Augusta (United States) (AFP) – World number one Scottie Scheffler sank down the Masters leaderboard Friday, twice splashing into the water on a difficult day, but insisted he played much better than his score suggested. The four-time major champion, seeking his third Masters crown in five seasons, struggled to a two-over par 74 in Friday’s second round. It was his second-worst score in 26 rounds at Augusta National, leaving him on level par 144 at the tournament’s midway point.
“Was really challenging. I played really pretty well. I felt like I played a lot better than my score,” Scheffler said. “Just the little things that I felt like I was close to having a really good round. Just a few things here or there, a few breaks that didn’t go my way. Yeah, the margins are small.”
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Scheffler’s round snapped the third-longest streak in Masters history of rounds at par or below at 11, his run eclipsed only by the record 16 of Tiger Woods and 15 by Jon Rahm. Scheffler stumbled early with bogeys at the par-three fourth and par-four fifth holes but responded with birdies at the par-five eighth and par-four 10th. The big heartbreak came with bogeys at the par-five 13th and 15th holes. Scheffler plunked his second shot at 13 into Rae’s Creek and found water again at 15.
“I got off to a slow start. A few up and downs early that I should have had that I didn’t convert. Then I fought back to get it to even,” Scheffler said. “And then the fairway on 13, probably my only shot I would rather be able to hit again. Maybe a different decision there. That’s a tough shot, but I felt like I could make something happen to that pin.” His 3-iron missed badly. “I just didn’t draw it enough,” Scheffler said. “I just tried to swing it with the slope and just didn’t catch it that solid and kind of hung out there.”
It was frustrating to get it back to even, have a couple of par-fives in front of me, and then not do many things I felt wrong and wasn’t able to convert really basically anything coming down the stretch. Scheffler also struggled on the greens. “I would like to hole a few more putts. I felt like it was rolling nice but balls just weren’t dropping,” he said. “Maybe my reads were a little bit off. I felt like I was starting on line, could have been speed on a couple of putts, but overall I felt like I definitely played better than my score.”
Scheffler said he thought Augusta National officials could have made the green speeds even tougher but relented after a tough afternoon Thursday. “I was surprised at the greens,” Scheffler said. “I think they may have saw how difficult it was late in the day yesterday. It felt like they softened them up a bit, but I couldn’t imagine them doing that the rest of the weekend.”
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