Augusta National chewed up and spit out most of the field on Thursday, but the course was forgiving and even gentle on Friday. Only 16 players finished under par in Round 1. In Round 2, 20 players finished with 69 or better on the Par 72 track. Players seemed concerned on Thursday that the afternoon greens were too hard and too fast and it would only get worse as the tournament wore on, but that was seemingly not the case at all. Numbers were out there to be posted and a lot of guys posted them, including Rory McIlroy, who had another day as spectacular as the azaleas in spring with a 7-under 65 to take a solo lead by six shots following the lowest round in the field.
McIlroy shared the lead after 18 holes with Sam Burns at 5-under, and Burns continued his solid showing with a 1-under 71, but that left him in a tie for second with Patrick Reed, six shots behind McIlroy. As we wrote about yesterday, three players in the history of this prestigious tournament have won back-to-back times – Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Sir Nick Faldo (1989-90), and Tiger Woods (2001-02). Rory is halfway to doing that and he’s got quite a cushion going into moving day on Saturday. Shout-out to Tyrrell Hatton, whose 66 was the best round of the day until Rory birdied the last four holes and six of the last seven. Hatton is tied for seventh with five other players at 4-under, while Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, and Shane Lowry are T-4th at 5-under.
By no means should we see U.S. Open-level carnage in Round 3, but the course should play tougher with the Saturday pin locations and probably not as generous of a watering schedule prior to the first group on the tee at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Embed from Getty ImagesVSiN’s golf experts offered their second-round observations and third-round predictions . . .
Wes Reynolds
Coming soon.
Matt Youmans
Coming soon.
Kelley Bydlon
Another special round at Augusta for Rory McIlroy and he has positioned himself very well heading into the weekend to take home his second green jacket in as many years. He’ll take a six-shot lead into Saturday and is a big favorite to win it. Aaaand I have no interest in betting against him at this point. The worst part of his game so far has been his driver, and that’s usually his best club, so he might even play better this weekend.
Luckily for me, the second round allowed some of my guys that I have bigger finishing position bets to work their way up the leaderboard. I do not think I will be adding to any of those heading into the weekend, however I do find Scottie Scheffler live top 10 (+102) pretty attractive as well as top 10 on Xander Schauffele (+102).
I will likely have some third round matchup I will add later tonight or tomorrow morning on our Golf Betting Picks page.
Matt Brown
Coming soon.
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