The second round of the Masters continued at Augusta National with several players making early progress as the leaderboard began to take shape.
Wyndham Clark was among the first names to catch the eye, with his birdie putt at the sixth looking for a moment as though it might drop. The ball rolled straight for the cup before drifting slightly to the right and narrowly missing. It still left Clark at three under for both the round and the tournament.
Clark was no longer the only player in red for the day, however. Im Sungjae, who finished second on debut in the November Masters of 2020, picked up birdies at the seventh and eighth to move into under-par territory for the round. He stood at three over overall. Freddie Couples also found some relief with a birdie at the second, lifting him back to five over after a difficult stretch.
The veteran Couples had endured a miserable run on Thursday, making a quadruple bogey, then a double bogey, then another double bogey at holes 15, 16 and 17. Even so, at 66 years old, he was given some leeway for fading in the late-afternoon heat.
A calm start for Aaron Rai
The Par 3 Contest winner Aaron Rai opened his second round in composed fashion. He found Tea Olive in regulation and then sent a long birdie attempt that lipped close to the hole. After an opening-round 71, Rai remained one under for the tournament. His first round had promised more after he turned in 33.
Clark’s run of consecutive birdies ended at five, but there was little sign of trouble. He made par at the sixth and sent his tee shot into the centre of the green, using Augusta’s slopes to guide the ball toward the front-left flag. That left him a birdie chance from around 18 feet, on a putt that was not perfectly straight but was as close as one usually gets on this course.
Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, was also getting his second round under way as the action at Augusta continued to unfold.
With several contenders moving in the right direction, the day’s early stages offered the sort of shifting picture that usually defines Masters Friday: one player steadying after a rough spell, another trying to build momentum, and others waiting for their chance to make a move.
As the round progressed, the official leaderboard remained central to the story, while live coverage continued to track how the field handled Augusta National’s demands.
