Spieth survives, McIlroy tightens Masters after two rounds

AUGUSTA, Ga. - It took stiff breezes and slick greens on a cool April day but Augusta National bared her teeth again.

How hard was it?

Even defending champion Jordan Spieth couldn't shoot par.

Shifting, 15-mph winds gusted up to 25 mph and confounded the field in the second round of the 80th Masters. The challenge finally devoured world No. 1 Jason Day and U.S. Amateur champion Bryson DeChambeau, but Spieth and Rory McIlroy survived what they both called U.S. Open-type conditions.

"I kind of like this better," Spieth said "I do."

Of course, Spieth is the defending U.S. Open champion, too.

The average score of 75.02 was the highest since the third round in 2007 saw golfers shoot 77.35. Zach Johnson's controlled game won that tournament, in which all four rounds averaged 74.33 or higher.

The forecast for the third round Saturday is nearly identical to Friday's. Winds should be milder Sunday - conditions that Spieth grew accustomed to in his first two Masters.

Spieth shot par or better in each of his first nine rounds at the Masters before he staggered in with a 2-over 74 Friday, which left him at 4-under for the tournament. That was one shot better than McIlroy, whose 1-under 71 on Friday matched three others for the day's best score. Spieth, the No. 2 player in the world, and McIlroy, No. 3, will form a marquee final pairing for Saturday.

"It (adds) a lot of excitement and buzz and atmosphere to the tournament," McIlroy said. "But I've only got the mental capacity to focus on me right now."

"I'd rather be playing with someone less threatening, to be honest," said Spieth, who is always honest. "He's certainly proven himself in majors."

A win would complete the career Grand Slam for McIlroy, who is 26. Woods did it at 24.

"I know it's a big weekend for me," McIlroy said. "I'm just trying to block that out."

If Spieth wins, he would become only the fourth golfer to successfully defend the title and the first since Woods in 2002. After three holes Friday, he was at 8-under and looked like a shoo-in. He sputtered some, got back to 6-under by 15, but bogeyed 16 and 17, then needed a sand save on 18 to keep the lead.

Like most of the field, Spieth struggled to manage the conditions. If players could harness the wind, they were rewarded. Day couldn't, struggled on the back nine for a second straight day and stands at 1-over, tied for 15th. He's 8-over on the back.

McIlroy handled the wind fine, especially on the treacherous approach shot at the par-5 15th. He had 235 yards left over water with his second shot on the par-5, but the shot was exposed to a strong wind. He pulled a 5-wood, which he usually hits 260 yards, but he expected the wind to amplify the spin and cut the distance. Sure enough, he dropped it softly onto the green and two-putted for his second of three consecutive birdies.

Spieth and McIlroy might be the featured group Saturday, but DeChambeau's style and confidence created the most buzz. He reached 4-under and briefly held second place, but he bogeyed No. 16 and melted down on 18.

He hooked his first tee shot so badly, he had to re-tee, then hooked it again, behind a concession stand. He wound up with a triple-bogey that dropped him to even-par, where he began the day.

"I wasn't comfortable with that wind on the 18th tee," DeChambeau acknowledged.

Had he parred the 18th, he would have been the only player to shoot 69, which would have recorded Friday's best round by two strokes. Still, not a bad day for a 22-year-old amateur in his first major, right?

"It wasn't my best golf," he said, dismissively. "It was great golf. Just not my A-plus-plus."

Asked what he thought when he saw his name on the Masters' iconic leaderboards, he affected a movie-star stare and said:

"I belong."

He might be cocky, but after shooting 72 on a day like Friday, it's hard to argue.

When Ernie Els walked down the driving range Friday, he got the worst reception he could imagine: pity.

Els six-putted from three feet on the first hole Thursday, a quintuple-bogey nine and the main reason he finished 8-over. The popular South African began his warmup Augusta National on Friday morning depressed.

"Yesterday was just absolutely nightmarish," Els said. "Then I walked on to the range, and even the players and caddies, they kind of just looked at me as if I don't have pants on or something. But they've got a good reason to look at me funny for what happened yesterday."

Els came back with a 1-over 73 on Friday, missing the cut, but salvaging some pride. He tried a new putting stroke Thursday, trying to overcome the ban on anchored putting. He reverted to his previous style Friday.

"You play long enough, you make a fool of yourself somewhere," Els said. "I just did it on the biggest stage."

Bubba Watson, who won in 2012 and 2014, is at 6-over, in part because of a sinus infection that exacerbated his allergies. "If I was in perfect health, I probably still could have missed the cut," Watson said. "I'm not a smart man, but I don't think there's anything else that could have affected it." However, by the end of the day Watson, in 57th, had made it to the weekend, right on the cut line (top 50 golfers and those within 10 strokes of the lead) . . . Three-time winner Phil Mickelson missed the cut by one stroke, and Rickie Fowler missed it by two . . . Spieth has been playing incredibly slowly. His group was put on the clock Thursday and twice Friday . . . British Amateur champion Romain Langasque, a 20-year-old Frenchman, was the only other amateur besides DeChambeau to make the cut (3-over, tied for 33rd) . . . Two-time winner Tom Watson finished his final Masters with a 78, for a two-day score of 152.

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