Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau are T1 at 6-under heading into Masters 2024 weekend.
— It was a wild, windy day at Augusta National Golf Club, where even par was a good score and anything better may as well have been a miracle.
Winds up to 45 mph and a firm golf course did not allow for much scoring as only 14 players remained under par and the top score after the second round finished remained where it began — 7 under.
Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa and Bryson DeChambeau find themselves tied atop the leaderboard after 36 tough holes with plenty of players lurking below ready to make a weekend run, including Tiger Woods.
Here are the top storylines heading into the weekend:
Schlabach: I picked Scheffler to win by 5 strokes before the tournament, and I’m not backing down after 36 holes. I have to admit that I was expecting more from him in the second round, but the swirling winds and gusts of more than 30 mph were difficult for everyone — even the No. 1 golfer in the world and best ball striker on the planet.
Unless someone makes an unexpected charge from outside the top 10, I still like Scheffler’s chances to win a green jacket more than anybody else’s. Max Homa played great over the first 36 holes, but he hasn’t performed well in majors until now. I’m still not convinced Bryson DeChambeau’s iron play will hold up — unless the new irons he built with a 3-D printer are really that good.
Collin Morikawa might be a legitimate threat if his putter stays hot. Tommy Fleetwood and Cameron Young are nice players, but they’re still searching for their first PGA Tour victories. Nicolai Højgaard and Ludvig Åberg are extremely talented, but do they have enough experience to win a major?
Uggetti: He might not be in the lead by himself, but given Scheffler’s dominant play as of late, it feels like he’s always got a leg up on the field whenever he tees it up. Don’t get me wrong — Scheffler has played good golf. But it still doesn’t feel like he’s playing up to his full potential, which we could be witness to come the weekend.
Scheffler is actually gaining strokes putting (+0.33) on the field, which speaks to his improvement on the greens, an area that has typically held him back. Unsurprisingly, Scheffler is also leading the field in strokes gained: tee to green, a statistic he has led the entire PGA Tour on this season. In that way, the start of the major season has been no different.
« I think major championship golf has a tendency to just be very mentally grinding, » Scheffler said. « Just with how much the wind is blowing. It can be so difficult, and you know, you’ve just got to do your best to relax as much as possible out there and try and execute. » Nobody is better at executing than Scheffler. With the afternoon winds making the late rounds much harder, he was still able to remain at the top of the leaderboard. Put the best player in the world against Homa, DeChambeau or anyone else on the same conditions and good luck trying to beat him.
Schlabach: I wasn’t sure if Tiger would even make the cut this week given that he had played only 24 holes of golf in one PGA Tour event before the Masters. Now, I’m convinced you can’t count Woods out at Augusta National — even if he’s playing with a fused back and right ankle. He’s only 7 shots behind the leaders, which isn’t insurmountable over 36 holes.
Tiger looked much better walking Friday afternoon than he did in the morning. The short turnaround from when play was suspended in the first round shortly before 8 p.m. ET Thursday and the restart at 7:45 a.m. on Friday wasn’t enough time for Woods to recover and get his body started again. He looked tired and sluggish early, but he eventually warmed up and played well in the second round.
With a 1-over score after 36 holes, Woods won’t have an early tee time on Saturday, so he’ll get some additional rest before the third round. He’s driving the ball great off the tee and his work around the greens is still world-class. There’s no question his lack of reps has affected his iron play and putting — he was 1-for-19 on putts outside 10 feet over the first 36 holes — but he made some clutch putts to save par on Friday.
