AUGUSTA, Ga. — There are moments at the Masters where the entire field seems to heat up at once, when birdies and eagles are flying all over the course. You can sense it, even if you don’t quite know what’s happening thanks to the whole no-cell-phones thing. You hear cheers welling up from somewhere in the vicinity of Amen Corner, or somewhere up near the clubhouse, and you know there’s movement on the leaderboard … but you have to wait until the hand-operated scoreboards display a new set of red numbers to know exactly what that movement is.
And man, was there movement all over the leaderboard Friday. Rory McIlroy leaped up from the depths to card a magnificent 6-under round that left him just two strokes off the lead. Bryson DeChambeau started hot and maintained his pace to finish off a four-under round to stand at -7, a stroke off the lead. Matt McCarty — it’s OK if you don’t know who he is — was simply spectacular.
Matter of fact, two of the only players not to make significant moves were Justin Rose, the Thursday night leader, and Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion. Rose still held the outright lead, but his margin shrunk from three strokes to just one after his 1-under round.
“My good is good,” Rose said after his round. “I feel like I'm showing much more quality this year in my game than I have done the last couple years. I'm not worried about my good stuff. It's just about making the average a little bit better and getting that closer to my good stuff so you can compete week-in, week-out.”
After what, for him, was a routine four-under Thursday, Scheffler struggled a bit on Friday … again, by his mighty standards. He bounced back and forth between -4 and -6, never exceeding either. The most interesting part of Scheffler’s round came at the very end, where he ended up buried in the magnolias alongside the 18th fairway. Scheffler ended the day at -5, three strokes off the lead.
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The story of the day: McIlroy’s revival. His chances for a green jacket, and a career grand slam, appeared dead after Thursday’s two-double-bogey misfire on Thursday. But McIlroy returned with a mindset of steadiness and aggression, and crafted one of the finest rounds on the course on Friday, one that included a five-under stretch on the back nine. He’s right back in this thing.
“I ...
