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The Masters 2026: day two golf updates from Augusta National – live | The Masters
Key events
Scheffler and Woodland take turns to throw darts at the pin on 1. MacIntyre, perhaps mindful that he needs a super-low number today if he’s to somehow survive, also goes for the flag but pulls his approach, and he’ll be shortsided in the bunker.
The world number one Scottie Scheffler is out and about. He doesn’t quite catch his opening drive, and peers after it quizzically, but while it’s shorter than usual, it’s straight. Robert MacIntyre and Gary Woodland follow him down. MacIntyre gets a good reception from the gallery, despite yesterday’s toddler-style tanty, flashing a middle finger at the pond on 15 which had just snaffled two of his balls, and burying the hosel of his club into the ground at 17. No news yet as to whether or not the Augusta National suits have given him a clip round the lug. Perhaps they think a round of 80 was punishment enough.
A disappointing three-putt par for Wyndham Clark at the par-five 8th. Having found the heart of the bowl-shaped green in two, he races his 50-foot eagle putt 11 feet past, and gets a bit over-excited with the one coming back, too, knocking that a couple of feet past. He tidies up to stay at -3, but that’s a big chance spurned.
Justin Rose’s ball has found the tree line all right. His backswing is hampered by an awkward loblolly. So he does exceptionally well to punch a low shot under the branches, through the green, and just off the back. But he leaves his putt from the fringe eight feet short, and can’t make the par saver. That’s three bogeys in a row, if we’re counting the denouement to last night’s round, which we surely must. Bogey for Brooks Koepka, too, as he’s unable to read a putt with a 20-foot right-to-left break correctly. But it’s a birdie for Jordan Spieth, who walks in a straight-ish 15-footer after finding the heart of the green. Koepka drops to +1; Spieth and Rose are both -1, but one is much happier about it than the other.
Justin Rose was running “a little hot” after bogeying 17 and 18 last night. He’s not 100 percent happy with his opening drive today, either, sending it dangerously close to the tree line down the right. His playing partners Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka are also out of position. Not the most auspicious start for the marquee group of the morning. Rose starts the day at -2; Spieth and Koepka at level par.
Birdie for Aaron Rai at 2! The 31-year-old from Wolverhampton, now based in Florida, gets up and down from sand at the front to move to -2. The winner of the Par 3 Contest has to double up with a Green Jacket at some point, it’s surely in the post, we’re overdue statistically, 66 years and counting. So why not this year?
-5: Burns, McIlroy
-3: Clark (6), Kitayama, Day, Reed
-2: Rai (2), Rose, Scheffler, Lowry, Schauffele
Wyndham Clark’s birdie putt at 6 looks good. A straight roll. But it drifts a little to the right just before reaching the cup, enough to kink out. That really did look like it was going in. So he remains at -3 for both his round and the Tournament overall. He’s no longer the only player out there in red for his round today: Im Sungjae, who finished second on debut in the November Masters of 2020, birdies 7 and 8 to move into credit today – he’s +3 overall – while the old trooper Freddie Couples birdies 2 to get back to +5. Such a shame about that hideous run at 15, 16 and 17 yesterday – quadruple bogey, double bogey, double bogey – but you can forgive a 66-year-old for running out of gas under the heat of the late-afternoon sun.
The Par 3 Contest winner Aaron Rai starts his second round calmly and confidently. Tea Olive found in regulation, and a long birdie putt that shaves the hole. He remains at -1 after yesterday’s 71, a round that promised more after going out in 33. Meanwhile Wyndham Clark’s run of consecutive birdies comes to an end at 5. Just a par, though he’s now landed his tee shot at 6 into the heart of the green, using the slope to bring his ball towards the flag tucked away front left. He’ll have a good look at birdie from 18 feet, a putt not exactly flat and straight, but as flat and straight as they come around here.
At the risk of belabouring the point, here’s a bit more on how difficult Augusta National is playing this week. As mentioned earlier, yesterday’s scoring average was 74.65, just over two-and-a-half shots over par. That’s the highest first-day average since 2017 (74.98) although we did get more sub-70 rounds yesterday than we did on Thursday nine years ago: five to two. Though how much attention our defending champion and co-leader Rory McIlroy will pay to all this is moot: he shot 72 in the first round in 2017, but 67 yesterday. Golf is almost as difficult to analyse as it is to play.
Clark is the only player out this morning under par for his round so far. A small sample size, but one that nevertheless suggests low scores will come at a premium today. To illustrate: Tom McKibbin, whose Masters debut isn’t going to plan. The 23-year-old from Belfast shot 75 yesterday, and he’s opened this morning with three bogeys and a double in his first five holes. He’s clattered down the standings to +8, and isn’t the only player from the LIV tour to be struggling this week: none of the tour’s ten representatives broke par yesterday, with their big guns Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm shooting 76 and 78 respectively, two of the pre-Tournament favourites as good as out of the running already.
It’s three birdies in a row for 2023 US Open champion Wyndham Clark! On a roll, he cracks his tee shot at the long par-three 4th pin high, to eight feet, and walks in the putt. The late-blooming 32-year-old from Denver tied for fourth at last year’s Open, so he’s trending in the majors, albeit with a nine-month hiatus, but he’s not got a good record at Augusta National: one missed cut and a tie for 46th. Looks like he’s in the mood to right that particular wrong.
-5: Burns, McIlroy
-3: Clark (4), Kitayama, Day, Reed
-2: Rose, Scheffler, Lowry, Schauffele
It promises to be a glorious day at Augusta National. Sunny and dry, with temperatures set to reach 80 degrees by the afternoon. Not too much in the way of wind. It’ll be more of the same during the weekend, so expect conditions to get tougher and tougher as the course gets harder and faster. Given that yesterday’s scoring average was 74.65, already up nearly two strokes from last year’s average of 72.81, we could be in for plenty of high jinks on Sunday afternoon. Cannot wait.
The first adjustment towards the top of today’s Leader Board comes courtesy of the 2023 US Open champion Wyndham Clark. He birdies 2, wedging over the bunker guarding the right of the green to a couple of feet and tidying up. He follows that up by finding the dancefloor of the elevated green at 3 in regulation, then steering in the right-to-left 12-footer that remains. A birdie-birdie blast, and Clark moves confidently into red figures.
-5: Burns, McIlroy
-3: Kitayama, Day, Reed
-2: Clark (3), Rose, Scheffler, Lowry, Schauffele
-1: Rai, Bridgeman, Woodland, Li, Taylor, Fleetwood
… also, before we head out onto the course, it’s probably best if we grab ourselves a snack. How about one of these new dark-milk chocolate bars with caramel and rice crispies? CANDY BAR: the only Soviet-branded candy with a hazelnut crunch! Horseshoe theory enthusiasts will be delighted to see the late-stage capitalism of the USA swinging all the way around towards a socialist idyll. Just $2.25. Sounds delicious, get me two.
While we wait for the meaningful action to begin, let’s whack on a tune. Now then, “CBS” + “music” = Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen. It also equals this. All together now (for it has lyrics) …
Well it’s springtime in the valley on Magnolia Lane
It’s the Augusta National and the master of the game
Who’ll wear that green coat on Sunday afternoon?
Who’ll walk the 18th fairway singing this tune?
Augusta, your dogwoods and pines
They play on my mind like a song
Augusta, it’s you that I love
And it’s you that I’ll miss when I’m gone.
It’s Watson, Byron Nelson, Demaret, Player and Snead
It’s Amen Corner and it’s Hogan’s perfect swing
It’s Sarazen’s double eagle at the 15 in ‘35
And the spirit of Clifford Roberts that keeps it alive
Augusta, your dogwoods and pines
They play on my mind like a song
Augusta, it’s you that I love
And it’s you that I miss when I’m gone
It’s the legions of Arnie’s Army and the Golden Bear’s throngs
And the wooden-shafted legend of Bobby Jones.
Preamble
“What are we all going to talk about next year?” Yes, well, Rory’s keeping his riff alive, isn’t he? It’s a good while today until the defending champ turns up for work, mind you, so in the meantime, here’s how the top of the leaderboard looked after 18 holes …
-5: Burns, McIlroy
-3: Kitayama, Day, Reed
-2: Lowry, Schauffele, Rose, Scheffler
-1: Li, Taylor, Fleetwood, Campbell, Rai, Bridgeman, Woodland
… and here’s the Friday running order. Some pre-Tournament favourites in Ludvig Åberg (+2), Bryson DeChambeau (+4) and Jon Rahm (+6) need to get their gamefaces on and quick.
Today’s tee times (USA unless stated, all times BST)
1240 Sung-Jae Im (Kor), Sam Stevens
1250 Brian Campbell, Tom McKibbin (NIrl), Andrew Novak
1302 Wyndham Clark, (a) Mateo Pulcini (Arg), Mike Weir (Can)
1314 Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den), Zach Johnson, Michael Kim
1326 (a) Ethan Fang, Davis Riley, Danny Willett (Eng)
1338 Daniel Berger, Brian Harman, Adam Scott (Aus)
1350 Fred Couples, (a) Pongsapak Laopakdee (Tha), Min-Woo Lee (Aus)
1402 Jacob Bridgeman, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Aaron Rai (Eng)
1419 Michael Brennan, Corey Conners (Can), Harry Hall (Eng)
1431 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Maverick McNealy, JJ Spaun
1443 Ludvig Aberg (Swe), Chris Gotterup, Jon Rahm (Spa)
1455 Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose (Eng), Jordan Spieth
1507 Ben Griffin, Sepp Straka (Aut), Justin Thomas
1519 Robert MacIntyre (Sco), Scottie Scheffler, Gary Woodland
1531 Harris English, Si-Woo Kim (Kor), Marco Penge (Eng)
1551 Johnny Keefer, Haotong Li (Chn)
1603 Max Homa, Naoyuki Kataoka (Jpn), Carlos Ortiz (Mex)
1615 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa), Aldrich Potgieter (Rsa)
1627 Angel Cabrera (Arg), (a) Jackson Herrington, Sami Valimaki (Fin)
1639 Ryan Fox (Nzl), Max Greyserman, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)
1651 Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den), Matt McCarty, Vijay Singh (Fij)
1703 Casey Jarvis (Rsa), Kurt Kitayama, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor)
1715 Nicolas Echavarria (Col), (a) Brandon Holtz, Bubba Watson
1732 Sam Burns, Jake Knapp, Cameron Smith (Aus)
1744 Keegan Bradley, Ryan Gerard, Nick Taylor (Can)
1756 Jason Day (Aus), Dustin Johnson, Shane Lowry (Irl)
1808 Akshay Bhatia, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Patrick Reed
1820 Bryson DeChambeau, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Xander Schauffele
1832 Russell Henley, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Collin Morikawa
1844 (a) Mason Howell, Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Cameron Young
1856 Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Alexander Noren (Swe)
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
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