Friday At The 89th Masters
Rory McIlroy posts the low round as major winners line up to chase leader Justin Rose. Plus, amazing play by former champs led by Bernhard Langer's farewell, some more merch, Tee Times and Forecast.
Friday By The Numbers
-8: Leading score of Justin Rose
44: Age of Rose, the third oldest to hold the 36-hole lead
66: Low score of the day by Rory McIlroy
3: Americans in the top 11
13: Scores in the 60s Friday with 11 coming in the morning wave
72.674: Scoring Average on Friday
72.313 vs. 73.043: Morning vs. Afternoon wave scoring
71: Second round score for Nick Dunlap
19: Stroke improvement for Dunlap (second biggest turnaround in Masters history)
80: High score of the day by Angel Cabrera
53: Players to make the cut
4: Number of players 25-and-under to make the cut
7: Number of former champions to make the cut
+4: Score of Justin Hastings, the 2025 low amateur
0: Number of Amateurs who will make the cut
70: High temperature on Thursday
Another spectacular day played out as the weatherman predicted: overnight rain giving way to a crisp morning before the first significant winds of the week. The morning wave pounced on the moistened greens to produce a few roars and the deepest Masters leaderboard in years.
A total of 15 players are within five of Justin Rose’s 36-hole lead, with nine major championship winners in the top 16. Rose’s ability to carve a 71 will go underappreciated thanks to Rory McIlroy’s 66, the best of the day and a valiant comeback following Thursday’s finishing stretch debacle.
McIlroy will have the most patron support based on extremely informal surveying and listening to Friday’s reactions. His record of incredible rounds at Augusta National and his number of recent heartbreaks has moved the 35-year-old into patron-favorite status ala Greg Norman, Phil Mickelson (before he won here), and Ernie Els when he seemed destined to wear green.
McIlroy has posted 66 or better six times at Augusta National, joining only four other players in tournament history to shoot 66 or better that many times: Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Jordan Spieth. This was also his sixth career bogey-free round in the Masters, the most of anyone in the field.
The round started unremarkably, other than the eye-popping number of patrons attempting to follow the proceedings around the front nine. McIlroy patiently plodded his way around the front nine in 35 before a burst of threes from the 10th through the 13th holes. Should he go on to win, McIlroy’s 217-yard 4-iron from the pine straw will join Azalea’s list of unforgettable shots.
“When the ball was in the air, I was like, you idiot, what did you do?” McIlroy said. “It's one of those ones, as well, it's a pin that even if you do hit it into the hazard, it's a pretty -- not a routine up-and-down, but it's a little easier than, say, where the pin was yesterday in that front section.
“I rode my luck a little bit with that second shot, but was nice to take advantage of it.”
It was his sixth eagle on the famous par 5, tying Bubba Watson for most in the last 25 years.
The old school-feeling of this Masters is in sharp contrast to the recent tendency to have only a few players with a shot going into Sunday. Despite the obvious advantages of hitting it at least 320 yards, it’s not a coincidence that the more egalitarian blend of hole locations and the gradual restoration of landing area width might be bringing back playing angles that reward all types of players. This freeing up just a bit more room to attack has meant opportunities for the geezer set to plot their way around, even if some recent track records suggest a few have no business making it to the weekend.
Barring a freakishly low score by one of the top four on Saturday, we’ll have players from all demos, nationalities, and experience levels in the 2025 mix. So let’s start by addressing their staggering play by a number of washed-up seasoned former champions giving this one a distinctly 80s Masters vibe. Then we’ll get to a robust collection of quotes, some more merch, and the weekend forecast.
Old Champions Rule
Bernhard Langer made clear coming into the 2025 Masters that it was time to quit. The golf course is just too long for a 67-year-old with a repaired Achilles and getting paired the first two rounds with Noah Kent, a 20-year-old U.S. Amateur runner-up, would be another reminder his time has come.
Oops.
Young Kent finished +11 while averaging 319.1 yards off the tee to Langer’s 255.8. Kent was born September 27, 2004, one week after 47-year-old Langer captained Europe to the Ryder Cup win at Oakland Hills.
On Friday, Langer came to the 15th two-under-par on his round. He laid up in two after a 242-yard drive, but dunked his third into the front pond as high winds kicked up. He spun the ball back off the rain (and maybe irrigation) softened green. Langer would have a shot at birdie on 17 and a par at 18 to make the cut, before ultimately coming up short in a valiant farewell showing.
He wasn’t alone in the former champion department.
Retiree Jose Maria Olazabal also arrived at the 15th four-over-par knowing he needed two birdies coming in and took an aggressive line at the left-hand hole location. He, too, spun his 97-yard shot into the pond, made double bogey and killed his chances of making the cut. But not before the 59-year-old would birdied the 16th after nearly making hole-in-one.
Two-time champion Bubba Watson has been irrelevant since his jump to LIV, yet found something over the first two rounds. The 46-year-old opened with 71 but bogeyed the third through fifth holes Friday before making three birdies and an eagle to post 72 and heads into the weekend T22.
Fred Couples opened with a 71 but couldn’t match his Thursday theatrics by making five bogeys Friday. Despite the struggles, the 65-year-old came to the closing holes with a chance to move from +3 into the guaranteed cutmaking range. He left his birdie putt at the 17th two inches short before bogeying the 18th to shoot 77.
Charl Schwartzel made only six pars Friday but still posted a 72 to go with his opening 74 and made the cut. Impressive stuff by the 40-year-old champion in 2011.
2007 champion Zach Johnson made seven birdies over two days to make the cut at +2. The 49-year-old’s most recent top 20 finish in a PGA Tour event came nearly a year ago (a T20 at the CJ Cup).
Billionaire and three-time champion Phil Mickelson maintained the 15th hole theme by arriving at the par 5 +1 despite hitting one into the tributary to Raes Creek a few minutes prior. The 54-year-old laid up at 15 to 87 yards, spun his third into the water, and made 7. Then he bogeyed the 16th and 18th holes to miss the cut.
Quotable
Justin Rose (65-71-136) on keeping his first-round lead. “My wedge kept me [in it with] some really good up-and-downs, actually on holes like No. 4, No. 8, No. 10. So that kind of really kept -- the round was in a good spot at that point. Nice birdie at 12. And then, yeah, the finish obviously just a few too many 5s coming in. Didn't really take advantage of the par 5s, although they were both playing tough today. They were into the wind. It didn't feel like there was much value in trying to force birdies out of those holes.”
Rose on whether he’s traveling with his personalized fitness van. “More of a recovery vehicle than a gym. Got to stay young.”
Rory McIlroy (72-66-138) on regrouping after doubling two of his last four holes Thursday. “I had a good conversation with Bob Rotella this morning, mostly around not pushing too hard too early and trying to get those shots back straightaway. And you can sort of see how I started today with eight pars and a birdie on the front nine. I just tried to stay really, really patient. I feel like that patience was rewarded with a nice little stretch there in the middle of the round.”
Viktor Hovland (71-69-140) on whether you can win the Masters with too many swing thoughts. “Depends…you always got to have some thought in your head. But it's more pertaining to the curvature of the shot. Like if you're trying to hit a little bit of a cut or a little bit of a draw, you have to have some sort of feel. Obviously, preset yourself to set that curvature, but there is usually something you have in your head to make the ball do that. So it's not like you can just have no thoughts and stripe it. But yeah, it's got to be pretty automatic when you're out here. Can't be thinking P2 and P5. That's not how it works.”
Xander Schauffele (73-69-142) on No. 15 receiving shots better on Friday. “The difference at 15 today was crazy. I hit a sand wedge that bounced like nine yards, and today I almost spun it back in the water. That kind of just showed if you're hitting your number -- obviously it's difficult with the wind, but if you're hitting your number, you're going to get rewarded with a good shot.”