Live updates from the second round at Augusta National continued to centre on several familiar names as play unfolded at The Masters 2026. Wyndham Clark, Aaron Rai, Freddie Couples and Im Sungjae were among the players featured in the early action as the field worked through the challenges of Augusta National.
Clark, who had started to build momentum, saw a birdie chance on the sixth hole slide just wide. His putt looked destined to fall, rolling straight before drifting slightly right at the cup and staying out. Even so, the missed chance left him in a strong position at three under par for both the round and the tournament overall.
He was no longer alone in red figures for the day. Im Sungjae, who finished second on his Masters debut in November 2020, picked up back-to-back birdies at the seventh and eighth holes to move under par for the round. That brought him to three over overall. Freddie Couples also found some early encouragement, birdying the second hole to move back to five over.
Couples’ opening round had ended in brutal fashion, with a quadruple bogey, followed by two double bogeys, at holes 15, 16 and 17. At 66 years old, his recovery in the second round offered a reminder of both his resilience and the physical demands of Augusta in tough conditions.
A steady start for Aaron Rai
Aaron Rai, the winner of the Par 3 Contest, began his second round in composed fashion. He found Tea Olive in regulation and then sent a long birdie putt toward the hole, only to see it finish just short. Rai remained one under par after his opening 71, a score that had shown promise when he turned in 33 on Thursday.
His start suggested another disciplined day on a course that rarely gives much away. Augusta National demands patience, and Rai appeared set to continue with that approach as the round progressed.
Clark keeps pressure on the leaderboard
Clark’s run of consecutive birdies came to an end at the fifth, but he stayed in control with a par. On the sixth, he found the centre of the green off the tee and used Augusta’s sloping surfaces to feed his ball toward the front-left pin position. The result was a birdie look from around 18 feet, on a putt that was not perfectly straight but still offered a decent opportunity.
As the second round continued, the early leaderboard remained fluid. Players were trying to manage Augusta’s subtle greens and the rising pressure that comes with moving day momentum in a major championship. The live action reflected the usual Masters mix of precision, patience and the occasional costly misread.
With the tournament still in its early stages, the second round at Augusta National was already shaping up as another day where a single putt could change a player’s position significantly. Clark remained well placed, Rai was steady, Sungjae had found some momentum, and Couples had at least begun to repair the damage from a damaging stretch late in his first round.
The leaderboard continued to shift as the day went on, with the field navigating one of golf’s most exacting stages in pursuit of the green jacket.
