The Latest: Shaky start for Spieth in 2nd round at Masters

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — The Latest on Friday’s second round of the Masters (all times local):

11:30 a.m.

Jordan Spieth is off to a shaky start in the second round at the Masters.

Spieth double-bogeyed the first hole to drop to 4 under in the 72-hole tournament.

Spieth pushed his tee shot at the par-4 No. 1 way right. He failed to get his second shot back to the fairway and then left his third one short of the green. He missed an 11-footer for bogey. It was a frustrating start for the 2015 Masters champion and opened the door for everyone else on the leaderboard.

Spieth birdied five straight holes down the stretch in the opening round and finished with a 6-under 66. He bogeyed the par-4 18th.

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10:55 a.m.

First-round leader and 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth is back on the course at golf’s first major.

Spieth took a two-stroke lead to the first tee at Augusta National on Friday. Spieth is playing with Alex Noren and Louis Oosthuizen for the second straight day.

Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar are among the featured groups teeing off in the morning. Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott and Jon Rahm are right behind that threesome.

Webb Simpson could be making a move with consecutive birdies at the second and third holes. He is now 2 over after shooting a 76 in the opening round.

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9:30 a.m.

Li Haotong has begun his second round at the Masters.

The 22-year-old from China opened the day three shots off the lead after finishing with a 69 on the first day of the tournament. For close to an hour, his name was atop those white leaderboards around Augusta National with Tony Finau until Jordan Spieth took over.

Li qualified for the Masters by closing with a 63 at Royal Birkdale in the British Open last summer. Earlier this year, he rallied to beat Rory McIlroy in a duel at the Dubai Desert Classic that allowed him to crack the top 50 in the world for the first time.

Li entered the week at No. 42 in the world.

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3 a.m.

Rory McIlroy heads into the second round of the Masters with the career Grand Slam still in sight.

McIlroy saved par on the final three holes in the opening round Thursday and finished with a 3-under 69. He broke 70 in the first round at Augusta National for the first time since 2011. He shot a 65 that year and looked like he would win a green jacket before a final-round meltdown.

McIlroy is three shots behind Jordan Spieth, who made five consecutive birdies on the back nine to build a two-stroke lead over Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar.

“You look at it and not anyone is really getting away,” McIlroy said. “Jordan had a pretty strong finish there. But this is my best start in a few years. And, yeah, it’s such a hard golf course to play catch-up on. If you start to chase it around here, that’s when you start to make mistakes.

“But to be right up there and have the ability to stay patient because of the position I’m in, that’s a nice luxury I have over the next few days.”

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For more AP golf coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-Golf and https://apnews.com/tag/TheMasters

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