Tiger Woods’ streak of made cuts at the Masters is at stake.
Woods is on the projected cut line at 2-over in the tournament after completing 11 holes on Friday before play was suspended for the day due to inclement weather — with even more rain in the forecast all day Saturday when the second round resumes.
The five-time Masters champion has made 22 consecutive cuts at Augusta National — the longest active streak — dating back to his 1997 Tournament win.
One player who will not have to sweat out the resumption of the second round or the cut line for that matter is Brooks Koepka, who finished his round before play was suspended. Koepka sits at 12-under and holds a three-shot lead over Jon Rahm, who still has nine holes to play. Amateur Sam Bennett, a senior at Texas A&M, is the surprise contender, sitting third on the leaderboard at 8-under with his round complete.
Tiger Woods makes second birdie of round, Jon Rahm inches closer to lead
Woods had a chance to make up some ground on the 550-yard Par 5 15th hole, and hit the fairway on his first shot, leaving him 277 yards from the hole. He made a 27-foot put for birdie to give him some breathing room and gave the crowd a nice fist pump. On 16, one of the five holes that has played over par through two rounds, Tiger made a seven-foot putt for par and sits at +1.
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Rahm, who finished Friday three shots off the lead, got off to a good start, making birdie on the Par 3 No. 12, and making pars on No. 13 and 14.
Tiger Woods resumes second round, pars first two holes to remain at 2-over
Woods got through 12 holes during Friday’s round and started early on Saturday trying to stay above the cut line. On the par-5 No. 13, Woods got in good position with a chance for a birdie from 15 yards out, but settled for par and remains at 2-over. On 14, he made a four-yard put to save for another par.
63-year-old Fred Couples could make history
It appears that Fred Couples will be playing the rest of the weekend at the Masters.
The 1992 champion finished his second round with a bogey, leaving him at 1-over for the championship and inside the projected cut line. That would make the 63-year-old Couples the oldest player to make the cut at Augusta National, beating the mark that Bernhard Langer set during the 2020 tournament by about 3 ½ months.
It also would be the 31st career cut for Couples, trailing only Jack Nicklaus’ record of 37.
– Associated Press
Play has resumed at Masters
Some of the golfers who have yet to complete their second round have hit the course at the Masters on Saturday after play was suspended on Friday due to inclement weather. Tee times have not been posted for the third round.
Another LIV golfer withdraws
A second golfer who plays on the LIV tour has withdrawn from the Masters. Louis Oosthuizen, who has one PGA Tour win, the 2010 British Open, won’t finish the weekend due to injury.
The South African completed 17 holes of his second round and finished at 7-over, mostly likely missing the cut anyway. Kevin Na, a fellow LIV golfer, withdrew after nine holes on Thursday.
Six other LIV golfers, including four who haven’t completed their second round, are in danger of missing the cut, based on the projected cut line of 2-over.
Augusta National takes big risk after trees crash down at Masters
Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters got very lucky Friday afternoon when the three trees that crashed to the ground near the 17th hole missed dozens of fans gathered nearby.
Yet no more than 90 minutes after the incident, the Masters announced that ticket gates for spectators would open as scheduled Saturday morning at 7 a.m. In other words, fans will be back on the grounds in droves and it will be business as usual at the first men’s major golf tournament of the year.
Clearly, the leaders of Augusta National are gambling that in the midst of severe weather that is expected to continue throughout Friday evening, including heavy rain and high winds, all their other trees — thousands of them — are safe and stable and nothing like this will happen again.
— Christine Brennan
How to watch the Masters on Saturday
ESPN is set to air the restarted second round action beginning at 8 a.m. ET. CBS will have live coverage of the Masters from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. ET.
The resumption of the second round and the third round can be live streamed at CBSSports.com, ESPN+, Paramount+, Masters Live and the CBS Sports app.
What time does the Masters resume on Saturday?
The second round is scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. ET Saturday morning, with the third round to follow — though more rain and storms are in the forecast for the entirety of the day.
What is the Masters cut rule?
The Masters will pare down the field after the conclusion of the second round, with the low 50 players and ties qualifying for the final 36 holes.
Jack Nicklaus holds the record for most Masters cuts made with 37, followed by Fred Couples and Gary Player who each made the cut 30 times.
— Fletcher Page, Augusta Chronicle
McIlroy crashes out at Masters, misses cut
No exit at the 2023 Masters is more surprising than that of Rory McIlroy.
As he heads home to Florida, McIlroy, who needs only a Masters win to complete the career grand slam, will be burning with fury — though not at others — after carding a 5-over through two rounds and missing the cut. He sets a high standard for himself and at Augusta National, he fell woefully short.
The world No. 2 has missed only two cuts since the 2022 Masters. One came at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August, and he went on to win the PGA Tour’s $18 million playoff prize two weeks later. The other was last month at the Players Championship, which he followed with a strong third-place showing at the WGC-Match Play. He won’t yet care what will follow this Masters disappointment.
— Eamon Lynch
