Scottie Scheffler posts 2-over 74 in 2nd round at Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — After posting his first rating over par at Augusta National Golf Club in three years Friday, world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler goes to should do one thing magical on the weekend to get again into competition at the ninetieth Masters.

Scheffler hit two balls into the water on par 5s on the second 9 and misplaced greater than a stroke on the greens to the sphere, whereas posting a 2-over 74 in the second round.

Scheffler is even par after 36 holes and was seven strokes behind defending champion Rory McIlroy when he walked off the 18th inexperienced.

It was the primary time Scheffler completed over par in a Masters round since carding a 3-over 75 in the second round in 2023. He tied for tenth at 4 below in the Masters that 12 months, eight strokes behind winner Jon Rahm.

Scheffler’s efficiency Friday ended his streak of 11 consecutive rounds of par or higher, which was third longest in the match’s historical past. Five-time Masters winner Tiger Woods has 16 straight rounds at par or higher from 2007 to 2011; Rahm had 15 in a row from 2018 to 2021.

“I felt like it was really challenging,” Scheffler stated. “I played really pretty well. It got very, very difficult late in the day yesterday. Then today I felt like I played a lot better than my score. You know, I got off to a slow start. A few up and downs early that I should have had that I didn’t convert. Then I fought back to get it to even through 12 holes.”

The two-time Masters champion put himself in an early gap when he hit his tee shot right into a greenside bunker on the par-3 fourth. He chipped to 7 ft, however missed the par putt.

On the par-4 fifth, Scheffler’s method shot stopped on the perimeter. His putt from 33 ft was 6 ft quick, and he missed the par putt for a second straight bogey.

“I would like to hole a few more putts,” Scheffler stated. “I felt like it was rolling nice today, but balls just weren’t dropping. Maybe my reads were a little bit off. I felt like I was starting online, could have been speed on a couple of putts, but overall today I felt like I definitely played better than my score.”

Scheffler obtained again to even in the round with birdies on No. 8 and 10. He simply missed an eagle putt on the par-5 eighth after blasting his method from 274 yards onto the inexperienced. His excessive method on the par-4 tenth stopped 4 ft from the outlet.

But then Scheffler made two large errors on the second 9. On the par-5 thirteenth, his 291-yard drive got here to a cease on a hillside. He tried to whip a 3-iron shot across the nook, however his ball did not draw sufficient and bounced right into a tributary of Rae’s Creek in entrance of the inexperienced.

His chip from the drop zone stopped 16 ft from the cup, and he two-putted for one more bogey that dropped him to 1 over in the round.

“I just tried to kind of swing it with the slope and just didn’t catch it that solid and kind of hung out there,” Scheffler stated. “But that was one where to that pin specifically, that’s a shot that I could get in there close, so I felt like it was worth the risk of going for it.”

Then, on the par-5 fifteenth, Scheffler’s second shot from 241 yards hit the again ridge of the inexperienced and bounded down the slope and right into a pond, main to a different bogey.

“It was frustrating to get it back to even, have a couple of par-5s in front of me, and then not do many things I felt [were] wrong,” Scheffler stated. “[I] wasn’t able to convert really basically anything coming down the stretch.”

Scheffler has overcome large deficits earlier than. In the 2024 Players Championship, he trailed Wyndham Clark by six strokes after 36 holes and Xander Schauffele by 5 after 54. Scheffler got here again to win by one to turn out to be the primary back-to-back winner at TPC Sawgrass.

He’ll want an identical efficiency — and loads of assist from others — to win a 3rd inexperienced jacket Sunday.

“Anytime you can have success on this golf course, I think it can only give you more confidence,” Scheffler stated. “You know, being able to get it done here, you have to do a lot of things right. I think it would be silly to say that doesn’t give you some confidence going into a tournament, a tournament like this.”