AUGUSTA | In the department of remarkable feats, Tiger Woods knows it. He made another one on Friday, resisting the ax of the Masters Tournament on his big return to the game.
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If starting the opening round was a victory in itself on Thursday, he showed his pride on Friday.
On a windy day, the powerful gusts didn’t dash his hopes of making the final rounds. It’s another big win when you consider how far he’s come since his terrible crash in February 2021.
Gathering his strength and tugging from start to finish with the awkward Augusta National, he managed to bring home a 74 (+2) card. This yield gives it the 19e tied with three golfers with a cumulative record of +1.
“I am proud of what I have accomplished. I’m proud that my whole team managed to put me in this position. We worked hard to get here without suffering a setback, especially this week, ”said the 46-year-old golfer, sore at the end of the day.
“We continue to progress,” added the champion of the 2019 edition.
Change of direction
It wasn’t perfect, far from it, but following a bumpy start where he fielded four bogeys to his first five pennants, the Tiger pulled himself together by turning the tide. Luckily, because he was heading straight for his home in Jupiter at the end of the evening.
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Nothing seems to be able to stop Tiger Woods who played an exemplary second round on Friday. We see him hitting his ball at the 13th tee in possession of all his means.
He is still chasing rust from his system following an absence from the aisles since November 2020. In his opinion, he might easily have shot himself in the foot and kicked himself out of the tournament. However, he resisted.
The typical swirling wind that he knows well disturbed him. He also executed bad shots and had bad luck.
“It was partly the conditions and partly my fault. I told Joey (his caddie Joe LaCava) that there were still plenty of holes to play. We had to get back to normal one way or another. Getting there would have been a great comeback. »
Indeed, because the five-time winner of the green jacket flirted with the ax for a long time which finally fell to +4, winning the Spieth, Schauffele, Koepka, DeChambeau and Rose.
Missed opportunities
From birdies to 8e10e13e and 14e put him back in the game despite a short slump at 11e and 12e pennants where he recorded bogeys.
Woods might well have accomplished his mission to return to par if he had not missed an opportunity on the par 5 of the 15th where he reached the green on the second shot. An overly aggressive pennant approach prevented him from amassing another sparrow.
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On the 18th tee, Tiger Woods performs under the admiring gaze of golf fans who followed in his footsteps at Augusta National on Friday.
And following a precise hit on the par 3 of the 16ehe missed a six-foot putt.
“I really should have succeeded in this putt, cursed the golfer following his round. Otherwise, it was a good fight. I’m back in the race. That’s what was needed. But Scottie (Scheffler) breaks away from the peloton. »
Indeed, with a five-shot priority following 36 holes, Scheffler joined Jack Nicklaus (1975), Jordan Spieth (2015), Raymond Floyd (1976) and Herman Keiser (1946) at the top of the biggest leads. All four had won.
Photo REUTERS
At the 18th pennant, the legendary golfer took off his cap and then offered his congratulations to Chilean Joaquin Niemann.
And since the incredible victory of Nicklaus in 1986, no golfer excluded from the top 15 at the dawn of the final rounds has managed to put his paw on the famous green jacket.
Everything is possible
“It will be a tough third round. The wind will still be there, ”recalled Woods regarding the 45 km / h gusts forecast in the weather report.
“It will also be cooler,” he added, as the mercury should fluctuate between 5 and 15 degrees Celsius. This will be the tournament the committee has been waiting for for years.
Photo REUTERS
Always in search of excellence, the Tiger always lends an attentive ear to the observations of his junior Joe LaCava.
If I can get five or six strokes off the lead heading into the final round and orchestrate a comeback push on Sunday, I have a chance. It is enough only to be present. It will be exciting and fun for everyone. »
Already very relieved that the big star is participating in the final rounds, broadcasters are already rubbing their hands with this statement. Ratings should explode.
Could we witness a miracle on Sunday? In this department, Tiger knows it too. Everything is possible.
AUGUSTA | The years go by and look alike for the Canadian Corey Conners. Placed at 10e ranking at -1, he finds himself in the heart of the race for the final rounds.
Last year, he was at 13e rung following 36 holes and in sixth at the dawn of the final round. He had finished in eighth place, thus lining up a second top 10 in a row.
Had it not been for two bogeys in a row at the end of the run, the Ontarian might be in the top 5.
But as the saying goes: “With ‘ifs’, we go to Paris, with ‘ças’…”, we stay in Augusta! It’s the new saying of the golf gods.
Jokes aside, Conners brought back a card of 73 (+1) at the start of the followingnoon on Friday.
With the winds getting stronger throughout this second round of the Masters Tournament, he finished at the right time.
Because, at the end of the day, you had to wear wool and tie your cap well on the course. The sustained winds of 20 to 30 km/h and gusts approaching 50 km/h somewhat annoyed the golfers who took the tee off at the end of the morning.
little red
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Canadian Corey Conners didn’t take his eyes off the ball on the 12th tee Friday at Augusta National.
Only 13 of the 90 golfers on the board broke par.
“For a few holes, the wind had been blowing much stronger. I’m very happy to have taken the start in the morning, explained the one who finished around 1:45 p.m.
“I had never played this course with so much wind, chained the one who participates in his fifth Masters. I think I gave another solid performance. I fought fiercely. I saved good normals.
I did lose a few shots towards the end, but it was a solid day’s work,” summed up the one who bogeyed the 16e and 17e.
On the other hand, he can thank the goalkeepers of Amen Corner who spared him at 12e. Because his ball which touched the surface of the green of this formidable par 3, revolutionized and retreated in the slope overhanging Rae’s Creek without sinking.
He capitalized on that fluke with a cut approach that he sent straight to the bottom of the cut.
“I managed to save myself with a birdie. I thought I had executed a good downwind 8-iron shot. I hit my target. I had seen this small plateau above the bunker during the first round. But backing up, my ball might very well have fallen into the water. Luck smiled on me twice with this wedged approach. »
Battling once morest the wind, Conners still managed to hit 10 of 14 lanes, but he stood out most with his short game.
By hitting 11 of 18 greens in prescribed strokes, the 30-year-old Canadian said he had trouble judging the winds.
“In these conditions, it’s much more difficult to execute perfect shots, so you have to fall back on the short game. You have to master it. But you also have to avoid pitfalls. I feel good on these greens. »
Scheffler and Thomas aside
Among the scores in the red on Friday, Scottie Scheffler had nothing to do with the winds. The world number one made seven birdies and signed a second card of 67 (-5) to settle alone in command of the tournament with a record of -8. Five strokes ahead of Charl Schwartzel, Sungjae Im, Shane Lowry and Hideki Matsuyama, the defending champion.
Justin Thomas is another who had a great day despite the conditions. A round of 67 (-5) allowed him to jump 60 ranks on the board and settle in 10e position.