Who will be Augusta's last man standing?
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2007 US Masters | Round Two | 07 Apr 2007
At the halfway stage of the 71st Masters Championship the tournament is poised for a most dramatic final 36 holes.
The leaders are at two under but forty players are within eight shots and with the likelihood of a winning total at or above even par then many of those are still in with a chance of victory.
Joint first round leader, Brett Wetterich, was out early on day two took advantage of the limited advantage he had by playing in the cool but calmer conditions and when he reached the turn in 35 he was at four under for the tournament and had the outright lead. He battled over the closing nine holes but his round of 73 was good enough to have him in the lead when he finished his round. He had three putted the 15th and 16th after doing all the hard work earlier but later described how that came about.
“It was just two bad 3-putts. 15 was a bad 3-putt. That’s all you can say. I hit a decent shot into there and just hit two bad putts, so that was that. On 16, to me, that’s one of the hardest putts that we’ll have on the golf course. You’ve got to come up and you’ve got to make sure it stays up on top, or it’s rolling back down. Or you risk doing what I did and putting over the green.”
Tim Clark is just quietly going about his business as he so often does with little fanfare and once again he finds himself in the mix at Augusta. His second place last year was almost a forgotten performance other than by his family, his friends and his peers but it again highlights a tenacious competitor who has a game built around accuracy and scrambling. As one of the shorter hitters on the USPGA Tour he is further highlighting that power is not the only ingredient needed to contend at the highest level of the game.
Clark missed the green at the last then hit his pitch over the back. For the third time in succession he holed from off the green having done it in the final round last year to finish runner up and then again in yesterday’s first round. This time it was from 20 feet and it was a fast turning putt.
“It’s such a tough finishing hole,” said Clark later. “Again today I was just trying to play for a par, play to the middle of the green and, you know, I hit a bad shot and I was lucky enough to get away with it. Hopefully I can do something like that on Sunday to win the tournament.”
Clark’s only real mistake came at the fifth hole today. “I lost a drive in the tree there and got lucky to have a shot at it to get it out into the fairway, and I did that,” he said after the round. “With my third, I knew I couldn’t come up short because really short of that pin, there’s no easy 2-putt, and I came up short and from there it was always going to be tough to make a 5. It was just one of those things, but I felt like I put it behind me pretty quickly.”
Vaughn Taylor is the only other player under par at the completion of 36 holes after Zach Johnson, who had taken the lead on his own at three under when he birdied the 13th and had a short putt for birdie at the 16th to go to four under, dropped shots at the last three holes to finish at even par. At that par three 16th Johnson’s 8 iron was almost holed but finished four feet past and so quick was his sliding left to right putt that it went four feet past and he missed again.
Also at even par is the co first round leader, Justin Rose, who dropped a shot at the last but is still well positioned along with Vijay Singh and Jerry Kelly and Johnson.
The 2000 winner Vijay Singh has escaped much of the speculation surrounding potential winners of the event but he is just two back and looking threatening. Singh’s nine birdies in the first 36 holes tells the story of a man playing well and he might be on track for green jacket number two and major championship number four.
There are many others in with a genuine chance to win and despite another ordinary day on the golf course, Tiger Woods is just five shots back. Birdies at his 16th and 18th holes will have been a great boost for him and reason for others to be concerned over the next two days. Woods made what was a good bogey at the 12th after what he thought had been a good 9 iron found the water.
“The whole idea is never make a double around this place, and you don’t make doubles, you don’t make 3-putts here, usually you’re going to be in contention to win the tournament. That was a nice putt to make.”
Two Australians are very much in the thick of things. Through ten holes yesterday Stuart Appleby was at five over for the tournament and may well have been thinking of a weekend watching the event from elsewhere. He bounced back late in his round and today recorded seven birdies in what was a roller coaster but significant ride. A double bogey at the dangerous par three 12th threatened to bring him undone but he bounced back with birdies at the 13th, 15th and 17th to be at just one over and only three shots out of the lead.
Also at that score is Geoff Ogilvy who raced to the turn in 33 to be at even par and although he struggled on occasions on the back nine he is very well positioned to make a serious challenge over he weekend. Unlike several of those ahead of him he has proven to himself that he can win a major which might make a huge difference if things get tight on Sunday.
Aaron Baddeley made his first of three cuts at Augusta when he birdied the last two holes to get back to seven under and given that he played with Tiger Woods over the opening two rounds it was an even more impressive effort.
Rod Pampling and Adam Scott were benefited by the ten shot rule that which provides for all those within ten shots of the lead to play the weekend irrespective of how many players are ahead of them. On a score of 8 over they missed the top 44 and ties by just two shots but get a break as a result of late bogies by Wetterich and Clark which allowed them a second chance.
For the other Australasians however it was not a good week. Michael Campbell missed his seventh consecutive cut at Augusta, Nick O’Hern was very disappointing and Robert Allenby had rounds of 79 and 80 for 15 over to continue his Augusta National hoodoo. Allenby beat Gary Player, a man 36 years his senior, by just one shot and after such a good start to the year this effort is a mystery.
This event is still anyone’s. While it is easier said than done, if a player on the cut score of 8 over were to shoot two rounds in the 60’s over the next two days he could still win.
This has the makings of a US Open style finish with the last man standing the likely winner.
