Augusta, GA – We are at the dawn of the Masters Tournament's travel day. The 36-hole leaderboard is packed with stars, major champions and common names.
Justin Rose, who fired a 7-under 65 on Thursday, wobbled at 71-under 71 on Friday morning, but still holds the lead at 8-under overall. However, the advantages of his three-shot from Thursday have been transformed into slimmer. Can the 44-year-old British continue to sit on the famous white leaderboards throughout Augusta National? That's one of the pressing questions of the third round.
Winner Bryson Deccanbeau, who opened us, fired 68 on Friday and fired his second consecutive round in the '60s. DeChambeau sat one stroke behind Rose at 7 under, and after the second round he put together a day and the tournaments he's done in full.
“What is golf?” Deccanbeau said.
“I'm very excited about the weekend. There are so many great names out there and I look forward to an incredible golf test.”
Certainly, this tournament is everything about golf. Not only is it fun and exciting, but it's also challenging and intense, it fits the billing for how the Master has developed so far. I hope this continues in the final 36 holes. But given what this leaderboard looks like now, we can only assume that it is true.
One sitting behind Dechambeau is Rory Mcilroy. He fired a 6-under 66 on Friday and returned to discussion. McIlroy maintained the patient during the second round. This made me do my second charge and posted the lowest round of the day.
“There are 36 holes to get you to a very strict golf course,” McIlroy said.
“Everything can happen. All I'm focusing is trying to hit a good tee shot on the fairway in the first hole tomorrow.
Also at 6 under is Canada's Corey Connors, who will join McIlroy in the penultimate pairing Saturday afternoon. The former Kent standout has three top 10 at Augusta National throughout his career, but wants to do better than he has this weekend.
“I don't want to go any further than I do, but that's true – winning the Masters Tournament is especially a big deal. Perhaps the biggest golf tournament in the world. Remember where you saw the microphone [Weir] We won in 2003,” Connors said.
“And that's an exciting opportunity and we'll just try and look forward to it and see what happens over the weekend.”
And of course, perhaps the most frightening of them: the best player in the world and defending champion Scotty Scheffler is at 5 under par, chasing after Rose three. But Schaeffler didn't have the best with him on Friday. Probably because of the wind I picked up when the afternoon went up.
“Golf is an interesting game, it's a daily thing. [On Thursday] I felt really sharp. [Friday] It's not that sharp. Could the conditions contribute to that? Schaeffler said.
“It was definitely much more difficult to hit the ball where I was watching today because there was wind everywhere. The great thing about this golf course is that it's so challenging and you get that kind of wind.
British people Tyrrell Hutton, Irishman Shane Raleigh and Masters rookie Matt McCarty also sit at five under par. Hatton and Laurie certainly have a game to do so, but can they suppress these complex green complexes? Or could McCarty become the first debutant to win the Green Jacket since Fuzzy Soller in 1979?
who knows. But the only thing we know is that Saturday is fun once more. It's all about golf.
Jack Mirco is a golf staff writer who plays SB Nation. Follow him with x @jack_milko.
