Strong winds hit Augusta National late Friday afternoon, causing three trees to fall over on the 17th hole.
Due to the fallen trees and relatively nearby thunderstorms rolling through the CSRA, the Augusta National Golf Club suspended play with nearly half of the field not finished with second-round play. It was the second time that play had been called. The earlier suspension lasted about 30 minutes due to thunderstorms that blew off to the east relatively quickly.
Brooks Koepka, the four-time major winner, took advantage of his early tee time, shooting a 67 for a round of 5 under par.
The LIV golfer, who began the day in a two-way tie with Spain’s Jon Rahm and Norway’s Viktor Hovland, birdied holes two, 14 and 16, with his highlight of the day being an eagle on No. 8.
“I just take it one shot at a time, one hole at a time, whatever I got in front of me,” said Koepka. “I don’t think far ahead at all. I’m just interested in the shot I’m looking to hit at that current moment.”
Koepka is now 12 under par for the tournament and held a three-shot lead when play was suspended after three trees fell on hole No. 17. No players or spectators were injured.
Rahm, the world No. 3, wasn’t as fortunate with the weather as Koepka, but it didn’t seem to affect him as he shot 2 under for the first nine holes, birdieing Nos. 8 and 9. He struggled a bit with his driver, but hit some solid irons and made a clutch birdie putt on the ninth.
His second shot landed on the green on No. 10 when the horns blew to end the round due to the severe weather and fallen pines.
The Spaniard now finds himself in second place with only half of the second round played.
Perhaps the most shocking part of the tournament so far is amateur golfer Sam Bennett from the Texas A&M.
Bennett, 23, has started his campaign for the green jacket in record fashion, tying the highest score in round one set by an amateur at 4 under par.
Bennett was able to equal his round-one performance on Friday in round two with another 68 for 4 under par. At 8 under par, he sits four shots behind Koepka and one behind Rahm.
Bennett’s being in one of the early groups was to his benefit, as he, like Koepka, got to play the par-72, 7,510-yard Augusta National layout before Mother Nature started running its course.
“Those are two solid rounds,” said the A&M Aggie. “I knew what I was capable of, but, yeah, two 68s at Augusta, my first time as an amateur, yeah, I would have taken that.”
Going into the weekend at Augusta National, Bennett has put himself in prime position to chase Koepka and Rahm.
The projected cut right now is 2 over par.
Patrons will be keeping their eyes on five-time champion Tiger Woods as he is 2 over par, right at the cut line. Woods is looking to make the cut this year and tie the record with the most consecutive cuts made at the Masters at 23.
Woods, 47, had one birdie and one bogey before play was suspended. He appeared to have a beautiful second shot at No. 9, but his heavy spin caused his ball to roll off the green. He recovered with an excellent chip and saved par.
Two-time major champion Collin Morikawa shot a second straight 69 and sits at 6 under par, as does Hovland, who had one bogey on the day.
“I haven’t put it all together quite yet,” said Morikawa, who finished fifth here last year, “but I am pretty thrilled with the 6-under, back-to-back 69s. I just found out that I’ve only made two bogeys, so that’s a good thing obviously out here at Augusta.”
At 5 under par was a group that included 2015 champion Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns, Jason Day and Cameron Young, who was playing with Hovland and Rahm.
Day seemed as hot a Koepka in the morning and got to 9 under par, but he fell apart in short order on the back nine.
“It’s disappointing to go from 9 under back to 5 under in a matter of four holes,” Day said.
Eight players check in at 4 under par, including three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson, 52, and 2018 champion Patrick Reed, who played his college golf at Augusta State University (winning consecutive national championships).
Mickelson shot a 69, after a 71 on Thursday.
“I scored really well today,” said the six-time major champion who sat out the Masters last year. “I actually did not hit it anywhere near as well as I did yesterday. But I scored well. I got it up and down, made a lot of good putts. With one exception of a poor chip on 6, I had a lot of good saves around the green, bunker shots, good 6-footers, and scored. That’s what I needed to do yesterday, and I could have gone really low.”
Koepka, who tied for the low round each of the first two days (K.H. Lee also had a 67 on Friday), has the upper hand through Friday’s play, and Spieth said the wetter, cooler weather could help his challengers.
“He won last week,” said Spieth of the leader. “He’s obviously in control of his game. The benefit we have, those of us chasing, is that it’s going to be incredibly difficult conditions, so that makes it hard on all of us. It means a few under goes a long way.”
Play is scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. Saturday. With 39 golfers who were still on the course when play was suspended Friday will resume where they marked their balls after the horns blew.
