Justin Rose followed up his 65 on Thursday with an even par round on Friday, but it was enough to keep him in the solo lead heading into the weekend at Augusta National Golf Club.
Brian Harman, former Georgia Bulldog, maintained his place as tied for second, but it was no longer with Hideki Matsuyama.
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24-year-old Will Zalatoris shot a 68 to climb to second, helped by three straight birdies to close the round. Zalatoris is making his first appearance at the Masters.
“Kind of the joke that I’ve been saying with my family is if I’m stupid enough to think I can play here, then I’m stupid enough to think I can win it,” Zalatoris said before his Masters debut on Thursday. That carefree mentality has served the debutant well so far.
Jordan Spieth (-5) and Justin Thomas (-4) are also right behind, both with major-winning pedigree and immaculate history at Augusta National. Spieth’s finishes here are T2, 1, T2, 11, 3, T21, and T46 in 2020. Thomas has improved his result every time he’s played, from T39-T22-T17-T12 to 4th in 2020. Both can get red-hot and will be dangerous on the weekend.
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Several superstars missed the cut, including defending champion Dustin Johnson, who shot 74-75. He’ll have to do some waiting around until he helps the new champion into the Green Jacket on Sunday. Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Cantlay, and Daniel Berger also missed the cut.
The full leaderboard is available here. Rose and Zalatoris tee off at 2:20 p.m. on Moving Day at Augusta National Golf Club.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
