Friday Weather : 21*C currently. high 25, light breeze, overcast, little chance of rain...
Thursday summary: After that 3 hour rain delay, Augusta National recovered beautifully, but was very soft for the early wave, the ball had little run on the sloping fairways, and approaches were sticking on the greens, ideal for scoring.
Paul Casey was the best of the bunch with his -7 65, 2 shots clear of Webb Simpson and Xander Schauffele in with -5 67's.
There were 5 -4 68's including Louis Oosthuizen, Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods. Bryson DeChambeau bludgeoned his way to -2 70.
The main thing to remember is nearly half the field are about to go out and complete their opening rounds at 7.30am, so the current leaderboard will be finalized in about 2.5 hours. One group will begin on the 8th hole, all of the rest still have 9 holes at least to play.
Canadian Story : Nick Taylor is at -1 through 13 holes, he was E playing the back 9 first, and he made a birdie on #1. He begins on the 5th tee.
Mike Weir had a hard fought T34 -1 71 which in fact could easily been -4 68, with several putts including one for par at the 17th that dropped him to his knees, that either lipped out or sat right on the edge. The soft conditions left Weirsy playing long hybrids into some par 4's, but his wedge game and putter were in great form.
13 pars, 3 birdies and 2 bogey's, he leads the field in average putts per green in regulation with 1.67.
Corey Connors battled his way to +2 74. He was in the first group off and played one hole before play was halted with bad weather. 4 bogeys and 2 birdies for 38 on his front 9. A bogey at 11, but at the par 5 15th, he crushed a drive, than hit a towering 3 wood that stuck 8 feet from the pin, and converted the eagle 3. He pulled his drive into 18 and had to take an unplayable, resulting in a bogey 5, final +2 74.
9 pars, 6 bogey's, 2 birdies, 1 eagle but with the field averaging 1.68 putts per green in regulation, Corey is at 1.78.
Adam Hadwin was Mr. Par, with 14 of them, 3 bogey's and the 1 birdie. He was also at 1.78 putts per green in regulation with one 3 putt. He hit 11/14 fairways.
* Cut: Top 50 and ties proceed to the weekend.
* The early wave on Thursday become the late wave today, and with the late start due to round 1 being completed this morning, play likely will not get completed today in round 2.
**You can follow all the action including video of every shot by each player by clicking on my Leader Board link above.
Bryan Angus
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