Cam Smith has kept himself in contention and gone into the weekend tied for sixth, courtesy of a late fightback after a poor start to the round.
In what was a difficult day for most players, the Australian fell down the leaderboard but had the class to pick himself back up. World no.1 Scottie Scheffler shot the best round of five under to move into the outright lead, while fellow American Justin Thomas posted the same score to put himself back in contention.
Smith, who finished round one tied for second after a blistering up and down round saw him shoot four under par, couldn’t replicate his Thursday performance to post a round of 74 on Friday, two over par.
The 28-year-old Australian was four over through 12 holes in his second round, but two late birdies have kept him around the mark.
Meanwhile, five-time Masters winner Tiger Woods also faltered but recovered similarly to Smith to post a second-round score of 74.
The 46-year-old was the talking point of the tournament after his under par first round in his first competitive round back after his horror car accident last year and plenty of hype followed the champion on Friday.
After four bogeys in the first five holes, it looked like Woods’ hopes were about to come crashing down, however some smart iron play saw him improve on the back nine.
Had his putter stayed hot, the former world no.1 could well have gone into the weekend under par.
The cut line is at +5, meaning Australia will have five hopes going into the weekend.
Marc Leishman, Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee and Cam Davis are all tied for 45th on +4 and are therefore within the cut line, however Lucas Herbet will miss out on weekend action after finishing Friday’s round at +6.
Masters leaderboard after the second round 1 S. Scheffler (-8) T2 S. Lowry, H. Matsuyama, C. Schwartzel, S.J. Im (-3) T6 K. Na, C. Smith, H. Varner III, D. Johnson (-2)