Publications
Partners
Louis Oosthuizen on Friday stayed in the hunt for his first Green Jacket as he carded a one-under par 71 to finish the day in tied eighth place at the season-opening major.
At the top of the Masters leaderboard Patrick Reed will take a two-shot lead into the weekend after finishing the day on nine-under after shooting a six-under 66 on the day.
Oosthuizen managed to turn things around by paring the holes that he had on Thursday still bogeyed on the Augusta National Golf Club course. “I was shooting better than yesterday. I didn’t start out great. I struggled on the greens early on, I think I had five 3-putts yesterday, which is something you don’t want on your card.
“I saw my coach a little bit afterwards yesterday on the green and sorted out a few little things and it was a lot better today.”
He said he was looking forward to playing in the two final rounds. “It is always a good spot going in on a weekend under par at Augusta. If you look at the leaderboard, I think it’s going to be pretty bunched up over the weekend and, yeah, it should be very entertaining. I need to drive it a little better on the weekend to have a proper go at it.”
Disappointingly, Oosthuizen was one of just two South Africans to make the cut, as 2011 winner Charl Schwartzel finished on six-over, while rookie Dylan Fritelli was a shot further behind, with former champions Trevor Immelman finishing the round on nine-under for the tournament.
Schwartzel said that it was a tough day. “It was tough out there, but not as tough as my score shows. I did not feel very good out there and I made a lot of bad errors. I think I missed four putts within three feet that is giving away things on this course.
“I then just lost concentration at the end and was hitting a lot of bad shots. Now I will just have to wait for next year.”
Joining Oosthuizen in Saturday play will be Branden Grace, who again played an inconsistent round with four birdies, but also five bogeys for his 73, which saw him end in tied 28th place on two-over.
Overnight leader Jason Spieth started poorly, dropping three shots on the first two holes, but then clawed his way back to finish the day on 74, for a total of four-under 140.
Tiger Woods, who is participating in his first Masters since 2015, struggled to make the cut and is four-over for the tournament and will have his work cut out for him if he wants to get back into contention.
He said that even though he did not do very well, he was still satisfied to some extent with his round. “I need o put it into perspective, six months ago I didn’t know if I’d be playing golf. Forget playing at the Tour level, I didn’t know if I ever be playing again.
“But it’s incredible for have the opportunity again, to still come out here and play this golf course. Now I know I’m on the weekend. Even though I’m a lot behind, if I play a special weekend, shoot two rounds in the mid 60s, you never know.”
The third round gets under way on Saturday.
