AUGUSTA, Ga. — Billy Horschel will always be an eternal optimist.
With a gritty, grinding 71 on Friday in the second round of the Masters Tournament, the Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., resident made the cut at 3-over 147. Despite being 10 shots behind leader Justin Rose, Horschel believes anyone making the Masters cut has a chance, given the whacky goings-on, good and bad, that frequently occur on the weekend at Augusta National.
"Especially this way," after he got up and down for par from the left side to the 18th green. "The greens are a little softer this morning. They weren't nearly as firm and fast as they were yesterday playing at 1:00 in the afternoon. I think the guys this afternoon flipped. I feel pretty good in my game. I feel like I can get something going and have a good round tomorrow and give myself a chance. You just never know what the conditions are going to be like this weekend. You shoot a good round, you're going to have a chance."
Horschel made his third cut in a row at Augusta, and his fifth in seven starts. He will be trying to improve his career-best Masters finish, a tie for 17th in 2016.
He began his climb from the hole he dug with a first-round 76 with two-putt birdies at the two par-5 holes on the front, wrapped around a bogey at No. 4 when he shoved his tee shot short of the front-right bunker.
Horschel went back to 4-over when he found the front bunker at No. 12 and missed a 6-foot par attempt but got it right back at No. 13 and his third two-putt birdie of the day at a par-5.
He missed two agonizingly close birdie attempts at Nos. 16 and 17. The ball lipped out on the par-3 and then grazed the left edge on the next hole.
Horschel's approach shot at No. 18 flew left but hit a slender pole holding up a gallery rope to keep it from going further. Horschel thought about flying a 62-degree wedge onto the green but then changed to a lower-lofted wedge and bumped it into the bank. The ball rolled to within 3 feet to set up the par.
"I played pretty well today," he said, noting that he missed only two fairways. "I just haven't been able to transfer the swing over from the range to the course."
Kim shows rare temper
Si Woo Kim, the 2017 Players Champion, is as stoic as they come on the golf course. His expression almost never changes.
That's why it was so stunning to see Kim break his putter after a chip rolled 18 feet past the hole at the par-5 15th hole. Kim suddenly slammed the putter into the ground, head first, while waiting for his turn to putt, and it snapped off.
By the rules of golf, Kim had to take it out of play. He elected to use a 3-wood for the rest of the round and two-putted for pars at Nos. 15, 16, 17 and 18 to finish with a 69. At 4-under 140, he's only three shots off the lead.
"Frustration," Kim said when asked about his uncharacteristic show of temper, saying he got to his red line with a three-putt at No. 14 for his only bogey of the dayu and the chip at No. 15 after he had an open look for eagle from the fairway and knocked his second shot over the green. "It was not on purpose."
Kim said he had never done anything like that on a golf course before.
He also said he used the 3-wood instead of a sand wedge — as CBS commentators Nick Faldo and Ian Baker-Finch were urging — because of the green speed.
"The sand wedge is harder to control, especially on fast greens," he said.
Rose blocks out the noise
In seven of the last eight Masters tournaments, a first-round leader or co-leader has backed up in the second round with scores eight or more strokes higher.
Last November, Paul Casey went from an opening 65 to a 75. The year before, Bryson DeChambeau went from 66 to 75. Charley Hoffman (2017), Bill Haas (2014) and Sergio Garcia (2013) also went 10 shots higher in their next rounds.
Justin Rose looked as if he were headed that way after a 39 on the first nine on Friday. But he righted the ship with three birdies and no bogeys on the second nine and remained atop the leaderboard.
How did Rose avoid the fate that befell so many first-round leaders?
"By not listening to you guys, that's exactly how I block it out," he said.
Rose also has a very sedate routine when he gets back to his rented home in Augusta: a spot of tea by a fire pit with his wife, and an ice bath.
"I try not to watch too much of the golf," he said of replays and post-round shows. "That's a shame in some ways because I love watching the Masters. We sit out in the evening and just chat and chill. And not too much of the TV, I guess, is kind of the only way to stay away from it."
Ancer penalized
Abraham Ancer was hit with a two-stroke penalty late on Thursday after video replays showed him pressing down on a bit of sand behind the ball in a greenside bunker at the 15th hole. That gave the native of Mexico an 8 instead of a 6 and a 75 for the round.
After Ancer had signed his scorecard and exited the scoring area, video evidence was reviewed by the Masters Competition Committee regarding a potential breach of Rule 12.2b (1), which states that “touching sand in a bunker right behind the ball results in a penalty.”
The Committee deemed that the touching of the sand was visible to the naked eye. According to a statement from Jim Hyler Jr., chairman of the Competitions Committee, “had this not been the case, the video evidence would have been disregarded and a penalty would not have been applied.”
Ancer played in the final group of the final round of the 2020 Masters in November with winner Dustin Johnson before finishing tied for 13th.
Swafford has horrendous day
Through four holes of the Masters, Hudson Swafford of St. Simons Island, Ga., held the lead.
He finished with a 73 but was still encouraged.
Then Friday happened. After mixing an opening bogey and a birdie at No. 2, Swafford made nine bogeys and a double among his final 16 holes and shot 83 for a 12-over-par 156 finish.
Swafford has had two rounds in the 80s this year on the PGA Tour. He had an 82 to open The Players Championship.
He hit only five fairways and six greens.
Among the players who beat Swafford on Friday were past Masters winners now on the PGA Tour Champions — Larry Mize (79), Vijay Singh (80), Fred Couples (78), Sandy Lyle (75) and Ian Woosnam (77).
