Masters 2017 Leaderboard Round 2: Friday Scores, Highlights And More

Dustin Johnson was forced to withdraw from the 2017 Masters at Augusta on Thursday just before his afternoon tee time in the opening round.

Masters 2017 Round 2 Recap, Highlights, And Leaderboard

Johnson and his team had seemed sure on Wednesday he would be fine to play on Thursday after the 32-year-old American and World No. 1 golfer injured his lower back and elbows while falling down a short flight of stairs.

Charley Hoffman (-3) maintains the lead in the second round, though he’s falling off slightly. The 40-year-old American is, however, +3 for the day largely due to three straight bogeys early in the round.

Hoffman finished Round 1 with a 4-shot lead, the biggest advantage after just one round at Augusta in 62 years. Hoffman is playing in his fourth Masters, and has had much success in the tournament. He’s finished in the top 30 in all three previous events, including in 2015 when he opened the tournament with a 67 that had him tied for second behind eventual champion Jordan Spieth. Hoffman ended up tied for ninth that year.

Phil Mickelson (-1) started off the 2017 Masters strong, and is tied for fourth. Meanwhile, other top players like Spieth (+3), Jason Day (+2), Rickie Fowler (+1) and Rory McIlroy (E) all had varying performances on Thursday. McIlroy is the favorite to win this year’s Masters. Englishman Danny Willett won last year’s Masters after Spieth fell apart in the final round. Spieth recently said Johnson was the man to beat at Augusta this year.

Here is the recap of the first round on Thursday:

 Spaniard Sergio Garcia, meanwhile, remains in contention after finishing with 69 and recording six birdies and three bogies. Here is the 70th-ranked 37-year-old faired on Friday:

Here’s a great putt from Rickie Fowler on Friday:

And here are the highlights from early-afternoon play on Friday:

Here is an interesting statistic common to all Masters winners from the last 11 years, and how it relates to this year’s opening round at Augusta:

And finally, here is the full leaderboard for second-round play:

Article by Pablo Mena