The forecast is ominous for the weekend at Augusta National Golf Club—and so seem the prospects for the field trying to run down a resurgent Brooks Koepka over the final 36 holes of the 87th Masters. Winless in majors since 2019, when his victory at the PGA Championship capped an extraordinary run of winning four majors (two U.S. Opens, two PGAs) in 23 months, Koepka has played superb golf over the first two rounds to put himself in a strong position to capture his first green jacket and the third leg in the career Grand Slam.
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With rounds of 65 and 67, Koepka got into the clubhouse with a 12-under total on Friday before thunderstorms stopped play. It’s the third-lowest score after 36 holes in tournament history.
With a dire weather outlook for Saturday—rain, cold and wind, though no lightning—there was still much to be determined on Saturday when the second round was scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. EDT. Despite finishing bogey-bogey, Tiger finished at three over and made the cut on the number. It is his 23rd consecutive cut made at the Masters, which ties Gary Player and Fred Couples for the most in tournament history.
Jon Rahm played the back nine in one under on Saturday morning to finish at 10 under to get within two shots of Koepka’s lead heading into the third round. Rahm and Koepka are joined in the final grouping by U.S. Amateur champion Sam Bennett, who is looking to become the first amateur winner of the Masters.
1:06 p.m.: Amateur Sam Bennett has opened his first Masters with back-to-back rounds of 68. If he were to shoot in the 60s today, he’d be the first amateur in the history of the Masters to shoot three rounds in the 60s in one week. Better yet, if he were to keep it sub-70, he’d likely put himself in position to be the first amateur to win the green jacket.
Long way to go, but today will be a big test for the fifth-year senior at Texas A&M. A few weeks ago at the Valspar Collegiate, Bennett teed off in the third round alongside Christiaan Maas, JonErik Alford and Santiago De La Fuente. Today he’s off with four-time major champ Brooks Koepka and World No. 3 Jon Rahm.
12:55 p.m.: Cam Young! It looked like a birdie all the way. After driving it well right at the first and going over the back of the green with his second, he pitches in to get his Moving Day off to a quick start. Now six under, six back. Can he make his first PGA Tour win a Green Jacket?
12:49 p.m.: We’re about 20 minutes away from the final grouping of Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Sam Bennett starting their third rounds. There continues to be a bit of a lull in the weather, which may be good news for the chasers, like Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth and Cam Young, who are start their round together sitting at five under, seven shots back. For the second straight day, Young goes way, way right off the first.
12:26 p.m.: With temps struggling to hit 50 and rain expected all afternoon, we’re curious to see how tournament officials set up the course and if they’ll get creative with some of the tee boxes. Not so at the par-3 fourth, where it’s playing over 230 yards for the third round. That wasn’t an issue for Patrick Cantlay, though, as he hit his tee shot inside 15 feet and rolls it in to make it three straight birdies on 2, 3 and 4.
12:18 p.m.: After starting his title defense with a four-under 68 on Thursday, Scottie Scheffler struggled to 75 in the second round to fall back to one under for the week. The three-over round on Friday snapped his streak of seven consecutive under-par scores at the Masters. Starting his third round with pars on 10 and 11, he’ll likely need something in the mid-60s if he is going to give himself a chance to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters.
12:12 p.m.: What if we had told you earlier in the week that Tiger Woods would be in the final grouping for the third round? Well, he is. Unfortunately for Woods, however, he’s in the final grouping … off the 10th tee. Making the cut on the number, Tiger will start the third round at 1:06 p.m. EST alongside playing partners Sungjae Im and Thomas Pieters.
11:30 a.m.: The first groups for round three are off and the weather, for the moment, is serviceable. Whether they get the entire round in is questionable, buit the more holes they get in today, the better the chance of a Sunday finish.
11:10 a.m.: Tee times for round three are released. Threesomes off two tees. First groups at 11:30 a.m. and last groups at 1:06 a.m. Big test for amateur Sam Bennett in final threesome with Brooks Keopka and Jon Rahm. Last amateur to finish a Masters in the top 10 was 61 years ago when Charlie Coe finished T-9 in the 1962 Masters.
10:55 a.m. The pin placements for the third round. Interesting back-left location for the par-5 13th.
10:51 a.m. As the second round finishes, time for a little history lesson and it’s not pretty for most of the field, other the Brooks Koepka and a few others. Six of the last 10 winners have led or held a share of the lead after 36, which bodes well for Brooksy. As for the chasers, 85 of 86 winners were within six shots of the lead at the halfway point. That’s Jon Rahm, Sam Bennett, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland. If you’re looking for the outlier, Jack Burke Jr. came from eight back at the halfway point in 1956, meaning 10 others can dream.
10:34 a.m. There’s friendship and then there’s self-immolation. Justin Thomas plays his last eight holes in six over par to miss the cut by one. With Thomas’ travails, Tiger Woods makes the cut on the number at 3 over par and with it, not only continues having the longest active cut streak, but joins Gary Player and Fred Couples for the longest made cut streak in Masters history.
10:24 a.m. The cold and wind has the ball going absolutely nowhere. On 18 Jon Rahm hits it just 241 yards off the tee. Justin Thomas just 232 yards. Thank goodness the ball rollback wasn’t in effect or they might not have reached the fairway.
10:13 a.m.: So you’re saying there’s a chance! To make the cut, Tiger Woods (and four others, including 2011 champ Charl Schwartzel) needs a bogey from either Justin Thomas or Sungjae Im coming in. Thomas, arguably Woods’ best friend on tour, hooks his tee shot wildly on 17, hits a superb low, running hook then pitches to eight feet but misses wide right and makes bogey. One can hear Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder breaking out their hit, “That’s What Friends are For.”
9:54 a.m.: Tiger Woods bogeys the last two holes after wayward tee shots and unless he gets some help, his record active cut streak will end at 22 and he will fall one short of the all-time Masters record of 23 by Fred Couples and Gary Player. Woods had never missed the cut in the Masters since teeing it up as a professional in 1997. The GOAT might not be around for the final two rounds (there’s still a chance) but still holds a nice chunk of the Masters record book.
9:19 a.m. Thomas Pieters might want to take a long look around. The Belgian, ranked No. 40 in the world, jumped to LIV earlier this year and without world ranking points, needed a good finish to ensure he would be back. But Pieters, on the cut line at 2 over par, three-putted 18 for a bogey and now sits on the outside looking in. Pieters knew the possibility coming in, bringing his parents with him this week to soak up what could be his final Masters appearance.
9:05 a.m. Ten years after hitting the stick at the par-5 15th and watching his ball roll off into the water, resulting in a rules imbroglio, Tiger Woods gets a measure of revenge on the hole. Teetering on the cut line, Woods’ approach once again hits the flagstick but this time stays on the putting surface and makes the putt for birdie, igniting a Masters roar from the patrons.
8:45 a.m.: We’re going to be talking a lot about the cutline this morning. For a primer on how they determine the 36-hole cut at the Masters, give this a read.
8:38 a.m.: Touching moments are what the Masters is all about and there’s another right now as Larry Mize finishes up his second round as the 1987 champion is playing for the last time. Waiting for him behind the 18th green is Sandy Lyle, the 1988 champion who also said this was his last appearance at Augusta. The modest crowd around the green gives them a nice round of applause.
8:35 a.m.: Rahm converts the birdie putt on 12, gets to 10 under for the tournament. Now just two shots back of Koepka. Wondering if Koepka is still sleeping in or actually watching?
8:29 a.m.: The greens are rolling perfect, but perhaps a little slow because of the overnight rain. On both the 12th and now the 13th hole, Tiger Woods has a makeable birdie try only to find the ball coming up short of the hole. Tiger remains at two over … with no room for error regarding the cut.
8:25 a.m.: Jon Rahm began the round three off the lead, and had to be disappointed that play ended when it did on Friday after making back-to-back birdies before the round was called. He’s made two pars since the restart, but hit a nice tee shot on the 12th hole to set up a potential birdie.
8:13 a.m.: One of the cliffhanger stories the Friday delay created was leaving Fred Couples on the 18th hole as he attempted to become the oldest golfer at 63 to even make the Masters cut. Just don’t make a double and the record was his, and well, Couples didn’t disappoint, making par to finish at one over and break Bernhard Langer’s record. Couples has now also made the cut in 31 Masters, second only to Jack Nicklaus’ 37.
8:10 a.m.: Players are bundled up and temperatures are in the high 40s, but the course conditions appear, dare say, scorable at the moment. Here’s the forecast though and what the player are looking at. The primary goal is to make sure the second round is finished today then get a portion of the third round going as well.
8:01 a.m.: The all the golfers are in place and with just a light rain at the moment, the horns blow to restart the second round.
7:30 a.m.: As rain falls with players who are resuming their second rounds practicing ahead of the 8 a.m., one of the inevitable occurs. The club announced that Louis Oosthuizen, seven over with one hole to play, had withdrawn from the event due to injury. Oosthuizen indeed has been dealing with leg elbow issues all year, but he is also well off the cut line.