Tiger’s remarkable feat, Smith roars back as runaway leader emerges - Masters Rd 2 Wrap

It may not have been the second round he’d have hoped for, but Tiger Woods has done enough to play in the Masters weekend in what is a truly astonishing feat as world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler took a five-shot lead into the third round.

Woods, who hadn’t played a professional tournament in 14 months since his horrific car crash in February 2021, made the cut for the 22nd consecutive time at Augusta.

He finished with a two-over par 74 on Saturday (AEST) after struggling to deal with heavy winds at the beginning of the second round.

Right from the start, Woods struggled. On the first — a hole that he has notoriously struggled with despite winning five green jackets — he missed the green with his approach, then missed a 7-footer to save par.

Woods had a chance to bounce back with a birdie at the par-5 second but couldn’t get a 28-footer to drop there, instead settling for par.

Then he missed a 9-footer to save par on the par-4 third, and when his chip from short of the par-3 fourth caught a slope and rolled back 30 feet, he had his second bogey in a row.

Things continued in the wrong direction on the next hole, where Woods’ 15-footer to save par lipped out.

He finally stopped the bleeding with a two-putt par on the par-3 sixth but dropped to 3 over for the tournament. Woods ultimately finished +3 on the front nine with four bogeys, although he did birdie the eighth.

His back nine was much stronger. Although he had two consecutive bogeys on the 11th and 12th, Woods had three birdies to go -1 on the back nine and finish the day at +1.

While the eyes of the sporting world were focused on Woods, Scheffler quietly went about his business of building a monster lead over the competition. Scheffler, the world No. 1 despite not having a major to his name yet, had a slow start to his second round, firing two bogeys in the opening three holes before ending the front nine with consecutive birdies on the 8th and 9th to be at -1.

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama, Shane Lowry, Joaquin Niemann, Charl Schwartzel and round one leader Im Sung-Jae are all tied in second on -3, with Im the only one to shoot over par in the second round.

It was a day to forget for Aussie star Cameron Smith, who began the second round behind Im on the leaderboard. Smith hit four bogeys throughout the day, with the first one coming on the opening hole and the last on the 12th.