Patrick Reed had an impressive second round at the 2018 Masters Tournament on Friday, posting a -6 for the day. He now sits at -9 with a tenuous two-stroke lead. As a result, he’ll take the lead into the third round on Saturday and he has a bit of breathing room given how many golfers fell back. He’ll now be among the favorites to win it all, according to the odds at BetDSI Sportsbook.
Jordan Spieth was the leader going into Round 2 but he has faded. A +2 (74) has dropped him to -4 on the tournament. While he’s still in a tie for third, he’s a significant ways back of Reed. Tony Finau, who was one of the great stories from Thursday, also fell back. He also shot a +2 (71) to fall to -2 for the tournament.
The biggest story going into The Masters was Tiger Woods and the potential for him to compete for a win. Instead, he’s lucky to merely make the cut. Woods shot a +3 (75). Combined with his 73 on Thursday, he’s now at +4 and a non-factor the rest of the way. He hasn’t played in the negatives at all with any consistency and would need to make up eight to 10 strokes just to get back into it. That’s asking too much.
Speaking of disappointments, last year’s winner, Sergio Garcia, will not be playing through the weekend after a disastrous first two rounds. It was understood that his +9 (81) on Thursday would sink him. However, that round wasn’t an aberration as his terrible play continued into Friday when he posted a +6 (78) and finished the tournament with a +15. Only two golfers had a worse score.
The Top 10 is littered with big names as Bubba Watson, Justin Rose, Finau and Rickie Fowler are all at -2. Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson are both at -3. As mentioned, Spieth is at -4 and he’s there with Rory McIlroy. Marc Leishman is at -7 but everyone is chasing Reed right now, who is well in front at -10.
There’s still a long way to go in this event as Reed’s lead figures to be a nervous one. He doesn’t have a strong pedigree or history of success at majors, so we’re not sure how he’ll react. There will be a lot of pressure on him and as we saw with Spieth, a two-stroke lead is nothing at Augusta.
