Woods looms in picture as Major contenders make their move

The weather gods sought to spoil things, but failed.

As colourful umbrellas became de rigueur for spectators and competitors alike through the second round of this 83rd edition of the US Masters, the presence of so many Major champions at the business end of affairs brought its own unequivocal riposte.

On a day that started with consistent morning rain, which further softened the fairways and greens, and with the round later interrupted by a delay due to the threat of lightning in the Augusta area, players who have tasted success in the Majors – all four of the championships represented – moved to the serious part.

Adam Scott had a 12 foot birdie putt on the 18th to claim the outright lead,but it missed and it meant the Australian – winner here in 2013 – signed for a 68 to join current British Open champion Francesco Molinari, reigning US Open champion Brooks Koepka and former US PGA champion Jason Day on seven-under-par 137.

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And Tiger Woods roared too. One of those halted in their tracks by the delay due to the threat of lightning, he made an unlikely birdie on the 14th – after a wayward drive into trees- and another birdie on 15 to move to six-under.

Midway total 

At this stage, we should never be surprised by what Italy’s Molinari – last year’s Open champion and mainstay of Europe’s winning Ryder Cup team – brings to the party.

In this case, it was a superb second round 67 which had him signing for a midway total of 137, seven-under-par.

On the other hand, we should be surprised by what Australia’s Day managed to achieve in also posting a 67 to join Molinari on that mark.

On Thursday, during his opening round, Day’s back – a constant source of pain and discomfort, it would seem – acted up again to the point where he needed on-course physiotherapy so that he could complete his round. The back had been aggravated in bending down to kiss his daughter Lucy as he went to the first tee.

And what of Koepka? He struggled early on – his card blotted by a double-bogey on the second, where he found tree trouble – but rolled up his sleeves and kept to the task, ultimately rewarded by a closing birdie on the 18th for a 71 to join Molinari and Day on 137, with Dustin Johnson a shot farther adrift.

Molinari went about his business with that deadpan expression which acts like a cloak to hide his inner thoughts, his bogey-free round of five birdies – sealed with a run of three straight pars to finish – was sufficient to move him into contention in a Major again.

“It’s pretty darn good,” observed Ian Poulter – himself in the thick of it after a 71 for 139 – of his Ryder Cup colleagues game.

“He hits it straight, he’s now got a fantastic short game and he holes lots of putts. So I mean that’s the reason why he’s got the Jug and he’s good, he’s really good.”

Molinari has come a long way since first coming to Augusta as a caddie to his brother Edoardo, although he admitted that experience didn’t serve as too much help –or inspiration – given the demands of hiking a bag around.

“I didn’t learn a lot, to be honest, about the course because we were going sideways most of the time,” he joked.

In what is Molinari’s eighth time here as a player in the Masters (his previous best finish was fourth in 2012), the biggest improvement has been his putting and short game play.

“I feel a massive difference when I’m on the greens or around the greens compared to my previous times here. It’s still pretty uncomfortable when you are standing over some putts or some chips because the margins are so small, there’s not a lot of room to miss. But it is a part of my game that has improved a lot in the last 12 months.”

Molinari’s putting stroke has changed dramatically in the past year.

“Pretty much everything. We started from set-up, where I used to stand more upright; now, I’m crouching more down towards the ball. My path used to be a lot in-and-out, now it tends to be more neutral. I changed putter shape.”

Birdie at the sixth

McIlroy endured another up-and-down round, with an early bogey at the second – where he duffed his chip into a greenside bunker – rectified by a birdie at the sixth and an eagle at the eighth only for his round to unravel around Amen Corner with bogeys on the 11th and 13th, where his approach found Rae’s Creek.

McIlroy – seeking to complete the career Grand Slam – was one-over for the championship through 14 holes of his second round.

Shane Lowry, though, failed in his a salvage operation.

“I was just going out trying to shoot the best score I could, that’s 73. Just, every easy hole I hit a poor tee shot or did something stupid.I made a lot of silly mistakes. The damage was done [on Thursday]. Going around trying to chase a score around here is the last place in the world you want to be doing that. I am disappointed to miss the cut but it is what it is,” saidLowry, who now heads to next week’s Heritage Classic in Hilton Head.