MASTERS 2015: Records fall as Spieth laps Augusta field

Jordan Spieth has fired a second round 66 to break the lowest 36-hole score ever at the Masters and threatens to bury the field at Augusta, reports Steve Keipert.

BY STEVE KEIPERT AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL GC

The writing is etched on the Masters wall as Jordan Spieth took a stranglehold on the 79th edition via a head-turning and record-breaking 66 to open a commanding five-stroke lead at the midpoint.

Jordan Spieth salutes the crowd during his second round. PHOTO: Getty Images

Golf's hottest player dismantled Augusta National like a veteran instead of a 21-year-old contesting just his second Masters. His 14-under-par total breaks, by a stroke, Ray Floyd's 39-year-old record for the best first 36 holes. And in many ways Spieth's 66 was better than yesterday's 64. That round contained several truly remarkable good breaks; this one was more precise, chanceless and even clinical in its effectiveness. Spieth was more likely to start swinging 'lefty' than make a bogey as other players simply shook their heads in disbelief.

His only mis-step in the first two rounds came yesterday on what normally ranks as the easiest hole, the par-5 15th, after a too-strong second shot sailed over the green and a weak pitch led to a bogey. That lone error prevented a pair of clean scorecards and the outright record for the lowest first 36 holes in major championship history. His 130 tally matches the mark first set by Nick Faldo at the 1992 Open Championship and equalled by Brandt Snedeker at the 2012 Open as well as Martin Kaymer at last year's US Open.

"I don't want to go in [to history] as the 36-hole best record but somebody who didn't win," Spieth said, adding that he feels he's gathered plenty of information about the golf course despite his inexperience.

"I got the awe factor out more than six months before I even played the first time here. I got here and obviously the awe factor is always there at the Masters. But to get here and to play rounds ahead of time; to play the golf course that I grew up watching and admired – and after getting into contention last year and seeing what Sunday in the final group was like, now it feels more like a regular event."

Charley Hoffman, an unlikely but ultimately important cast member, might feel like he's playing a bit part but give him credit for at least keeping Spieth honest. He lost just two strokes to Spieth in a 68 tainted only by a bogey at 18. Hoffman is nine-under and the lone player within six strokes of the lead.

Spieth plays a shot from the pine needles on the 14th hole en route to a six under 66. PHOTO: Getty Images.

"I don't think you can really press on this golf course too much. I didn't, but I still was aggressive where I needed to be aggressive and took my medicine where I needed to take my medicine," said Hoffman, who said his day's goal was a bogey-free round.

It's a spacious, staggered midpoint leaderboard as the players in eighth place are still a hefty ten shots off the pace. The Masters allows the top-50 players and ties plus any player within ten shots of the lead to play the weekend; had just the ten-shot criterion been in place and not the top-50 as well, Saturday's field would include just 11 players.

Arguably, most pressure now sits on the shoulders of the Masters tournament committee. Firming up the greens will make it far more difficult for the field to catch Spieth, yet if the course remains soft and agreeable then Tiger Woods' 18-under record aggregate is in jeopardy.

It was a frustrating round for Jason Day, who watches another putt slip by the hole. PHOTO: Getty Images.

The primary disappointment from an Australian perspective is that Jason Day won't partner Spieth in the final pairing tomorrow. Day was error-prone and more than a little wasteful at times in shooting a 74 to follow yesterday's 67. Day eagled the par-5 2nd hole to more than offset an opening dropped shot, however bogeys reared their heads too frequently. The spectre of a penalty for slow play hung over his head after his group was put on the clock on the 8th hole and he received a bad time immediately afterwards. One more bad time and he would have been penalised a stroke.

"It's a fine line between playing fantastic golf and not playing great," Day said. "[When] you don't hole the putts that you need to, to give yourself the opportunities, [you] walk off with 74."

Day and Adam Scott still lead the five-strong Australian contingent but are 11 shots behind. Scott has so far played this Masters like a rollercoaster ride with two rock-solid front nines and a pair of topsy-turvy inward halves. Both Queenslanders sit at three under and tied for 12th. Geoff Ogilvy was far sharper in shooting a 70 to move back to even par and John Senden made the cut at one-over-par despite dropping two shots late in his 74. Amateur Antonio Murdaca shot 73 playing with Scott and Dustin Johnson to finish seven over and miss the cut comfortably, as all seven amateurs in the field did.

Behind Spieth and Hoffman is a trio of players at seven under, Johnson plus Englishman Justin Rose and Paul Casey. Rejuvenated Phil Mickelson is a stroke further adrift, one better than Ernie Els. Johnson grabbed a record of his own, becoming the first player in Masters history to record three eagles in the one round.

Els found all four of his Friday birdies on par-5s in an even par 72 that must have felt like 82 during the Spieth Clinic. The South African holds seventh place at five under. His hopes for a first green jacket remain slim but given his major capabilities and fit for Augusta, perhaps the only thing more incongruous than a Masters-less Ernie Els is the thought of him finally winning it now at age 45.

Ernie Els has plenty to be happy about through two Masters' rounds. PHOTO: Getty Images.

Woods toured Augusta with far more control in shooting 69 that included just one bogey. It's his first sub-70 round at the Masters since 2011. The four-time winner remains typically upbeat and has definitely surprised critics and fans alike with his better-than-expected play. Conversely, Rory McIlroy started like a deflated man. Playing in the penultimate group out and already a tonne of shots behind Spieth as he began, McIlroy punctuated a lacklustre front nine with a double-bogey from the centre of the 9th fairway to turn in 40 and sit outside the cutline. But then he morphed in the major-winning version of Rory with an eagle, a chip-in and four birdies in an inward 31 that righted all the wrongs. Woods and McIlroy share 19th at two under, a dozen strokes behind Spieth.

The leaderboard threw up a few surprises. Angel Cabrera has showed no pre-Masters form yet shares 12th with fellow past Masters champion Mark O'Meara, who shot 68 at age 58 to climb to three-under.

Fine tallies, every one of them, yet they are dwarfed by the performance of Spieth. The reigning Australian Open champion, who earlier this week called that victory the most important of his young career, is on the verge of another weighty and life-altering triumph.

TODAY AT AUGUSTA

Friday's first group should have included Australia's Marc Leishman but he sadly is absent this week to be beside his sick wife at home in Virginia. Instead 1991 Masters champion Ian Woosnam and Erik Compton begin play as a twosome.

For the second day running, Compton pars each of the first 12 holes, but today he snaps the par string with a birdie at the 13th rather than a bogey.

Beneath the umbrella next to the 1st tee is an assortment of tees, pencils, scorecards and the day's pin sheet for the players. Even the stone weights used to stop the pin sheets from blowing away are adorned with the iconic Masters emblem.

Two patrons walking beside the 2nd green are stopped in their tracks by a policeman who enquires as to the whereabouts of their entry badges. The pair swiftly produce them from their pockets and continue on their way. It's another rule unique to the Masters: badges must remain on display. At regular tournaments, I've always found it an odd thing for golf fans to do (do you wear your bus or train ticket around your neck?) but here it's law.

What little rain has fallen this week was still enough to dampen the ground outside the ropes, which has taken on a smell that is best described as rancid spinach. Fortunately, as the turf has dried the odour has dissipated.
Ben Crenshaw hugs his longtime caddie Carl Jackson. PHOTO: Getty Images.

Ben Crenshaw brought the curtain down on his Masters career with two scores he'd rather forget. Crenshaw, the 1984 and 1995 Masters Champion, was greeted by his longtime caddie, Carl Jackson, when he walked off the 18th green.
Crenshaw hugs Jackson on the 18th green after winning the 1995 Masters. PHOTO: Getty Images.
Jackson has been in poor health and was unable to carry the clubs for two rounds, so he enlisted his younger brother, Bud, to carry the clubs. But big Carl donned the white jumpsuit, with Crenshaw's name emblazoned on the back, and greeeted Crenshaw with a hug ... a hug that was famously written into Masters folklore on the 18th green back in 1995.