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.
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.
“Hey man, I missed Friday at the Masters. Did anything happen?â€
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
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.
I have watched a lot of professional golf and have never seen anything like what Zach Johnson did. I can’t stop laughing. pic.twitter.com/7BZKdGO43s
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.
Updates
Golf's wildest day?
Joe Barton
Thanks for joining us on what was a truly ridiculous day of golf.
There's five players tied for the lead. Between the group, they've won the past three major championships.
And a further shot back is someone who has won 13 major championships – you might have heard of him, Tiger Woods.
Two of them are Australians – one of them considered withdrawing yesterday after injuring his back while bending over to pick his daughter.
Augusta has seen some pretty incredible days over the years, from remarkable meltdowns, comebacks, miracle shots and just general drama.
But has there ever been one filled with quite so much drama?
One thing is for sure it has set things up for an incredible weekend to finish things off.
Woods' classy response to near catastrophe
Joe Barton
Tiger Woods has given a security guard the all clear after a slip and slide nearly cleaned up the four-time Masters champion during a sizzling second round.
Woods was clipped by the overzealous guard after producing an incredible recovery shot on 14, with the official slipping in the mud as he rushed in to protect the superstar.
Woods limped around briefly before recovering to bury a long putt and secure an extraordinary birdie.
The veteran, who has struggled with injury during a tumultuous period of his career, brushed off any fears over his fitness – and gave the thumbs up to the security guard.
"It is what it is – accidents happen. We move on. I’m good," Woods told ESPN.
When pressed on whether the collision had left him with any lingering concerns, Woods was emphatic.
"Other than having four knee surgeries and four back surgeries, I’m great," he said.
Historic five-way share of Masters lead
Joe Barton
Tiger falling away at the end means that we have a settled leaderboard with an absolute logjam at the top – with FIVE players, including Australians Jason Day and Adam Scott, sitting at seven-under at the halfway mark.
As well as Scott and Day, there's British Open champion Francesco Molinari, three-time major winner Brooks Koepka and Open champion Louis Oosthuizen.
Understandably, it is the first time there have been five major winners in a share of the lead at the halfway mark of the Masters.
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Billy Freeman
Well that is the end of a remarkable round from Tiger Woods – who finishes one back from the leaders at six-under.
He left a bunch out there, too. Including missing a birdie putt on 18 that pulled up about an inch short of the hole – and another on 17 which shaved the cup.
In a round where he was nearly taken out by security and produced a handful of utterly miraculous recovery shots, it looks like the Tiger of old is well and truly back.
His figure looms large on the five who share the lead at the halfway mark this week.
Tiger can't join leaders, finishes one back
Joe Barton
Well that is the end of a remarkable round from Tiger Woods – who finishes one back from the leaders at six-under.
He left a bunch out there, too. Including missing a birdie putt on 18 that pulled up about an inch short of the hole – and another on 17 which shaved the cup.
In a round where he was nearly taken out by security and produced a handful of utterly miraculous recovery shots, it looks like the Tiger of old is well and truly back.
His figure looms large on the five who share the lead at the halfway mark this week.
WATCH: McIlroy launches 50-foot bomb
Joe Barton
The former world No.1 is BACK after a pretty loose couple of days.
How about a 50 foot bomb to bring you back to even par?
Meanwhile, amid all the chaos of Tiger's security scrap and Rory's bizarre golf cart incident, Adam Scott has maintained his calm to join Jason Day at the top of a clogged leaderboard.
Adam Scott shoots 68 to join Jason Day, Moli and BK in a share of the clubhouse lead at -7. Tiger drains a birdie from 20-ish feet and gives it a fist pump to move to -6 through 15. This Masters is seriously lit at the halfway point
Tiger Woods just pulled off an incredible recovery shot to reach the green on the 14th – after a a wild drive left him in the trees.
But he threaded the needle with a stunning iron shot to find himself on the green and in great position to save for par or even push for a remarkable birdie.
But the drama wasn't done there, was the four-time champion was swamped by fans.
An overzealous security guard charged in to protect the all-time great, but instead found himself sliding on the muddy Augusta grounds – as it's been raining on and off throughout the afternoon.
Incredible, he slid into Tiger and caught the superstar on the ankle.
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