Jason Day remains the Australian best placed to contend for the green jacket across the weekend as the former world No.1 and Min Woo Lee were the only two Australians to make the cut at The Masters.
Cameron Smith crumbled on the back nine after being well-placed, while 2013 champion Adam Scott was unable to recover from a disappointing first round and Cam Davis crashed out on an underwhelming day for most of the Australian contingent at Augusta National.
Day was the shining light however, as he sits -4 for the tournament, four shots behind leader Justin Rose, following a second straight round of 70.
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He was even on track to become the second ever player, after Ed Sneed in 1979, to be bogey free after 36 holes at The Masters but a slip up at the last hole ended his chances of being etched into the history books.
Day was rock solid for 17 holes, making three birdies courtesy of a beautiful up-and-down at the par 5 second, sticking his tee shot to seven feet at the par 3 sixth and another excellent up-and-down at the par 5 eighth.
But it was the par saves that were arguably more impressive.
The 37-year-old, who boasts three top five finishes at The Masters, only hit eight of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens in blustery conditions, but routinely scrambled to save par.
In a post-round interview with Fox Sports’ Paul Gow, Day then shed light on how hard it was to get distances and lines right on a difficult Friday afternoon at Augusta National.
“I think they did a great job of setting up the golf course. You saw some nice scores early on. As the day progressed it started to get a lot more gustier,” Day said.
“When I was looking at the weather this morning (the wind) was 15mph but with gusts of up to 30-35mph so that’s the tricky part about playing here at Augusta, you’ve got to hit at the right time and you never know when that is because you can’t feel it.
“You’re down in some of these valleys and there’s big tall pines, and you can see the pines moving, but like on 11 for instance, I hit a flush five-iron, pulled up 20 short. I hit it exactly where I wanted it to go, it just got smoked by the wind. Hit on the wrong gust unfortunately.
“Played very solid from tee to green. Unfortunately bogeyed the last hole. That was my first bogey of the week. I feel like I’m playing some good golf. I just have to roll some in.”
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The need to make more putts was the most pressing takeaway by Day from his impressive second round effort.
He did not three-putt through the opening 36 holes, but on Friday felt like he could have had more birdie chances drop.
He averaged 1.56 putts per hole, 0.07 behind the average across the field, and he knows taking more chances on the greens will help him mount a weekend charge.
“I think I’ve given myself the opportunity. I just need to hole some. That’s the only missing piece,” Day told Gow.
“I’m actually hitting a lot of good putts. They’re just not going in. Try and get the starting line a little better. The speed of the putts is actually quite nice.
“I feel like with this wind today, that this should firm up a little bit tomorrow and then we’ll have a bit quicker speeds because of the light, variable winds so that’s probably their defence of the golf course and try to get some putts to go in.”
Lee was the only other Australian in the red numbers with a second round 72 keeping him at -1 for the tournament.
The 26-year-old started the day in wild fashion with a double bogey at the first before responding with birdies at the second and third.
He was fairly solid from then on with birdie at ten and 15 and bogeys at four and 18 interrupting his run of pars.
“It’s kind of a little awkward hole (the first), I wanted to hit a driver up the left side and I pulled it straight through the trees, and I probably should have hit something a little bit lower through the trees, but kind of popped up and hit a branch. You know, just one of those things that happens at Augusta,” Lee told Gow.
“Usually I would get pretty upset and mad, and shoot a bad round, but I got it back. Made two birdies straight after that and square through three holes isn’t terrible.
“You would like to be under par but it is what it is, and it just happens so quick. I wish I could rewind that but it’s just one those things and tomorrow will be better.”
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Like Day, Lee also provided fascinating insight into how difficult the back nine was to navigate on a windy afternoon.
“It was very tough, especially that middle part. You’re playing 10 and 11 and it’s really windy. 12 is tough. 13 is tough and you’ve got to hit a lot of good shots,” Lee said.
“You can’t fake it around this course, especially when it’s so windy. It died down a little bit towards the end but it was tricky.
“Pretty happy with the round I had. Bogey on the last kind of stings a little bit but I did hit two wonderful shots and thought I hit my second shot unbelievable, thought I’d flagged it, and the wind didn’t push it right at all. It was just one of those things, keep doing the right thing and keep making birdies.”
A significant change from Lee’s Houston Open win almost a fortnight ago was picking his moments on when to rein in his aggression more appropriately.
New caddie Brian ‘Bo’ Martin, who was on the bag for Shane Lowry when he won the 2019 Open Championship, has played a significant role in that with it on show again for Lee’s birdie at the par 5 15th as he laid up instead of clearing the water, and going to the daunting position of the back green where Patrick Cantlay chipped in the water twice in the first round.
Lee knows that choosing when to play sensibly is going to be vital across the weekend.
“So cliche but you’ve got to just hit one shot at a time. Yeah maybe the leaders can come back with the conditions. I don’t know what the wind is doing but if it picks up, it’s going to be tough. You over power it a little bit and it bites you in the butt,” Lee said.
“You’ve just got to think about yourself a little bit. There are obviously times when you have to be aggressive but I think you just be aggressive on the par 5s if you can, but that can bite you on the butt quick too.
“Lots of planning and processing that needs to be involved when you play around this course, and you need to make sure you give yourself lots of looks.”
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Smith was one of several players issued a brutal reminder of how Augusta National can “bite you on the butt”, as Lee said.
The 2022 British Open champion collapsed dramatically to miss the cut with four bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine.
He reached the turn at -1 overall, but a bogey at 10 was followed by a double bogey at 11, where he pulled his approach into the water left of the green.
Smith dropped another shot at 13 after leaving his approach short and his ball trickling down the slope into the water before failing to get up-and-down to save par at 16 and 17.
He finished with a round of 78.
It is the first time in nine starts at Augusta National that Smith will not play the weekend, and it is the second straight major he has packed his bags early after also missing the cut at Royal Troon in July.
Smith came tied sixth at last year’s Masters but has struggled at majors since coming tied 63rd at the PGA Championship and tied 32nd at the US Open.
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Adam Scott also broke a streak of making the cut at the first major of the year.
The 2013 champion finished outside the top 50 for the first time since 2009 after an even par round kept him at +5.
Scott made three birdies but bogeys at 15 and 17 prevented any late charge to make the cut, which stood at +2.
Cam Davis had a day to forget with a round of 79 to finish his tournament at +9.
It is the fifth straight cut the two-time PGA Tour winner has missed as he unravelled on the back nine with a water ball leading to double bogey at the famous par 3 12th preceding four bogeys in the closing holes to sign off for a 79.
AUSTRALIAN R3 TEE TIMES
2.30am AEST Min Woo Lee, Harris English
3.50am AEST Jason Day, Sungjae Im
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