Trio ahead as Woods grinds it out
Published on: Sunday, April 14, 2024
By: AFP
Woods is in his first major since right ankle fusion surgery last April due to injuries from the accident.
AUGUSTA: Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler shared the lead with fellow Americans Bryson DeChambeau and Max Homa after battling fierce winds in the second round of the 88th Masters.
Blustery conditions played havoc with the world’s top golfers at Augusta National, where 15-time major winner Tiger Woods grinded out a 23-hole walk to set a record by making his 24th consecutive Masters cut.
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Scheffler, the 2022 Masters winner, fired a par 72 to stand on six-under 138 after 36 holes alongside Homa, who shot 71 in quest of his first major title, and DeChambeau, the 2020 US Open champion and round-one leader who shot 73.
“It was very difficult out there,” DeChambeau said of the brisk breeze. “It was a good challenge. I had to back off quite a few times. I’ve never experienced anything like this out here at Augusta National before.”
Scheffler had three birdies and three bogeys but was proud of seven back-nine pars while tree limbs danced while brutal winds gusted.
PGA Tour star Scheffler and Saudi-backed LIV Golf’s DeChambeau, from opposite sides in golf’s civil war, were set for a weekend showdown on a major stage, the only avenue for such a clash in a divided era.
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Scheffler, who could join Woods as the only players to win the Masters twice while ranked world number one, plunked his approach into Rae’s Creek at the par-5 13th and made bogey to fall out of the solo lead.
Homa birdied two of the first four holes and made his lone bogey at 11.
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Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard, among 20 Masters newcomers trying for the first rookie win since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, closed with back-to-back bogeys to fire a 73 and stand fourth on 140.
Woods, meanwhile, had a second-round 72 to share 22nd on 145, breaking the old Masters cut streak record he shared with Gary Player and Fred Couples.
“(I’ll) text Freddy and give him a little needle,” Woods said.
Five-time Masters winner Woods had to play his last five holes of round one on Friday after storms delayed Thursday’s start.
“I’m tired,” he said. “I’ve been out for a while, competing, grinding. It has been a long 23 holes, a long day.”
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