Tiger Woods looming makes Masters logjam look even larger

Baylor School graduate Keith Mitchell makes cut with shot to spare

Tiger Woods reacts to his birdie putt on the 15th hole during the second round of the Masters on Friday at Augusta National Golf Club. Woods shot a 68 and was one stroke off the lead, though five golfers were tied for first.
Tiger Woods reacts to his birdie putt on the 15th hole during the second round of the Masters on Friday at Augusta National Golf Club. Woods shot a 68 and was one stroke off the lead, though five golfers were tied for first.
photo The gallery responds after Tiger Woods made a birdie on the sixth hole at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday during the second round of the Masters.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Tiger Woods ran into the long leg of the law and escaped with a most unlikely birdie.

He just couldn't take the next step - one more birdie on a back nine filled with so many chances - to join the largest 36-hole leaders' logjam in Masters history.

Golf's best worked their way to the top Friday at Augusta National Golf Club to set up a weekend pregnant with possibilities. Jason Day, Brooks Koepka, Francesco Molinari, Louis Oosthuizen and Adam Scott created the first five-way tie for the lead going into the weekend at the Masters.

All of them are major champions. Three have been No. 1 in the World Golf Ranking.

Looming just as large was Woods, the four-time Masters champion who made the leaderboard look even more crowded at the top by making Augusta National sound as loud as ever. Despite missing two birdie chances inside eight feet on the back nine, he holed consecutive 30-foot birdie putts for a 4-under-par 68.

One of those big birdies followed a bizarre moment on the 14th hole. Trapped in the trees, Woods hooked a low punch toward the green and was walking toward the fairway when a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent trying to contain the gallery slipped on the rain-slickened grass and slid into the lower right leg of Woods.

The 14-time major champ managed to keep his balance, winced, hobbled and flexed his ankle repeatedly when he made it to the fairway. Then he turned trouble into a birdie and was walking just fine the rest of the way.

"I'm fine. It's all good," Woods said. "Accidents happen and move on."

What's happening is a Masters weekend loaded with top players, and not just those tied for the lead at 7-under 136. Dustin Johnson, poised to return to No. 1 in the world after top-ranked Justin Rose missed the cut, has looked effortless over two days and was one shot behind.

Nine players were separated by one shot, a group that includes seven major winners and five former No. 1-ranked golfers. Phil Mickelson, at age 48 trying to become the oldest major champion, was three shots back. Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas were four shots behind.

"This is really stacked," Scott said. "I think it's going to be an incredible weekend no matter what happens now."

Former Baylor School and University of Georgia standout Keith Mitchell will be around for it despite struggling on the back nine Friday. The 27-year-old Chattanooga native, in the Masters for the first time, followed his opening 72 with a 74 and made the 3-over cut with a shot to spare.

Mitchell will go home with at least four crystal glasses after making an eagle for the second straight day - Augusta National awards a pair for each one during the Masters. In the opening round, Mitchell's eagle was on the par-5 15th. On Friday it was on the par-4 seventh - he made par on his first six holes - and he followed that with a birdie before making a bogey on the ninth. He dropped a shot on the 11th, 14th, 17th and 18th as well, but he gets two more rounds to iron out the kinks in Augusta.

Woods has gone 14 years since he last won a green jacket and 11 years since his last major victory, and he has had five surgeries - four on his back, the other to rebuild his left knee - but he feels he's getting closer.

"The last three majors," Woods said, "I've been right there."

He briefly held the lead in the final round of the 2018 British Open. He chased Koepka to the finish line in the PGA Championship last August. Now he goes into the weekend one shot behind, the closest he has been to a lead going into the weekend at a major since the 2013 British Open.

The leaders he's trailing aren't no-names, though.

Molinari, the reigning British Open champion who has shown he belongs among the elite in golf, shot a 67 and was the first to reach 7 under. Day was right behind, coping with nagging soreness in his lower back with a 67 to match the Italian.

Koepka, last year's U.S. Open and PGA Championship winner, began with a birdie to quickly take the lead, only to hit out of the pine straw, off a tree and into the creek to make double bogey on the par-5 second hole. He made two more bogeys before reaching the seventh hole, then pulled himself together to salvage a 71.

"You're going to be tested in a major championship one way or another," Koepka said. "I hit a bad shot; just got to suck it up and just keep going on. You've got a lot of holes left, and you can make up some ground."

Scott was the only player to reach 8 under, doing so with a 2-iron shot that put the ball five feet from the 15th hole and set up an eagle, only to miss a three-foot par putt on the 16th. It added up to a 68 for the Australian who won the Masters six years ago but has gone three years since his most recent victory.

He had a chance to win the PGA Championship last year until Koepka pulled away and Scott made a careless bogey at the end to finish third. He has shown flashes this year but has geared his game toward this tournament.

Here he is, with a lot of company.

"Look, tomorrow is a very important day because there's no doubt someone in the top 15, or a few of them, are going to play very well," Scott said. "This is the best players in the world on the biggest stage that we all want to be in so badly."

As for Rory McIlroy, the career Grand Slam might need to wait another year. McIlroy played the par 5s in even - two bogeys, one par and an eagle on No. 8 that got him under par, but only briefly.

He was only seven shots behind, but he had 35 players in front of him.

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