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Aussies surge, Tiger's near catastrophe and wild weather: most insane Masters day ever?

Tiger Woods was nearly taken out by an overzealous security guard during a sizzling round. A historic five players share the halfway mark lead. Jason Day considered withdrawing with a back injury, before surging into the lead. And that barely scratches the surface on a truly remarkable day at Augusta. FULL DETAILS INSIDE.

Joe Barton
3 min read
April 13, 2019 - 11:30AM

This has to go down as one of the most bizarre and incredible days of golf on record.

From duffed drives, wild shots, all-time greats being nearly taken out by slide tackles and just general golf craziness, surely it’s unmatched.

It all started with 2007 champion Zach Johnson coming up with a series of forgettable strokes, which were followed up by a handful of blunders by the rest of the field.

But the day hit a crescendo as Tiger Woods came within a whisker of being ironed out by a security guard during a sizzling run that left him firmly in contention at the halfway mark of the tournament.

And then there was Rory McIlroy’s ball ending up in a golf cart.

RELIVE THE WILD DAY OF ACTION IN OUR BLOG AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

And that's before we touch on the incredible recuperative powers of Australia's Jason Day who, spurred on by his wife's stinging advice to 'suck it up', overcame a back injury to set the pace and jag a share of the lead.

That he's one of five players - all of whom are major winners, something which has never happened in history - was the cherry on top of a utterly absurd day.

It was well and truly Freaky Friday at Augusta.

Jason Day overcame a back injury to set the pace on a wild day at Augusta. Picture: Getty
Jason Day overcame a back injury to set the pace on a wild day at Augusta. Picture: Getty

And there was nothing more shocking than the footage of Woods hopping around in pain after copping a bizarre slide tackle.

Woods had burnt up the back nine - after his charge was briefly halted by a 25-minute delay for dangerous lightning - with some classic play from the four-time champion who well and truly looked back to his best.

But then he found himself deep in the pine trees following a wild drive off the tee on the 14th and for a second, everything looked like it was about to unravel.

After producing a miracle recovery shot to find the green, Woods was nearly taken out in sensational fashion by a security guard who slipped on the mud caused by earlier rain and slid in knee first while rushing to protect the superstar.

The guard clipped Woods' foot and ankle, leaving him hopping away in pain before making his way to the green - where he pulled off a monster putt to ice a truly remarkable birdie.

To his credit, Woods played down the incident after the day's play.

"It is what it is – accidents happen. We move on. I’m good," the 14-times major winner said.

"Other than having four knee surgeries and four back surgeries, I’m great."

The birdie on 14 was one of six he it on the day and took him to six-under, one behind the five-way share of the lead.

That is owned by Day, fellow Australian Adam Scott, British Open winner Francesco Molinari, three-time major winner Brooks Koepka and Open champion Louis Oosthuizen,  at seven-under par.

Earlier, Zach Johnson had the galleries gasping when his accidentally sent a teeshot flying all of three feet when his practice swing caught the side of the ball.

It resulted in the worst drive you’re likely to see at Augusta, with Johnson’s ball ricocheting off the tee box to land a solid three feet downcourse.

The tour veteran got off lightly, however, as he escaped without penalty and was able to re-tee and have a second go.

“Regarding Zach Johnson hitting the ball on a practice swing at #themasters, since he had no intention of striking the ball, he has not made a stroke,” explained the USPGA.

“On the teeing area, there is no penalty and the player simply re-tees because the ball is not yet in play.”

Remarkably, Johnson turned things around to finish with a birdie on 13.But his bad day out wasn’t quite done yet.

Johnson then let rip with a horror iron which he sprayed into unsuspecting patrons, who were sent scattering.

Ultimately, he finished with a one-over 73 and finished three-over after two rounds.But it wasn’t just Johnson whose radar was off on Friday.

Take Spain’s Jon Rahm, who held a share of the lead on Thursday and remains firmly in contention but will surely be hoping footage of this nightmarish swing doesn’t go viral.

To top it all off, former world No.1 Rory McIlroy had officials scratching their heads for a ruling when a wayward shot ended up in, of all places, a golf cart.

He was ultimately given a free drop and continued a mostly lacklustre round, finishing even par - avoiding the cut, but a long way from contending.

On any other day it would've been the most bizarre incident of the day. On Freaky Friday, it probably just managed to crack the top 10.

MISSED THE CUT

The Masters still uses the rule that those within 10 shots of the lead advance to the weekend rounds, meaning the cut fell at three over.

World No.1 Justin Rose (four over) bogeyed the last two holes to dramatically miss the cut and 2017 champion Sergio Garcia (four over) also bogeyed the 18th to suffer the same fate, while former Masters winner Charl Schwartzel (five over) and Paul Casey (10 over) also missed the cut.

Originally published as Aussies surge, Tiger's near catastrophe and wild weather: most insane Masters day ever?

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Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/masters-follow-all-the-opening-round-action-from-augusta-national/live-coverage/e2f11079ba915cdff636271582e2d0db