Masters Tee Times Leaderboard
Weather: Today's forecast
Mostly sunny and hot low 52*f high 86*f wind variable turning SE 3-6mph
Sunday sunny and hot, low 56*f high 87*f wind SE 5-10 mph
Friday afternoon turned out to be another glorious chapter in the legendary career of Rory McIlroy who went on at the end of a long Friday, to thrill the millions watching around the world with a Masterclass -7 65 including birdies on his last 6 holes.
So his 67 65 -12 is the low scoring record, 6 shots clear of the field and his 3 Ryder Cup friend Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and the romantic favourite Justin Rose who are all at -5.
However the hot and dry conditions, requiring the August staff to water the greens to save them, means their course will be as hard and fast as it has ever been, and that means no lead is a lock to win.
Reed and Burns who is paired with Rory are at -6.
Tommy Fleetwood: "When conditions get tougher in the day because it dries out and gets firmer and faster, a good round in the morning can make a world of difference, so it can really help you"
Wyndham Clark at -4: "Here you can make birdies too if you just hang in there, you nevver know when your streak will come"
Elephant in the room : Scott Scheffler T24 70 74 E is either going to start making some putts today or be a none factor all together. I know he is driving the ball better this week, his iron play has been fine with a few exceptions, but he is gun shy on these lightning fast touch greens.
He is off at 12.16 with Ludvig Aberg with a chance to post something low, I expect he will.
Rory's game plan: "The next two days for me are just about focusing on myself. It's hard to miss those big leaderboards out there but I know I have a lead. So for me I just have to keep focusing on myself, and staying in my own little world is the best thing"
Canadians : Nick Taylor has quietly gone about his business T20 71 72 -1 He plays with Matt Fitzpatrick today at 12.49
Corey Conners just can't be trusted around Augusta, like yesterday when he was comfortably under the cut +4 until he went and made bogey's at 17 and 18 to hold on and just make the weekend T47 75 73.
He is paired with Brian Harman at 10.04 with fresh greens, before the heat of the day, he must post a low score today, or just play the week out.
OPINION
No lead is ever big enough and somebody is going to make a big move today, to make a game of it.
Following his unreal -7 65 which to highlight an instance, was a 60 yard chip in at the 17th, he couldn't do that again with 50 balls, Rory will be very unlikely to duplicate Friday.
In my opinion if he can birdie the par 5's and stay out of a big number he will win no matter what anyone does.
However if he shoots 72E today that lead will be all but gone come Sunday.
Bryan Angus
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