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Lee posted an excellent 67 for his second round.”,”caption”:”KH Lee posted an excellent 67 for his second round.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Matt 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EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1680888858000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”13.34 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1680888241000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”13.24 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”13.24″,”title”:”KH Lee shoots 67″,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Fri 7 Apr 2023 13.34 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Fri 7 Apr 2023 09.00 EDT”},{“id”:”643049b78f08547fbc66704e”,”elements”:[{[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Koepka seeks to finish his round without dropping a shot but fails when his third shot leaves him plenty to do from the fringe of the green. He has to sign off at -12, though Day missing a chance to go -10 at 14 means there’s something of a let-off.
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Tiger Woods is imminent, on +2, and set to tee off with Hovland and Schauffele. Handshakes all round before he sets off. And huge applause as he tees off in dark blue, and to the left-hand side of the fairway. That’ll do for now. Schauffele meanwhile lands the ball on the ninth rather than first fairway. Oops.
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Willett’s championship looks done, as he’s blammed his drive into the Georgian woodlands, and is forced to lay up to have any chance of avoiding a multiple bogey. He signs off with a 6, and +6, the 2016 champion.
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And with that, I can hand you back over to Scott Murray.
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Yesterday this happened …
“,”elementId”:”f23a8e5d-8907-442f-919d-f066506f4bdc”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement”,”url”:”https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2023/apr/06/the-masters-2023-first-round-live”,”text”:”The Masters 2023: first round – as it happened”,”prefix”:”Related: “,”role”:”thumbnail”,”elementId”:”c6cac242-6907-45a9-bcee-3b3f293bbbe1″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
… which means the top of the leader board after 18 holes looks like this …
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-7: Brooks Koepka, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm
-5: Jason Day, Cameron Young
-4: Gary Woodland, Scottie Scheffler, Sam Bennett (a), Sam Burns, Shane Lowry, Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott
-3: Justin Rose, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau
-2: Sepp Straka, Ryan Fox, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tom Kim, Scott Stallings, Chris Kirk, Keegan Bradley, Justin Thomas, Cameron Smith
-1: Phil Mickelson, Harris English, Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton, Dustin Johnson, Max Homa, Fred Couples, Patrick Reed, Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama, Im Sung-jae
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… and so there’s a fair chance Brooks Koepka will soon be leading outright because he goes out early as evidenced by this …
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(US unless stated, all times BST, a denotes amateur)
1pm José María Olazábal (Sp), Cameron Champ
1.12pm Charl Schwartzel (SA), Taylor Moore, Aldrich Potgieter (SA, a)
1.24pm JT Poston, Francesco Molinari (It), Bryson DeChambeau
1.36pm Bernhard Langer (Ger), Mito Pereira (Chl), Ben Carr (a)
1.48pm Danny Willett (Eng), Gary Woodland, Brooks Koepka
2pm Sepp Straka (Aut), Harold Varner III, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor)
2.12pm Phil Mickelson, Tom Hoge, Si Woo Kim (Kor)
2.24pm Billy Horschel, Harris English, Ryan Fox (NZ)
2.36pm Zach Johnson, Jason Day (Aus), Gordon Sargent (a)
2.48pm Brian Harman, Joaquin Niemann (Chl), Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)
3.06pm Dustin Johnson, Corey Conners (Can), Justin Rose (Eng)
3.18pm Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris
3.30pm Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa, Sam Bennett (a)
3.42pm Tom Kim (Kor), Rory McIlroy (NI), Sam Burns
3.54pm Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Tony Finau
4.06pm Mike Weir (Can), Kevin Na
4.18pm Vijay Singh (Fij), Scott Stallings, Matthew McClean (NI, a)
4.30pm Sandy Lyle (Sco), Jason Kokrak, Talor Gooch
4.42pm Fred Couples, Russell Henley, Alex Noren (Swe)
4.54pm Adrian Meronk (Pol), Kevin Kisner, Louis Oosthuizen (SA)
5.12pm Larry Mize, Min Woo Lee (Aus), Harrison Crowe (Aus, a)
5.24pm Sergio García (Sp), Kazuki Higa (Jpn), Keith Mitchell
5.36pm Patrick Reed, Adam Svensson (Can), Sahith Theegala
5.48pm Shane Lowry (Ire), Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Thomas Pieters (Bel)
6pm Bubba Watson, Seamus Power (Ire), Mateo Fernández de Oliveira (Arg, a)
6.12pm Abraham Ancer (Mex), Chris Kirk, Keegan Bradley
6.24pm Tiger Woods, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Xander Schauffele
6.36pm Adam Scott (Aus), Patrick Cantlay, Kurt Kitayama
6.48pm Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm (Sp), Cameron Young
7pm Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Cameron Smith (Aus), Sungjae Im (Korea)
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… so stay tuned here for the latest instalment of the three-way existential tussle between Golf, LIV and Perspective. It’s on!
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If there’s one worry about Viktor Hovland, it regards his wedge play. Having bladed one at the 1st, he now sends a dismal heavy-handed chip 25 feet past the hole at 2. Meanwhile back on 1, Jon Rahm, having sent his opening drive into trees down the right, whistles his second through the green and is fortunate the gallery act as an unwitting backstop. The chasing pack are making life easy for Brooks Koepka, who will be in the clubhouse with the metaphorical feet up, cigar on, and ball of brandy rolling around a large tumbler beside a roaring fire.
It’s all going wrong for Jason Day. He growls in anguish as his tee shot at 16 is taken 40 feet from the flag by the camber of the green. Three putts later, and that’s three shots gone in two holes. An excellent round goes deep south. He’s not out of it by any means at -6, but his mood’s not good right now.
KH Lee shoots 67
The 31-year-old Korean, with two wins at the Byron Nelson but nothing else on his PGA Tour CV, missed the cut on his Masters debut last year. He’ll be playing this weekend for sure, though. Since we last heard from him, he’s picked up another stroke at 15, then parred his way home to sign for a 67 that equals Brooks Koepka’s best-of-day. That’s doubly impressive seeing his round threatened to go off the rails after back-to-back bogeys on 5 and 6. He goes into Moving Day at -3 for the tournament, with a first top-ten finish in a major his goal for the weekend.
Rory McIlroy continues to unravel all the way around Augusta. He tugs his approach at 11 into the drink guarding the front left of the green. He does pretty darn well to limit the damage to bogey, knocking his shot from the drop zone to ten feet and rolling in the putt. But unless he tears it up over the remaining seven holes, one suspects it doesn’t really matter. He’s now +5 and the cut is projected to fall at +2. Perhaps a combination of a strong finish and the weather may save him, but his game – as well as his spirit – appears in tatters right now.
Sam Bennett is made of the right stuff. The 22-year-old amateur sends his tee shot at 12 over the flag, then nearly makes the 12-footer coming back. Just a par, but he remains at -6, having responded to dropping his first stroke of the week at 4 with birdies at 8 and 9. Whatever happens from here on in, it’s been a performance for the ages. Just a reminder: his front nine of 32 yesterday is a Masters record for an amateur.
Some proper comic cuts from Viktor Hovland at 1. Having split the fairway with his opening tee shot, he sends his second over the back, then thins an appalling chip 60 feet past the flag! No worries! He then sends a tramliner into the cup to save his par. That raises the roof, and it’s an absurd save that will either rattle the Norwegian or convince him that this is his week! Meanwhile up on 16, it’s indeed a two-putt double bogey for Jason Day. With one shot hit fat into the water, Brooks Koepka’s lead is now five strokes.
-12: Koepka (F)
-7: Day (15), Hovland (1), Rahm
-6: Bennett -a- (12), Morikawa (12), Burns (10), Spieth (10), Young
Thanks John … and I’m back just in time to witness a disaster for Jason Day on 15. Having laid up in front of the drink, he chunks his chip straight into the briny. Then, having popped his ball down in the drop zone, he only just clears the lake the second time. Two putts coming up for a doubl