Staff Reporter.
| Masters second-round leaderboard |
|---|
| -7 J Rose (Eng); -6 B Harman (US), W Zalatoris (US); -5 J Spieth (US), M Leishman (Aus); -4 J Thomas (US), T Finau (US), B Wiesberger (Ast), SW Kim (Kor), C Champ (US), H Matsuyama (Jpn) |
| Selected others: -1 B DeChambeau (US); Level R MacIntyre (Sco), S Lowry (Ire), T Fleetwood (Eng), M Fitzpatrick (Eng); +1 T Hatton (Eng); +3 P Casey (Eng), I Poulter (Eng), P Mickelson (US) |
| Missed cut: +5 D Johnson (US), L Westwood (Eng); +6 R McIlroy (NI) |
England’s Justin Rose leads the Masters heading into the weekend but saw his first-round advantage cut to one shot at Augusta National on Friday.
Rose led by four strokes at seven under par after the opening round but has players queuing up behind him after carding a level-par 72 on day two.
Americans Will Zalatoris (68) and Brian Harman (69) are at six under par.
Jordan Spieth and Australia’s Marc Leishman are another shot back, with 10 players now within three of the lead.
World number one and defending champion Dustin Johnson, who won this major in November with a record score of 20 under par, missed the cut at five over, the same score as England’s Lee Westwood, while Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy ended on six over.
Only 12 players shot under par in the opening round but more accessible pin positions and less wind provided better scoring conditions on day two.
Two-time runner-up Rose has experience of leading at the Masters but has previously failed to turn those advantages into victories at Augusta National.
This was the fourth time the 40-year-old topped the field heading into day two, a feat matched only by record six-time champion Jack Nicklaus, and he has now led or co-led a round on seven occasions – the most of any player to not win a Green Jacket.
“The finger was moving towards the panic button, it was a poor start for sure,” he said. “I was really pleased to turn it around and made some great swings around Amen Corner. I got aggressive on the 13th tee and felt that was the turning point.
“Rarely do you put together a great round and back it up with another the following day. My intention was to play free and I did that.”