The second round of the 2022 Masters has come to an end with World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler holding a five-stroke lead at 8-under par entering the weekend.
Despite a couple of bogeys on the par-4 first hole and the par-4 third, the 25-year-old went bogey-free for the rest of his round and accumulated seven birdies, including one sandwiched in between his bogeyed holes on the par-5 second. Scheffler finished his second round with a 5-under 67 to have some cushion to grow the lead tomorrow and Sunday in the 86th event in Masters history.
Despite the strong start, it was not all that easy for the entire field, including Scheffler.
On TV, it may have looked like a picture-perfect Masters Friday as players were donning short-sleeved shirts, but looks can be deceiving.
However, on each day of the tournament, the course is set up to be challenging, but when mother nature’s elements kick in, the difficulty is raised even higher.
Wind proving to be a factor in 2nd round of 2022 Masters
One of the factors playing into today’s round for every competitor was the wind.
With winds gusting over 30 miles per hour at times, the obstacles were on full display, both on the course itself and in the air.
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For one of the game’s greats in Tiger Woods, who returned to his first professional tournament since his horrific car accident last year, also felt that challenge. Woods bogeyed four of his first five holes, but recovered with four birdies on his scorecard to make the cut for the 22nd consecutive time at August National Golf Course for the Masters Tournament.
Woods said the elements made things difficult today as he told his caddie, Joe LaCava to aim for a balanced day entering the weekend.
“Well, just the way the golf course was playing today,” Woods said after his second round Friday. “It was blustery. It was windy. It was swirling all over the place. I hit a couple shots that I got a couple bad gusts and also made a couple bad swings on top of that.
“It was like, ‘OK, what else could go wrong?’ I told Joey, it’s tough for everybody, let’s get back to even par for the day.”
Tiger Woods recapping the second day of the Masters
With the wind being a vital force today on the leaderboard, some players even said that shooting par on a day like Friday brought, would be a success.
“Par is a great score,” said 2011 Masters Champion Charl Schwartzel, who sits at -3 and tied for second. “I think if you shoot level par around here in these conditions, you are playing good golf.”
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Changes to the 11th hole provide even more difficulties
With the wind being a factor today, 15 players found a way to remain under par after 36 holes. However, for one hole on the course, the breezy conditions made that hole playing even more difficult.
The 11th hole to begin Amen Corner was already challenging as a long par-4 distancing over 500 yards.
However, with the new changes to the 11th hole, including increasing the hole 15 yards and moving the tee box to the left, that hole, named White Dogwood, continued to be the hardest hole on the course.
In the first round on Thursday, the average amount of strokes for the 11th hole was 4.45, meaning the hole was playing about a half-stroke over par.
Only three birdies were made on Thursday and with the blustery elements today, only two birdies were made on that hole as the average score jumped by .2 strokes.
With water to the left of the green and the hole playing 520 yards, some competitors have been playing their second shot to land short right of the green in order to have an easier shot of getting up-and-down for par because of the undulation the green gives players.
So far, the difficulty of the 11th hole has seen 92 pars and 66 bogeys with 16 double bogeys or higher on that hole between yesterday and today.
The challenges of this golf course are only going to get harder as we get closer to Sunday, and it is only a matter of who is going to beat Augusta and maneuver themselves around the property as freely as possible.
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