Day two of The Masters 2026 brought another round of movement across Augusta National, with several players taking advantage of the early stages of the tournament while others tried to recover from difficult spells in the opening round.
Wyndham Clark remained one of the main names to watch after extending his strong start to the second round. He came close to another birdie at the sixth, rolling a putt that looked destined for the cup before it drifted slightly to the right and stayed out. Even so, he remained at three under for both the round and the tournament overall. That left him in a prominent position as the second round unfolded.
Clark’s run of consecutive birdies eventually ended at five holes, but he still kept the momentum going with a par at the next stop. He then found the centre of the green at the sixth, using the contours to move his tee shot closer to a front-left pin position. That left him with a birdie chance from about 18 feet on a putt that was not perfectly straight, though it was as close to flat and straight as Augusta typically allows.
He was no longer the only player in red figures for the day. Im Sungjae, who finished second on debut in the November Masters of 2020, picked up birdies at the seventh and eighth holes to move under par for the round. He stood at three over overall. Veteran Freddie Couples also added to the scoring, birdieing the second hole to move back to five over. After his difficult stretch on the 15th, 16th and 17th holes on Thursday — a quadruple bogey followed by two double bogeys — it was a welcome improvement for the 66-year-old, who had been forced to battle the heat and the closing stretch at Augusta.
Aaron Rai, the Par 3 Contest winner, began his second round in calm fashion. He found Tea Olive in regulation and then came up just short with a long birdie attempt that shaved the hole. Rai remained at one under after his opening-round 71, a score that suggested more could have been available after he turned in 33 on Thursday.
The second round also continued to underline how quickly fortunes can change at Augusta National. Players who had struggled through one stretch were finding opportunities to recover, while others were trying to convert early birdie chances into momentum that could carry them deeper into the weekend.
With the official leaderboard in play and the field still tightly packed, the second round promised more shifts as the day progressed. Augusta has a habit of rewarding patience, precision and timing, and day two was already showing why the tournament remains one of golf’s most demanding tests.
As the action continued, the focus remained on who could stay steady and who could avoid the kind of costly mistakes that can quickly alter a Masters campaign. For now, Clark, Sungjae, Couples and Rai were among the key early stories as the tournament moved through its second day.
