AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) Meat Reed is halfway home in order to his first major championship.
He got there simply by mostly staying out of trouble in daunting Augusta National and learning the four par 5s.
Reed shot a 6-under 66 in the second round Fri and moved to 9-under 135 for your tournament. He takes a two-shot business lead over Marc Leishman into Saturday’ s third round, which could have rain.
Forecasts demand steady showers all day, the kind of climate that should soften up what experienced become a hard and fast test.
The way Reed has played, it’ s doubtful even Mother Nature may slow him down.
” I believe if I play the particular golf I know how to play, I could win majors, ” said Reed, a 27-year-old Texan who finished his college career 3 kilometers down the road at Augusta State. ” I need to stick to my game plan. ”
Reed and Leishman will be the final pairing Saturday, planned to tee off at two: 30 p. m.
Reed grabbed the lead thanks a lot mostly to being the only participant in the field to birdie all 8 par 5s in the first 2 rounds. He also needed simply 51 putts through 36 openings.
” I held myself out of trouble and permitted my putter to do the work, ” Reed said.
Leishman kept it close. He strongly took on a high risk when this individual hooked a hooded 5-iron throughout the trees and barely over the drinking water on the par-5 15th to regarding 6 feet for an eagle that will got him to 7 below.
Right behind them? 5 major champions, for starters.
Henrik Stenson (70) was four pictures behind. Rory McIlroy (71) can be off to his best 36-hole start in seven years and is searching as poised as ever in order to capture the fourth leg of the profession Grand Slam. Jordan Spieth dropped his two-shot lead on the initial hole and was on the brink of getting left behind until he produced a key par putt to close up out the front nine with a forty, and then salvaged a 74 to participate McIlroy just five shots at the rear of.
Looming is Dustin Johnson , the No . 1 player on earth, who made a 45-foot k?rester putt on the 16th to atone for several birdie putts in the 10-foot range he missed. Johnson a new 68 and was six pictures behind, along with PGA champion Mr. bieber Thomas, who had a 67.
Eleven of the 17 gamers still under par at the midway point can be found among the top twenty in the world.
They’ lso are all chasing Reed, and possibly need to play the longest openings well to even keep speed.
” The k?rester 5s are huge around right here to be able to pick up ground on, ” Reed said. ” You’ lso are not going to shoot a low score in case you don’ t. ”
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Some other items to know heading into Saturday’ t third round:
GAMBLING EFFECT
Tiger Woods produced the cut at his 1st Masters in three years. He has several mixed feelings about where he’ s at.
He or she shot a three-over 75 within the second round and is 4 more than heading into the weekend. The seventy five matched his second-worst score in the Masters and left him thirteen shots off the lead.
Woods struggled with distance manage Friday in difficult conditions plus lamented a number of close misses upon greens.
He stated he didn’ t hit their irons very good at all, adding which he ” didn’ t control ranges, shapes or anything. ”
Still, Woods was mainly pleased with how he’ s performed in his first major since the 2015 PGA Championship.
” Six months ago, I didn’ big t know if I was going to play once again. It’ s incredible. Just therefore thankful have this opportunity to be able to enjoy golf again. ”
Woods knows he needs a ” special weekend” and some help to return in contention.
OLDER MEN
Fred Couples, fifty eight, Bernard Langer, 60, and Vijay Singh , 55 – three guys whom play the PGA Tour Winners – proved it pays off to find out your way around Augusta National.
All three of them photo 2 over in the second circular and made the cut with golf’ s first major.
Couples is 11 pictures off Reed’ s pace going into the weekend. Langer is thirteen back, and Singh is ten behind.
Couples produced the cut at the Masters for that 30th time, tying Gary Gamer for the second most in competition history. Only six-time Masters champ Jack Nicklaus (37) made a lot more cuts at Augusta National.
HEADED HOME
The last two Masters champions won’ t be playing on the weekend break.
Defending champion Sergio Garcia and 2016 winner Danny Willett missed the cut.
Willett finished the second circular with consecutive bogeys, missing out simply by two strokes.
Garcia’ s reign was essentially more than when he wrote a double-digit number on his scorecard in the starting round Thursday. The Spaniard plus new father hit five consecutive balls into the water at the par-5 15th.
Garcia appeared to spend much of Friday going through the particular motions. He struggled to a 79 that included dumping another basketball in the water at No . eleven and ended up at 15-over 159.
BUTLER CABIN ATTRACTS
Garcia will be about to be part of the championship celebration from Butler Cabin, where he will place a green jacket on the 2018 champ. Doug Ghim will sign up for him inside.
The particular 21-year-old Ghim was the only rookie to make the cut. He got into the particular Masters thanks to a runner-up complete in the U. S. Amateur. The lower amateur also gets invited towards the ceremony at Butler Cabin.
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