Collin Morikawa Moves into Contention After Second Round at Masters

Ex-Cal golfer is well behind leader Scottie Scheffler but within striking distance. Former Golden Bear Max Homa also made the cut

Collin Morikawa put himself in contention with a solid second round at the Masters on Friday, and Max Homa did well enough to make the cut.

So both former Cal golfers participating at Augusta National Golf Club this week will be playing in the final two rounds Saturday and Sunday. That's more than Bryson DeChambeau, Zach Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepke and Xander Schauffele can say, because they all missed the cut.

Morikawa had one of the best rounds of the day, shooting a 2-under-par 70 to leave him at 1-under for the tournament, seven shots behind Scottie Scheffler, the new No. 1-ranked golfer in the world who has a five-shot lead on the field after firing a 5-under-par 67 on Friday.

Scheffler is at 8-under for the tournament, and his five-shot lead matches the largest lead after two rounds in the history of The Master. He will be hard to catch.

But Morikawa will be in the hunt.  He is currently tied for 10th, and although he is well behind Scheffler, he is just two strokes behind the four golfers tied for second. He is also two strokes ahead of Tiger Woods, who shot a 2-over-par 74 on Friday and is 1-over for the tournament.  But he will be around for the final two days, which is all the TV folks could have hoped for.

Meanwhile, Morikawa had the kind of round in tough, windy conditions that he needed to regain his confidence.  In his past three events, he had missed the cut, finished 68th and lost in the round of 16 in the World Golf Championship Match Play event.

Only six golfers had a better second round than Morikawa.

Morikawa got off on the right foot this time.  He bogeyed the first hole on Thursday, but he birdied it on Friday.  That was one of four birdies on the day to counter his two bogeys.  His last birdie of the day was a 2 on the par-3 16th hole.

Morikawa tees off at 11 a.m. Pacific time on Saturday.

Homa made the cut with a stroke to spare.  He shot a 1-over-par 73 on Friday to leave him at 3-over for the tournament.  Homa had four birdies on Friday, but he also had five bogeys.

Golfers with scores of 4 over par or better made the cut.

Homa had a tough start to his Friday round, getting bogeys on three of his first four holes, but he had only two bogeys the rest of the way.

Homa tees off at 8 a.m. Pacific time on Saturday.

Max Homa. Photo by Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports

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Cover photo of Collin Morikawa is by Rob Shumacher, USA TODAY Sports

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