AFP
Augusta, US
Pace-setting defending champion Jordan Spieth awaited an afternoon tee time in Friday's second round of the Masters while a host of early-starting top challengers struggled in vain to overtake him.
The 22-year-old American, who captured the US Open crown as well as a green jacket last year, matched the low first round by a defending champion with a six-under par 66 to seize a two-stroke lead after 18 holes.
Spieth, a wire-to-wire Masters winner last year, became the first man to lead the event five rounds in a row and is the first to shoot par or better in his first nine rounds at Augusta National, for which he is a combined 29-under par. Spieth is trying to join Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo as the only players to win the Masters two years in a row.
The Texan was set for a 12:55 p.m. (1655 GMT) tee time Friday alongside England's Paul Casey, who opened on 69, and US amateur Bryson DeChambeau. Only England's Justin Rose, off about an hour later in the penultimate group, was a top pursuer with a later start than Spieth. The 2013 US Open champion opened on 69.
American Scott Piercy birdied the second and third holes to reach four-under while Dane Soren Kjeldsen birdied the second to also pull within two of Spieth's lead spot. South Korean-born New Zealander Danny Lee, who opened on 68 to share second with Ireland's Shane Lowry, birdied the par-5 second from seven feet but followed with a double-bogey at three -- reaching the green in two but missing a four-foot birdie putt and a six-foot par putt -- before sinking a 13-foot birdie putt to return to four-under. No Kiwi has won a US event since Michael Campbell captured the 2005 US Open.
Most of the players just behind Spieth on the leaderboard at Augusta National stumbled as they launched morning bids to catch him. Ireland's Shane Lowry opened with a bogey to fall to three-under while Spain's Sergio Garcia also took bogey at the first but birdied the second to hold at three-under.
World number one Jason Day, who opened bogey-birdie after a first-round 72, was suffering back issues, laying on his back and raising his leg on the second fairway and stretching to relieve the trouble on the third tee. Day will lose the top spot to second-ranked Spieth if the US star repeats as champion and the Aussie finishes outside the top five.
England's Ian Poulter, whose career-best share of sixth at last year's Masters was all that got him into this year's tournament, made bogeys at two and four to stumble back to one-under. Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy, trying to complete a career Grand Slam with a Masters title, fired a 70 Thursday and began round two with a par.
Ernie Els, the 46-year-old South African who fired the worst score ever recorded on the first hole with a nine in round one, managed a double-bogey six in the second round. The four-time major champion sent his approach way left onto the adjacent ninth hole, punched the ball onto the green 47 feet shy of the cup. He missed his long par putt, then knocked a two-footer past the hole before sinking a comeback four-footer.
Eight-time major champion Tom Watson could be playing the final round of his legendary career Friday. The 66-year-old American, who opened on 74, tees off in the early afternoon hoping to become the oldest player to make the cut in Masters history in his final competitive event.
