Canadian Corey Conners finds himself in competition on the Masters after two rounds.
The Listowel, Ont., native shot a 2-under 70 for a share of third place on Friday, two pictures again of chief Justin Rose.
Rose stored his title atop the leaderboard, and he would not should look far to see an all-star assortment of contenders lining up behind him.
U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau is off to his finest begin within the Masters. Rory McIlroy made maybe his biggest restoration at Augusta Nationwide.
Nonetheless lurking on the course was defending champion Scottie Scheffler.
Conners completed inside the highest 10 at Augusta Nationwide in three consecutive years from 2000-22.
Conners arrived on the main in strong kind after top-10 finishes in 4 of his 9 PGA Tour occasions this season and seemed very comfy as he made his approach round Augusta Nationwide.
Canadian Nick Taylor is tied for twenty eighth after taking pictures a 71 on Friday.
Each 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir and fellow Canadian Taylor Pendrith missed the lower.
Rose, who took a three-shot lead into the second spherical, made quick birdie putts at each par 3s on the again 9 that allowed him to atone for a number of errors on his approach to a 1-under 71. He was one shot forward of DeChambeau (68), two away from McIlroy (66).
“That is the corporate that I anticipate to maintain, and that is the place I’ve tried to be my complete profession,” stated Rose, whose lone main was the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. “I have been a top-10 participant on this planet for a decade or extra. So yeah, that is good to be again in that blend.”
He set the goal at 8-under 136 for Scheffler and the remainder of the gamers within the afternoon, because the wind started to snap flags and trigger uncertainty, a most uncomfortable feeling at Augusta.
This was the fifth time Rose had a minimum of a share of the 18-hole lead on the Masters, and he has by no means achieved higher than 71 in making an attempt to observe that up.

Pivotal for McIlroy
Everybody else needed to perform a little extra to remain in vary, and it was significantly pivotal for McIlroy in his bid for the profession Grand Slam. He had two double bogeys in his final 4 holes that ruined an in any other case good begin on Thursday, leaving him nearer to the lower than the lead.
And he performed the entrance 9 with one birdie and eight pars on Friday. However he got here to life rapidly, stuffing a three-quarter 8-iron to a foot on No. 10 and the same play with a 9-iron to about 4 ft on No. 11. Better of all was hitting 4-iron off the pine straw on the par-5 thirteenth that narrowly cleared the tributary of Rae’s Creek and arrange a 10-foot eagle.
“I needed to remind myself I used to be taking part in properly,” McIlroy stated. “I could not let two unhealthy holes dictate the narrative of the 16 good ones. I additionally needed to remind myself this morning to not push too exhausting too early.”
That was a mistake he made in 2023, the 12 months he confronted a 10-shot deficit when he started his second spherical, tried to catch up as rapidly as he may and wound up lacking the lower.
This time, he had a gentle begin and “issues kind of clicked into gear on the again 9.”
DeChambeau bought inside one shot on a few events till his lone bogey on the sixteenth. He responded with a birdie to once more lower the deficit to at least one when he completed his spherical.
Matt McCarty was 3 over for his spherical after two holes, solely to complete the entrance 9 with 4 straight birdies and work his approach again into the combo in his Masters debut with a 68. He was three pictures behind, together with Shane Lowry (68).
Scheffler appears to be like for repeat
Scheffler, making an attempt to turn out to be solely the fourth participant to win again to again on the Masters, was solely two pictures behind when he made the flip.
Additionally in play Friday was the 36-hole lower of high 50 and ties. Jon Rahm gave himself his finest likelihood by making a 10-foot par putt on the 18th gap for a 71 — one birdie, 17 pars — that put him at 2-over 146. That is the place the lower line figured to hover the remainder of the day.
Bernhard Langer, 67, and Fred {Couples}, 65, had been bidding to set the Masters report for oldest gamers to make the lower. {Couples} set the report two years when he was 63.
One participant prone to be headed residence was five-time main champion Brooks Koepka.
He was at even par for the event till a bogey on the seventeenth. On the ultimate gap, he hooked his drive into the bushes firstly and three-putted from about 12 ft on the finish for a quadruple-bogey 8 and a 75.
Rose had an opportunity to be atop the leaderboard for the tenth spherical if it holds. It wasn’t as clear a spherical because it was on Thursday, however it was sufficient for him to suppose {that a} inexperienced jacket was nonetheless potential at age 44. Just one different particular person — Jack Nicklaus — was older (46) when he gained a inexperienced jacket.
“Generally it is exhausting to observe a low spherical with one other one. Simply the character of it generally,” Rose stated. “However I really feel like for those who’re taking part in good golf, you are taking part in good golf. And I really feel like I wasn’t pinned to yesterday’s spherical and I wasn’t pinned to the leaderboard and I wasn’t pinned to main this golf event. I used to be fairly centered on the job at hand.”
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