The Masters: day two at Augusta – live updates | The Masters

Collin Morikawa will enjoy his supper tonight. He creams his approach at 18 from 150 yards to 12 feet, and makes the birdie putt. He signs for a 70 to go alongside yesterday’s unheralded but highly decent 71. The former PGA and Open champion is in good position to take a tilt at part three of his career slam. He’s -3 going into the weekend.

DeChambeau nearly drains his par saver! A lovely putt that somehow horseshoes out. No idea how that didn’t drop. Just the one clear at the top now.

-7: DeChambeau (14)
-6: Homa (F), Scheffler (8)
-4: Hojgaard (F), Willett (15)

Trouble for the leader Bryson DeChambeau at 14. Having sent his tee shot into trees down the right, he hacks out to the bottom of a greenside swale. His chip up isn’t all that, and he’s fairly fortunate his ball doesn’t double back and end up at his feet again. But he’s left with a 20-footer for his par. Big putt coming up, especially because Scottie Scheffler has just made a bounceback birdie at the par-five 8th.

Jordan Spieth ends his week with a 74 to go alongside the 79 of earlier. No second win at Augusta for the 2015 champion, not yet, though he did make his mark with that quadruple-bogey nine at 15 this morning: he’s the only player in the last 20 years to make nine or more at that hole on two separate occasions.

A dispiriting, but also sort of uplifting, end to Ludvig Aberg’s round. He sends his tee shot at 18 into the trees down the right. Forced to chip out, his approach lands short, and his chip ends up 12 feet past the flag. Not great. But, staring double bogey in the face, he steers in the bogey putt to limit the damage. He signs for a best-of-day-to-date 69. The major-championship debutant clearly at home at this level … like that’s breaking news. What a talent! He’s -2 going into the weekend.

Tiger’s new record of 24 consecutive Masters cuts made, though. Just to put that into some context, he’s just beaten the record jointly held by himself, Fred Couples (1983-2007) and Gary Player (1959-1982). Tom Watson is next on the list with 21 (1975-1995).

Thanks Alex. Great stuff. Now then, what’s happened here, just as Scottie has dropped a shot on 7? It’s Bryson making birdie at 13, that’s what, despite flaying his drive deep into the pines. That’s not quite up there with Phil Mickelson’s jaw-dropping Lee Westwood-bothering efforts on the same hole in 2010, but it’s something … and here’s what the top of the leader board looks like now.

-8: DeChambeau (13)
-6: Homa (F)
-5: Scheffler (7)
-4: Hojgaard (F), Willett (14)
-3: Davis (F), Aberg (17), Fox (11)
-2: Morikawa (17), Cantlay (9), Zalatoris (8), Fitzpatrick (8)

Scheffler misses a difficult par putt on the seventh, so he’ll be dropping a shot. McIlroy’s woes continue with a missed putt for par as well. And with that, I’ll hand you back to the live Masters master, Scott Murray. Thanks for joining me for amateur hour.

Collin Morikawa moves to within four of the lead, on -3, after a fine, curving birdie putt on the 16th. He read that perfectly. Scheffler, having a tricky seventh, went from the woods to the sand and now to the rough edges of the green.

Woods keeps his focus to par the 18th and finish on +1. A very impressive display, considering everything. Tiger sets a new record for making Masters cuts, with 24, and the five-times champion will be back tomorrow.

Homa pars the 18th to finish his second round at -6. His attempt at a birdie was disrupted by a whipping wind which is blowing sand into players’ eyes and making play very tricky. Jason Day drops a shot on the 18th and finishes on +4. Tiger Woods is shielding his eyes from a minor sand storm in his face.

Homa is on the 18th. He finds the green out of the sand after a lovely shot which drifts slowly back towards the hole. He’ll be pleased with that shot. Scheffler, meanwhile, finds the woods off the tee at the seventh. He’ll be less pleased with that.

DeChambeau takes the sole lead at -7 after a birdie on 12. The American produced an immaculate approach then holds his nerve to hole the putt from reasonably close range.

What a sensational shot from Scheffler! A brilliant chip from a fiendish position on the sixth puts him within inches of the hole, and he taps home to save par. He’s sharing the lead on -6 with DeChambeau and Homa.

Jon Rahm’s struggles to defend his title continue. The big man is +3 now after he misses a short putt and bogies the sixth. He looks fairly exasperated.

Scheffler lips out a very short put for par and bogies the fifth. He looks understandably disappointed and he’s lost the sole lead at Augusta after holding it for not much more than a minute.

… as I type that, McIlroy hits a wonderful recovery shot to land right next to the hole. That’s what he can do at his best, but he’s struggling for consistency in his play thus far.

Rory McIroy is struggling at the fifth. He’s overhit his approach, it goes past the green and he’s in the rough. The Irishman is in a spot of bother there.

Many apologies to Danny Willett. Mentioning how well he’s been going seems to have put the hex on him. He sends his tee shot over the back of 12 and can’t get up and down to save his par. He slips back to -4.

… and with that, I’m handing over to Alex Reid for a bit. See you again soon!

The best round of the day so far has been posted by the 2018 champion Patrick Reed. A two-under 70 that brings him back to level par for the tournament.

Danny Willett is going along so nicely. Two fine shots into the centre of the 11th green; his 30-foot birdie putt only just dies to the left on its final turn. The 2016 champion remains at -5.

Back-to-back birdies for Ludvig Aberg. The Masters and major-championship debutant sends his second into the heart of the par-five 13th. Two careful putts later, he’s up to -2.

Just below that leading bunch, it’s a disappointing bogey-bogey finish for Nicolai Hojgaard. He’s in the clubhouse with a 73 to go with yesterday’s 67. He’s -4 overall and despite it all, you can bet the debutant would have taken that on Thursday morning. Meanwhile Ryan Fox, who was leading this tournament at one point yesterday at -5 after making eagle at 8, only to ship strokes at 13 and 16, makes his first birdie of the day at that same 8th hole. It’s been good to him, and he’s -4 overall. He’s been extremely steady so far, no bad attribute at Augusta National.

Bryson DeChambeau’s putter malfunctions for the third time this afternoon. Another shaky prod, this time back down 9. He leaves himself four feet short, but manages to make the par saver. It’s the mid-range putts rather than the short ones that he’s jittery over right now. He remains in a tie for the lead at -7. Meanwhile a fist-pump from Rory McIlroy who makes a ten-foot par saver on 3. He stays at -1.

-7: DeChambeau (9), Scheffler (3)
-6: Homa (14)
-5: Willett (10)

To be fair to Sergio … he birdied 16 after that.

A grand fiasco unfolds on 3. The defending champion Jon Rahm, 50 feet behind the flag in two, overhits his putt and watches in impotent horror as the ball sails past the pin before toppling serenely down the bank at the front and 26 yards back down the fairway. He does extremely well to keep his fume to a minimum temperature, getting up and down and limiting the damage to bogey. He’s +2. Blushes saved? Well, probably not, given the standards these guys set themselves, but as defending-champion farces go, at least it’s nothing like Sergio’s 13 on the 15th in 2018.

Scottie Scheffler lays up at 2. A chip and a putt later, and he joins Bryson DeChambeau at the top. Meanwhile Danny Willett, who has already holed out from distance for eagle once today, at 8, nearly repeats the feat at 10. A tap-in and he’s just a couple off the lead. Coming the other way, it’s Nicolai Hojgaard, who misjudges a chip into 17 and pays the price. After a long period of – let’s face it – bugger all happening, this is beginning to get going again.

-7: DeChambeau (8), Scheffler (2)
-6: Homa (13)
-5: Hojgaard (17), Willett (10)

Ludvig Aberg has responded sensationally to back-to-back bogeys at 5 and 6. Birdies at 8 and 9, and now another at 12, the latest thanks to a 30-foot right-to-left slider that drops into the cup on its last turn. Perfectly judged, and the major-championship debutant moves into red figures at -1.

Matt Fitzpatrick should have posted a much better score than 71 yesterday. Bogeys at 14, 17 and 18 wrecked a very decent card. But the 2022 US Open champ isn’t letting that get him down. A walk-in birdie putt at 2 brings him back to -2 in short order. Fitzpatrick, Danny Willett … Sheffield is getting proper representation here this week.

Par for Danny Willett at 9, and the 2016 champion turns in 36 strokes. Willett’s otherwise below-average performances at the majors makes it easy to forget he’s won a couple of big titles in Europe: the DP World Tour Championship in 2018 and the flagship BMW PGA a year later. The man’s no one-hit wonder. He’s currently -4. He couldn’t, could he? Again?

OK, so a couple of big changes at and near the top. Danny Willett makes a sensational eagle on the par-five 8th, his wedge from 95 yards taking two gentle bounces and disappearing into the cup. He’s back to -4 and very happy indeed. Meanwhile after making two of the worst putting strokes at 4 and 6, Bryson DeChambeau rolls in a lovely 20-footer on 7 for a birdie that delivers him sole ownership of the lead again. Opening pars meanwhile for Rory and Scottie.

-7: DeChambeau (7)
-6: Hojgaard (15), Homa (12), Scheffler (1)
-4; Willett (8)

Anyway, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are out in a minute. So before the action hots up, it’s time for a pimento cheese. Back in a bit!