Masters Diary: Zach gets it back after inadvertent whack

Zach Johnson – the 2007 Masters champion – won’t want to recall his practice swing on the 13th tee in the second round . . . he accidentally hit the ball, sending it spurting forward to the front of the tee.

Unsure if he’d incurred a penalty stroke and if the ball was deemed to be in play, Johnson was reassured by a rules official that, no, there was no penalty, and, no, it wasn’t in play. As Johnson’s stroke had been a practice swing on the tee, the ball wasn’t in play and he was allowed to replace it on the tee peg.

Olesen has found the perfect Augusta bagman in Morbey

The player-caddie combination of youth with a wise head could certainly apply to that partnership which has formed between Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen and his bagman Phil Morbey.

It was back in 1991 that Morbey was the trusty caddie in Ian Woosnam’s win and the tie-up with Olesen has produced an unblemished record of surviving the cut in the Dane’s three appearances at Augusta National.

Rafferty and Kennedy sharing the lead in West of Ireland

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Masters Diary: Shane Lowry is yet to master all his memorabilia

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Olivia Mehaffey qualifies to compete at Augusta National

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US Masters 2019: Hole-by-hole guide to Augusta National

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Olesen – who finished sixth on his debut in 2013 and 44th the following year – hasn’t earned an invitation to the Masters since 2014 but made little of the five-year absence in shooting successive rounds of 71 for 142 to guarantee his presence for the weekend.

“The first time I got here I had some nice practice rounds with players that have played a lot of times. I took a lot of notes from that, and I have Morbey on the bag. He’s been here a number of times and won here. We made a good gameplan and pretty much know what to expect,” said Olesen.

Lefty’s loaded down with Masters money

Who has won the most prize money at the Masters?

Nope, it’s not Tiger Woods.

In fact, his longtime nemesis Phil Mickelson is the player who has cashed in most paydays from the tournament and has amassed a total of $7,879,837 – set to be further embellished here – from his previous 26 appearances.

The European with the biggest take home pay from the Masters is actually Justin Rose, who has pocketed $3,613,015 through the years in his 13 appearances. Rose is fifth in the overall table, with Rory McIlroy – $1,982,565 – down in 20th place in the career winnings here.

By the Numbers: 215

Brooks Koepka’s double bogey on the second hole of the second round was his first on a Par 5 in any Major . . . a sequence which had reached 215 Par 5s without such a blemish.

Twitter Twaddle

Go home Augusta weather, you’re drunk – Kevin Kisner tells the morning rain where to go! It listened. Pity Kisner can’t put a hex on the forecast for Sunday’s scheduled final round which is of most concern heading into the weekend. It calls for potential of an afternoon thunderstorm lasting up to two hours, which could well force the conclusion of play into a Monday finish for the first time since 1983.