Patience pays off for Rose and Lowry at Augusta National
Shane Lowry of Ireland plays his second stroke on the No. 11 holeduring Round 2 of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Friday, April 9, 2021.
Patience is a virtue at Augusta National and it doubly rewarded Shane Lowry and Justin Rose as they recovered from slow starts to keep their Masters hopes very much alive on a day of hot scoring in steamy Georgia.
With the greens a shade softer and slower and the pin positions fractionally more accessible, the scoring average was more than two shots lower (74.52 to 72.25) than on day one as the birdies flew and the chasing pack closed in on the leaders, carding 18 rounds in the sixties compared to just three on day one.
Rose’s four-shot overnight leader disappeared as he lurched to the turn in three-over 39 before drawing on his vast experience to come home in 33 and card a level par 72 that left him where he started the day on seven-under-par.
But so hot was the scoring that by day’s end the English veteran had just a one-stroke lead over left-hander Brian Harman (68) and debutant Will Zalatoris (69) with the top 30 covered by just eight shots
Australian Marc Leishman (67) and hot favourite Jordan Spieth (68) were just two shots off the pace with Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger (66), Tony Finau (66), Justin Thomas (67), Si Woo Kim (69), Cameron Champ (68) and Hideki Matsuyama (71) lurking a shot further back on four-under.
"My mindset today was to be free, to go out there and play as free of golf as I could because I felt that having the opportunity to play with a lead from day one could play in my favour come Sunday. You get used to it.”
Admitting he faced an agonising wait for his round to turn around and the birdies to flow, he added: “I was waiting for sure, but it seemed a little more elusive today, no doubt. I was joking, the finger was heading towards the panic button a little bit.
“I had a little talk with myself on eight and said you're still leading the Masters, and I just changed my mindset a little bit and started to play match play against the golf course.
“I scratched a line on my scorecard and told myself I was three down and could I go ahead and beat the golf course from that point on. I had a putt on 18 to win my match 1-up, but unfortunately, it just slipped by. But an honourable draw.”
Lowry (34) is playing in only his sixth Masters but after starting double-bogey, bogey following back to back three-putts and then soaring to four-over for the day with seven holes to play, he showed his maturity by playing his last seven holes in three-under-par to chisel out a one-over 73 that left him inside the top 30 on level par.
He will be upset to take 32 putts. But he also knows he is still well in the hunt after a round that might have gotten away from him.
"After the start I had, I'm really pleased with myself how I dug in,” Lowry said. "The birdie on three was a huge lift and really helped to settle me down and from there I played pretty steady.”
At the opening hole, he hit a perfect drive down the middle but took dead aim at the pin with his 132-yard approach and missed the green on the left.
Facing a tough recovery to a pin set six feet above him, his pitch stopped 25 feet short and after a tentative first putt, he three-putted for costly double-bogey.
He would three-putt again from 30 feet at the par-five second before a trademark 60-yard pitch to two feet at the third set up an easy birdie.
He then made a great sand save at the 240-yard fourth, rolling in a nine footer to remain one-over for the tournament and while he came up short with his approach to the seventh and dropped another shot to turn in 39, he did not panic when he was blocked out by the trees at the 11th and dropped another shot to slip perilously close to the cut line on three-over.
Remaining patient, he recovered with two birdies in a row, knocking in a 12 footer at the short 12th before getting up and down in outrageous fashion at the 13th, where his lightning-fast, downhill bunker shot finish just a few inches short of dropping for eagle.
He would safely par the next three holes and while he was unlucky his cut-up approach to the 17th left him a near-impossible eight-footer, he made amends at the last, stiffing his 150-yard approach to set up a closing birdie before jocosely turfing the divot back at caddie Bo Martin.
"The birdie on 12 was another boost, and how that shot on 13 didn't drop for eagle was just amazing as it was just a perfect bunker shot,” Lowry added.
“I just played really steady from there and to walk off with a birdie there on 18 was a huge boost heading to the weekend.
“Justin has really opened the door with his score today but that's how Augusta is and all we can do now is wait and see what the guys in the afternoon do.
"I'm going off to enjoy some lunch, a little practice but now excited about the weekend.”
It was an equally tough start to the day for Rose, who lacked the brilliant control of Thursday and made four bogeys and a birdie in his first seven holes to see his four-shot overnight lead reduced to just one stroke.
Statistics
But like Lowry, the 2013 US Open champion knew there were birdies to he gleaned on the back nine and after finishing some rhythm, reeling off regulation pars at the 10th, 11th and 12th, he set to work.
Following a two-putt birdie at the 13th, he allowed himself a smile as a left-to-right breaking 25 footer tracked perfectly into the cup, then made up for failing to take advantage of a 325-yard drive down the 15th by rolling in a 20 footer for a two at the 16th.
After opening up a four-shot lead with that opening 65, Rose admitted he allowed himself to wonder what the winning score might be before concentrating instead on executing his shots.
“It did cross my mind yesterday,” Rose said. “I said, I wonder if I shot three 70s after yesterday if that would be good enough. You can see the leaderboard and who is stacking up behind, and I feel like there's a lot of firepower there where you can't ever really hold anyone back to a number.
“Like you saw me yesterday, even on a tough golf course, someone gets it going around here. You can stretch away.
“But I think historically I always felt day one plays pretty tough around Augusta National, day three plays pretty difficult here at Augusta National, and then day four there's an opportunity. Guys don't historically go super low on Sunday, but there's the opportunity to go low.
“You just have to keep hitting the shots. I'm not going to worry about a score. I think it's hard enough just to keep playing shot by shot rather than even sort of trying to piece scores together day-by-day.”