New York Post, Saturday, November 14, 2020
nypost.com
Thursday-Sunday
Augusta National
Golf Club
Par: 72 ● 7,475 yards
SECOND-ROUND
LEADERBOARD
Play suspended
Abraham Ancer -9 F
Cameron Smith -9 F
Justin Thomas -9 F
Dustin Johnson -9 F
Patrick Cantlay -8 F
Sungjae Im -8 F
Hideki Matsuyama -8 15
Jon Rahm -8 12
NotablesJustin Rose -7 F
Patrick Reed -6 11
Phil Mickelson -5 F
Brooks Koepka -5 F
Rickie Fowler -4 F
Tiger Woods -4 10
Rory McIlroy -3 F
Jordan Spieth E 10
B. DeChambeau +1 12TV
Sat.: 7:30-10:30 a.m.,
ESPN; 1-5 p.m., CBS
Sun.: 10 a.m.-3 p.m., CBS
FORE-CAST
Saturday
73 degrees; Sunny
0 pct. chance of rain;
Wind: 8 mph
Sunday
78 degrees; Partly cloudy
20 pct. chance of rain;
Wind: 12 mphThe 84th Masters
Big names in contention set stage forBig names in contention set stage forBig names in contention set stage for
wild weekend at November Masters
By Mark CannizzaroAUGUSTA, Ga. — You’ve been
waiting 19 months for this Mas-
ters, and you wanted the wait to
be worth it.
Well, you’ve got it.
You wanted big names in conten-
tion entering the weekend?
How about Dustin Johnson, the
No. 1-ranked player in the world,
tied for the lead with Justin
Thomas, ranked No. 3, along with
up-and-comers Abraham Ancer
and Cam Smith — all of whom are
9-under after Friday’s second
round, which was suspended be-
cause of darkness and to be com-
pleted Saturday morning.
Patrick Cantlay, Sungjae Im, Jon
Rahm and Hideki Matsuyama are
one shot back at 8-under, with
Rahm and Matsuyama still to
complete their respective second
rounds.
Former Masters champion
Danny Willet, who’s been in the
wilderness since his 2016 victory,
is 7-under along with European
Ryder Cup heroes Tommy Fleet-
wood and Justin Rose. Louis
Oosthuizen and C.T. Pan are also
7-under and still to complete their
second rounds.
You wanted defending champion
and five-time Masters winner Ti-
ger Woods in the mix — a difficult
ask entering the tournament con-
sidering how infrequently and
poorly he’d been playing this year?
Woods is 4-under with eight
holes still to finish in his second
round Saturday morning.
You’re sentimental and a fan of
50-year-old Phil Mickelson?
He’s very much alive for the
weekend in pursuit of a fourthgreen jacket — at 5-under
through 36 holes.
You like the locals?
Augusta native Charles Howell
III is 5-under with three more
holes in his second round to play
as he tries to do what fellow Au-
gusta native Larry Mize did in
1987, win the ultimate home game
in golf.
Brooks Koepka, remember him?
He’s 5-under and lurking.
Fan favorite Rickie Fowler,
whose game has been lost for a
couple years as he’s made swing
changes, is 4-under and alive.
So, too, is Rory McIlroy, who’s
taking his sixth crack at complet-
ing the career Grand Slam with a
Masters victory. McIlroy, who shot
75 in his opening round and was all
over the yard, shaved nine strokesoff of that with his second-round
66 and the Slam dream is alive.
You like the old guys?
Bernhard Langer, age 63, is 3-un-
der and not out of it.
There’s even an amateur in the
mix — John Augenstein, who’s
3-under and tied for 27th.
We could go on, but you get the
picture: This Masters already has
been worth the wait and it’s not
even halfway home yet.
The second round will resume at
7:30 a.m., televised by ESPN, and is
expected to be completed by 10:30,
when the third round will begin.
Barring any more weather issues,
the tournament should be caught
up by day’s end Saturday for a dra-
matic final-round Sunday.
An interesting dynamic to this
day was the fact the players whoseopening rounds were suspended
Thursday because of weather de-
lay got to finish their respective
first rounds Friday morning and
then go right back out for the sec-
ond rounds.
“It’s nice,’’ Dustin Johnson said
after finishing his first round and
before he went out for his second.
“I feel like I’m on a roll. I’m feeling
good with my golf swing. To con-
tinue playing is a nice advantage.’’
Johnson, for a brief moment,
looked like he was ready to run
away with the tournament in his
second round, when he got to 10-
under after birdies on Nos. 9
through 13, opening up a big lead.
But Johnson promptly bogeyed
14 and 15, a par-5 he usually would
birdie, and brought a lot of players
back into contention.
That turned out to be one of the
key moments in the day.
“On 14, I had a little bit of dirt
on the ball and it turned
righttoleft instead of cut,’’ John-
son said. “It stayed up on top of
the hill, which is a spot where I
knew I couldn’t hit it. Then on 15,
I hit a good shot, it just got a gust
of the wind. I hit a good shot —
3-iron. The wind picked up a little
bit and floated on me a hair and
came up a couple yards short.
“Before I teed off, I think I would
have taken it,’’ Johnson said of
9-under and a share of the lead.
“But obviously I feel like I played a
little bit better than my position
right now. I’m still happy with the
way I’m swinging it, how I’m con-
trolling the golf ball and every-
thing I’m doing. I’m rolling the put-
ter good. Just hopefully I can see a
few more go in over the weekend.’’
[email protected]A TIME TO REFLECT: Tiger Woods (top right) is among those chas-
ing a group of players at 9-under including Justin Thomas (top left) and
Dustin Johnson (right), walking across the Sarazen Bridge on the 15th
hole during the second round of the Masters. Getty Images (2); Reuters