Watson surges with 2nd-round Masters heroics
Print Edition
BUBBA Watson was the man to catch yesterday for the 50 other golfers who made it through to Masters weekend at Augusta National.
The 35-year-old champion from two years ago blasted clear of the field on Friday with a five-in-a-row, back-nine birdie blast that briefly raised the roof on what was otherwise a relatively sedate day.
By the time the dust had settled, Watson was leading by three shots at 7-under-par 137 after rounds of 69 and 68, making him the only man in the field capable of creating Masters history by firing four rounds in the 60s.
Closest to him was quiet Australian John Senden, who was at 4 under, with veteran Dane Thomas Bjorn, unheralded Swede Jonas Blixt, rising US star Jordan Spieth and, most menacingly, defending champion Adam Scott of Australia a further shot back.
Watson, who endured a year in the golfing wilderness after his emotional Masters win in 2012, said he had got himself back to the basics and was “being a kid again and just rejoicing”.
Whether the American will still be rejoicing at the end of yesterday’s third round remains to be seen as the chasing pack — an intriguing blend of old hands and young guns — seeks to reel him in.
Five back of the lead, evergreen Freddie Couples, the 1992 Masters winner, led a record six 50-and-over players into the weekend. The old mark for Champions Tour-aged players to make the cut was four, most recently done last year.
Fiji’s 51-year-old Vijay Singh, the 2000 Masters champion, and 56-year-old German Bernhard Langer, the Masters winner in 1985 and 1993, were to be playing partners in the middle of the pack yesterday.
This year, for the first time since 1994, there was no Tiger Woods and no Phil Mickelson on the weekend at the Masters. Four-time winner Woods is absent through injury and three-time champion Mickelson missed the cut for the first time since 1997.
First out on another day of clear blue skies at Augusta National yesterday was former world No. 1 and pre-tournament favorite Rory McIlory, who scraped into the weekend by sinking a nervy five-footer for par at the last on Friday.
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