Tiger Woods put himself in a good position at The Masters after a solid first-round 70, and the 14-time major champion appeared to be on the verge of blitzing the back nine and vaulting up the leaderboard – until a weather delay halted the field.
Woods had an uneven start to his second round on Friday, and was even for the day after an ugly three-putt at the sixth hole and a bad bunker shot led to a bogey at No. 8.
Woods bounced back immediately with an unlikely birdie at the par-4 9th, draining a 37-foot uphill putt for birdie to ignite the gallery.
Woods began to go on a run after his long birdie conversion, and just as he was making Amen Corner look easy, a horn sounded to warn players to take cover due to a storm cell in the area. Woods nearly holed a long birdie putt at No. 10, and then hit one of the best shots of the day with his second at the difficult par-4 11th, drawing an iron shot to within 15 feet. Woods made the putt to record the first birdie of the day at the hole.
At the 12th, Augusta National’s signature par-3, Woods dropped a dart just a few feet from the hole – but he wasn’t able to carry his momentum to the green. The horn sounded just before playing partner Haotong Li took his swing. Woods will eventually return to a birdie putt that would put him at 5-under par for the tournament, just two shots off the lead, with two par-5s left to play.
The weather delay was not expected to be long, and players were left on the course in safe areas, but fans are losing it over the potential for Woods’ run to be disrupted by the delay.
This may not be the last time weather impacts the tournament. Current forecasts call for severe thunderstorms in the area on Sunday evening – which could potentially push the end of the tournament to Monday.
[UPDATE]: Roughly 40 minutes after the delay, Woods missed his short birdie putt at No. 12.
