AUGUSTA, Ga. – A long day in the small window of daylight that comes with a Masters in November didn’t settle anything except that Dustin Johnson is playing like the No. 1 golfer in the world and Justin Thomas has finally figured out Augusta National.
They were two of four atop the leaderboard Friday evening when the second round was halted by darkness, a product of the most unusual Masters ever trying to catch up from a three-hour weather delay at the start Thursday.
Among those still on the course was reigning tournament champion Tiger Woods, stuck in neutral on a day when the greens picked up a little more speed and the autumn leaves shook slightly with some wind. Reigning U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau was struggling to make the cut after a lost ball that led to a triple bogey.
What two days at 2020’s final major have shown is that Masters experience only goes so far on a soft course with rye grass that isn’t grown in quite the way it usually is in April.
Abraham Ancer, a 29-year-old Mexican who is one of 26 newcomers to the Masters, ran off six birdies in his round of 5-under-par 67 that allowed him to join Johnson (70) and Thomas (69) as part of the clubhouse lead at 9-under 135. Also tied at the top was Australia’s Cameron Smith, who played his last four holes with an eagle and three straight birdies for a 68.