs in the Masters field
will be playing the weekend.The bad news is that they are all playing for second place.
Rory McIlroy turned in a 65 on Friday, including one of the most dominant back nines in recent Augusta history to take a commanding six stroke lead into the weekend. A pair of Georgia alums, Russell Henley, and Harris English, sit 12 strokes back at even par. That however, is only six strokes back from
2nd place, where Sam Burns and Patrick Reed sit at -6. There’s still plenty of time for either or both of them to play their way into a top ten finish and a handsome payday.
Sepp Straka sits at +1, tied for 32nd. And Brian Harman shrugged off a rough Thursday to put up an impressive three under par 69 on Friday to make the cut at +4 (47th). Again, after carding a seven over 79 just playing their way into weekend is a real accomplishment.
The news wasn’t so good for Bubba Watson and Thomasville native Mason Howell. Bubba’s 73 on Friday wasn’t quite enough to make it to the weekend, as he was among the first cut of golfers to miss the weekend field at +5. Howell, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion and an 18 year old incoming freshman at UGA, went +5 then +4 in his first time in the Augusta field. That being said, he’ll absolutely be back and has a very bright future in the game.
The story of Friday however was the diminutive Irishman looking for a second consecutive green jacket. McIlroy bogied no. 10, parred no. 11, then birdied six out of his final seven holes, a stretch of golf course that has been known under the right conditions to literally drive some of the best golfers in the world to tears. To paraphrase an old Chuck Norris joke, Amen Corner starts praying when Rory arrives.
While there’s still time for a historic collapse (Paging Greg Norman to the courtesy phones…Mr. Norman to the courtesy phones…) that sort of thing isn’t really in McIlroy’s character. Instead I suspect we’ll be watching one of those historic Masters moments that’s impressive if not suspenseful.
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
