Second-round action at the 2026 Masters continued at Augusta National with several players making early moves on the leaderboard, even as the course continued to demand precision and patience.
Wyndham Clark remained one of the main early talking points. His birdie attempt at the sixth looked set to drop after a straight roll toward the cup, but the ball drifted just enough to the right before reaching the hole and stayed out. It was a close call, and one that left him still at three under par for both the round and the tournament. Clark also brought an end to a run of five consecutive birdies, but he quickly steadied himself by finding the middle of the green at the sixth and setting up a makeable birdie chance from around 18 feet.
Clark’s approach at six used the slope effectively, sending the ball toward a front-left pin position. The resulting putt was not perfectly flat, but it offered a strong opportunity. At Augusta, even seemingly routine chances can require careful judgment, and Clark’s second round was already showing how narrow the margins can be.
Elsewhere, Aaron Rai made a calm and composed start to his round. The winner of the Par 3 Contest found the opening tee shot at Tea Olive in regulation and then nearly rolled in a long birdie putt that came agonisingly close before shaving the hole. Rai stayed at one under after an opening-round 71, a score that had promised even more after he turned in 33 on Thursday.
Im Sungjae also began to find some momentum. The South Korean, who finished second on debut at the Masters in November 2020, birdied both the seventh and eighth holes to move into red figures for the day. That left him at three over overall, but his run suggested a more positive stretch after the earlier stages of the tournament.
Freddie Couples, meanwhile, provided a reminder of the value of experience. The veteran birdied the second hole to climb back to five over par. His earlier troubles on Thursday had been severe, with a disastrous stretch at the 15th, 16th and 17th holes producing a quadruple bogey, followed by back-to-back double bogeys. Even so, at 66 years old, his ability to reset and produce birdies remained part of the Masters narrative.
The second round at Augusta National continued to unfold with the usual mixture of pressure, precision and shifting momentum. With the leaderboard still taking shape, the early stages featured both composed starts and frustrating near-misses, and the conditions once again placed a premium on controlled tee shots and accurate putting.
As the round progressed, players who found the right lines off the tee were rewarded with opportunities, while others were reminded how quickly the course can punish even slight errors. The live coverage captured that balance well: birdies can appear within reach, but they can disappear in an instant if a putt turns fractionally or a ball finishes on the wrong side of a slope.
For now, Clark, Rai, Sungjae and Couples all remained part of the day’s early storylines, each at a different point in their round and each trying to build a path through Augusta’s demanding layout. With much golf still to be played, the second round promised more changes before the day was done.
This live report continues from Augusta National as the second round of The Masters 2026 develops.
