Tiger Woods’ playing partner Louis Oosthuizen has been forced to drop out of the Masters golf tournament in Augusta due to an injury. This leaves Woods to tee of with only Joaquin Niemann as a partner for the second round. The Associated Press has the story:
Dustin Johnson stalking the lead early in the sound round of the Masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — The Latest on the Masters (all times local):
12:25 p.m.
Tiger Woods will have one fewer playing partner for the second round of the Masters.
Louis Oosthuizen has withdrawn from the tournament. Organizers made the announcement about 90 minutes before Oosthuizen was to tee off alongside Woods and Joaquin Niemann.
Oosthuizen cited an injury as the reason. The specifics were not immediately announced. He opened the tournament with a 4-over 76 on Thursday.
His absence means Woods and Niemann will play as a twosome for the second round. They will be the second-to-last group, teeing off at 1:41 p.m.
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11:35 a.m.
Dustin Johnson is stalking the lead early in the sound round of the Masters.
The 2020 Masters champion birdied the par-3 fourth hole to move to minus-4, one shot behind Sungjae Im.
Johnson put together a tidy 3-under 69 in the opening round on Thursday. His began the second round with three straight pars before hitting an iron to within 5 feet at the fourth before making the putt.
Im wobbled early, flubbing a recovery shot at the par-4 first in which the ball failed to reach the green and rolled back down the hill toward his feet. He bounced back by rolling in a 24-foot birdie putt to get back to 5 under.
There has been little movement on the leaderboard among the second round’s early wave, though several former champions are slowly making inroads. Charl Schwartzel, who won in 2011, is 2 under for the day and 2 under for the tournament through 10 holes in the second round. Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson is 2 under for the day and 1 under for the tournament through seven.
Five-time green jacket winner Tiger Woods is part of the afternoon session. Woods is coming off a 1-under 71 in his first professional event since a car accident in February 2021.
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9:20 a.m.
The wind is expected to rise during the second round at the Masters, and there’s a good chance the scores will rise right along with it.
The National Weather Service is forecasting sunny skies at Augusta National with sustained winds in excess of 15-20 mph throughout the afternoon.
Nineteen of the 90 players in the field posted scores of par or better during the opening round. That number could thin with the cut looming.
The top 50 and ties will make it to the weekend. Several high-profile names will be looking to bounce back after shaky opening rounds. Brooks Koepka and Kevin Kisner both opened with 3-over 75s while Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau posted 4-over 76s in more benign conditions on Thursday.
Tiger Woods will tee off in the afternoon and is coming off a solid 1-under 71 on Thursday.
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8 a.m.
Tiger Woods is right where he wants to be heading into the second round of the Masters. He’s in red numbers at 1 under, one of only 17 players who broke par.
He’ll have a better idea where he is when Woods arrives Friday afternoon.
Sunjae Im starts the day with a one-shot lead after a 5-under 67. He is one shot ahead of Cameron Smith, with Dustin Johnson among those two behind. Im and Johnson are early starters in the second round with stronger wind in the forecast.
Friday also is about the top 50 and ties who make the cut. This is the only major in which Woods has never missed the cut as a professional.
The big test for Woods is how his legs hold up. This is his first time walking 18 holes in consecutive days since he returned from his car crash 14 months ago.
