AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods is seven back and tied for 13th after two rounds. Phil Mickelson is 5-under and tied for third.
Does anybody else matter at The Masters? The weekend will sort it out.
Trevor Immelman has a one-shot lead at 8-under, with Brandt Snedeker in second place, with left-handers Steve Flesch and Mickelson, and Ian Poulter — dressed in pink Friday — all tied for third.
“I’m in good shape,” said Woods, who will try to beat his 2005 feat, when he came from six strokes back after the second round to win. “I’m obviously seven back, but I need to play well — obviously we’ve got some tougher conditions coming in — and stay patient. This golf course, you can make up shots here quickly.”
Micklelson agreed.
“I’m fortunate where I was not too far back and I didn’t have to make a lot of tough decisions,” said Mickelson, who made a 30-footer for birdie on No. 17 after missing makeable ones the previous two holes.
After birdies at Nos. 15 and 17, Woods had to battle to stay at 1-under on the final hole. He hit his tee shot into the trees, and chose to hit his second shot further right — into the adjacent No. 10 fairway. Woods was 80 yards or so away, and placed his third shot perfectly. It was rolling down the green and appeared to be finishing close to the cup, but hit the ball of playing partner Stuart Appleby’s, and stopped five feet away. Woods made the par putt.
While the chance of rain today went down on Friday, the weather is still expected to get windy and chilly, and some rain remains possible until 2 p.m. Winds are expected to be 10-15 mph, with gusts to 20 mph. Sunday, the high temperature is supposed to be 63 degrees, with 10-20 mph winds and gusts to 25 mph, conditions similar to last year when Zach Johnson won at 1-over par.
There are two major championship winners in the top 10 — Mickelson and 2003 Masters winner Mike Weir. Another, Retief Goosen, is 11th, with Woods, who has four green jackets (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005), Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk are tied for 13th.
Stephen Ames and Paul Casey are tied for sixth at 4-under 140, followed by Stewart Cink, Arron Oberholser and Weir.
No left-hander won the first 66 Masters. They’ve won three of the last six — Weir in 2003 and Mickelson in 2004 and 2006. And there are three in the top 10.
Anyone outside the top 10 — and that includes Woods, Goosen, Singh and Furyk — will be fighting some history to win on Sunday, Tiger’s kind of history. Jack Nicklaus, whose 18 majors Woods has been chasing, was tied for 17th after two rounds in 1986. He was the last outside the top 10 after 36 holes to win the green jacket.
Four months ago, Immelman was hospitalized, waiting for the diagnosis from a surgically removed tumor near his ribcage. Fortunately it was not cancerous, but he had a seven-inch incision across the right side of his back. Now he’s the sixth first-round leader to shoot the same score or better at the Masters.
“It definitely made me realize that golf wasn’t my whole life,” said the South African, who stayed up late as a youngster so he could watch the Masters on television. “I have a real passion for golf, and I put a lot of hours in, and made a lot of sacrifices to try and succeed at the game.
“I’m definitely driven to try and achieve things, so whilst it gave me perspective on the one point, I was still trying to get back to the form I was showing before it all happened.”
Immelman will have to overcome his own obstacle. No player who has held or shared the first-round lead at Augusta has won the Masters since Ben Crenshaw in 1984.
“You definitely feel pressure,” he said. “But I feel pressure playing for a hundred bucks against a mate, you know? So that’s the beauty of the game.”
Snedeker turned pro after the 2004 Masters. Now he’s back, and in contention going into the weekend, thanks to a creative shot. On the par-3 No. 6, Snedeker was on the green, but chipped it off the green intentionally. The ball rolled back on, and into the hole from 30 feet.
“I had no choice, I was either going to have to putt it through the rough into the fringe — this fringe is so sticky, I couldn’t putt it,” said Snedeker, who bounced back from a bogey on No. 16 with birdies on the last two holes.
Mickelson is hoping his own kind of fate is a good sign — other than it being another even-numbered year. In the 2004 Masters, which Mickelson would go on to win for his first major title, he had a ball on No. 13 that stayed up and didn’t go in Rae’s Creek. This year, that’s happened the past two days.
“I’m kind of using that as an omen,” he said.
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