Friday at The Masters: Favorites Rise, Luck of the Draw, and a Farewell to a Champion

Friday's Second Round has been completed at The Masters, and with the end of the day comes the 36-hole cut, where only the top 50 and ties stick around for the weekend. The cut line wavered between one- and two-over par for most of the day, but by the time the last putt fell, 53 players made the two-over cut, including past champions Charl Schwartzel, Jon Rahm, Zach Johnson, Danny Willett, and Jordan Spieth, who all made the cut on the number.

Justin Rose holds the 36-hole lead, but his three-shot lead from Thursday is no more, with Bryson DeChambeau hot on his heels. Rose shot an up-and-down 71 that featured four birdies and three bogeys, while DeChambeau shot a 68 to sit one shot behind going into the weekend.

Despite the triumph for DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy made the most noise in the early part of the day. Teeing off at 9:58, McIlroy made a bit of a slow start, going out in 35, but he more than made up for it on the second nine, with a five-under stretch from holes 10 to 15, capping off a bogey-free 66 that was good enough for round of the day. Had McIlroy not blown up in his final four holes yesterday, he would be sitting at 10-under with a two-shot lead going into tomorrow, but as it stands, he is already in a very good position to complete the Grand Slam.

Corey Conners sits tied with McIlroy at six-under, and Conners has quietly made Augusta National into one of his best courses. Three top-10s from 2020 to 2022 are the highlight, with the last two tournaments being decidedly mediocre, but Conners has put himself into contention again going into the weekend.

The players who played in the afternoon yesterday and morning today certainly had the better conditions to start the first two days. Out of the 26 players who are currently under par, only nine came from the Thursday morning/Friday afternoon groups. Tyrrell Hatton and Scottie Scheffler are the best of that group at five-under, while Jason Day is also in the mix at four-under. 

Meanwhile, two-time champion Bernhard Langer said goodbye to Augusta National, but it wasn't in the way he had hoped. With four holes to play, Langer was sitting comfortably inside the cutline, but a ball in the water on hole 15 followed by a bogey on 18 meant that he missed the cut by one.

As it does at any major, the cut took some high-profile names with it. The past champions who missed the cut were Langer, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Mike Weir, Fred Couples, Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, Jose Maria Olazabal, and Angel Cabrera. Meanwhile, several other major winners, including Keegan Bradley, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, and Lucas Glover, also failed to make it to the weekend.