When play resumed Friday morning at The Masters, players hoped to finish their first and second rounds before going into the weekend. Play was suspended due to darkness Thursday evening, leaving 68 golfers still out on the course. The weather forecast once again called for rain showers on Friday, which is nothing new for the PGA Tour in 2005. The day started off positive, however, as everyone at least finished their opening round.
But once again, Mother Nature had the last laugh on this day. The players were called off the course at about 12:40 pm, and play was officially suspended for the day around 4 pm. The guys will be teeing off Saturday morning at 8:30 am, and they will once again be asked to get as much golf in as possible. The goal is to get The Masters back on track by getting in the second and third rounds tomorrow, leaving the final round for Sunday.
Chris DiMarco finished the first round with the lead at five under par. He led by one stroke over Luke Donald and Vijay Singh, who both shot brilliant four-under-par 68s in their opening round. Stuart Appleby and Mark Hensby rounded out the top five finishing at three under par. Phil Mickelson finished up the morning in a tie for seventh at -2.
The first round finishes were not so good for the other two members of the “Big Four.” Tiger Woods finished the first round with a two-over-par 74, and Ernie Els did him one better (or worse) with a 75. They will both have to have better second rounds than that, or they will be definitely be flirting near the cut line come Saturday.
The second round finally got under way around 10:30 am, and almost every golfer at least had a chance to tee off. Among the guys making the biggest second-round moves were David Howell and Kirk Triplett. Both players were -5 through eight holes of golf, and David Howell played himself into a tie for the lead. First-round leader Chris DiMarco played only one hole in his second round, and he carded a par to stay at five south of par. The other golfer to jump to five under was Englishman Luke Donald. He has played good golf as of late, but he definitely isn’t trying to get ahead of himself. “It’s a great start,” Donald said. “Nothing more than that. We have a long way to go. This course can bite back.”
Some players will be teeing off Saturday morning trying to avoid missing the cut at Augusta. The cut is the low-44 and ties as well as all golfers within ten shots of the lead. Right now, there are 69 players in total within ten shots of the leaders. Among the guys who are in danger of missing the cut at The Masters are Sergio Garcia, Davis Love III, David Toms, and Bay Hill winner Kenny Perry. Jack Nicklaus is on the wrong side of the cut line, as is Paul Casey, John Daly, and two-time Masters champ Jose Maria Olazabal.
Even though the weather is once again haunting play on the PGA Tour, the weekend at Augusta National is still shaping up to be special. There are big names at the top of the leaderboard, and there are big names in need of a great second round to avoid missing the cut. The great stories are in place, now the weather just has to start cooperating. The forecast looks better for the weekend. There are very small chances of rain on both Saturday and Sunday, and the field being cut down to the low-44 and ties will also help things greatly.
The currently leaderboard is a little confusing, but it goes a little something like this:
Pos Player Score Thru T1 Chris DiMarco -5 1 T1 David Howell -5 8 T1 Luke Donald -5 2 4 Vijay Singh -4 * T5 Mark Hensby -3 7 T5 Stuart Appleby -3 * T7 Kirk Triplett -2 8 T7 Phil Mickelson -2 * T9 Chris Riley -1 5 T9 Ryan Palmer -1 3 T9 Thomas Bjorn -1 1 T9 Ryan Moore -1 * T9 Adam Scott -1 *
* Have Not Started Second Round
The Masters can be seen Saturday on NBC from 3:30-7:00 pm ET and from 2:30-7:00 pm ET on Sunday.
Photo Credit: © USA Today.