AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler battled back from two bogeys and was even par for the second round, still very much in the mix Friday at the Masters and still with a pair of par 5s to play. The world's No. 1 player was not expecting two shots into the water.
Scheffler hit 3-iron into a tributary of Rae's Creek on the par-5 13th, and his second shot into the par-5 15th went over the green and rolled into the pond on the 16th hole.
Both led to bogeys,
and he didn't recover. His 2-over 74 was his first round over par at the Masters since a 75 in the second round in 2023.
“It was frustrating to get it back to even, have a couple of par 5s in front of me, and then not do many things I felt wrong and wasn't able to convert basically anything coming down the stretch,” said Scheffler, who was at even-par 144.
The water balls stand out. Scheffler tried to play a draw into the 13th, a deceptively difficult shot because the ball is slightly above the feet but a shot not cleanly struck tends to stay out to the right, and that's where the trouble is.
“I just tried to kind of swing it with the slope and just didn’t catch it that solid and kind of hung out there,” Scheffler said. “But that was one ... to that pin specifically that’s a shot that I could get in there close, so I felt like it was worth the risk of going for it.”
The real problem was his putting. He didn't make many, mainly an issue of speed more than line.
“I felt like I definitely played better than my score,” he said.
Scheffler, trying to win his third Masters in the last five years, now has a big climb. The two times he won, he went into the weekend with at least a share of the lead.
The majors seem to bring out the best in Haotong Li of China, even when he's so sick he wonders if he can even play.
Such was the case Friday at the Masters. Li said he was in the bathroom most of the night and “kind of live in the toilet” even when he got to Augusta National. And then he made four straight birdies on the back nine and shot 69 to finish at 4-under 140.
“I didn’t hit many balls on the driving range. I was feeling really, really bad,” Li said. “No energy, fuzzy, want to throw up something. I actually just planned to play a few holes, see how it goes. If really sick, then I probably just decide not to. So glad I survived today.”
Li closed out the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale with a 63. Three years later, he opened 67-65 at Harding Park in the PGA Championship to become China's first player to lead after any round of a major championship.
For the second straight year, none of the amateurs will be sticking around for the weekend.
That's not to suggest they all are leaving disappointed, and some of them are not in any hurry to leave at all.
“My friends were telling me, ‘Thank you for inviting me, it was awesome to see you.’ Yeah, I would love to have played better, but it's fine,” Mateo Pulcini of Argentina said after going 81-78. “We're going to keep having fun. We're going to come to watch tomorrow and Sunday and enjoy the moment and the tournament.”
Amateurs have access to stay in the Crow's Nest in the top of the clubhouse even if they fail to make the 36-hole cut.
Fifa Laopakdee of Thailand, who won the Asia-Pacific Amateur, had rounds of 80-75. He also had the pleasure of spending two rounds with Fred Couples, who even at 66 oozes charisma and cool.
“Oh, man, if you give me an hour I can write 100 bullet points what I learned this week,” said Laopakdee, who plays at Arizona State. “Play with Freddie and Min Woo (Lee), I learned a lot. If you watch Freddie first 14 holes (Thursday), it was perfect golf.”
Brooks Koepka's first mission was to get in the mix in his return to the PGA Tour after four years with Saudi-funded LIV Golf. He didn't think it would take until the Masters, but here he is.
Koepka has made 11 birdies through two rounds, enough to offset some soft bogeys. He had a 69 on Friday and goes into the weekend at 3-under 141. Key to his second round was changing the setting on his driver and getting the ball in play.
“Ball-striking has been really good this week. Putted better today. Short game has been kind of iffy,” he said. “But I like the way I’m playing right now. Just need to be a little bit more aggressive.”
Tom Watson was critical of the PGA Tour for letting Koepka return under a program that kept Koepka from getting equity grants for five years and not having access to bonus money this year. Watson felt the tour reneged on its promise to ban LIV players for life. If anything, he said Koepka or anyone else should have spent a year on the Korn Ferry Tour.
“I would have to look at exactly what he said. Just going off your summary, everybody is entitled to their own opinion,” Koepka said. “He’s not the first person that’s thought that. I’m just grateful to be out here. The people that make those decisions let me out here. If you’re going to get the opportunity to come back out, you’re going to take it.”
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