Patrick Reed has the lead heading into today’s third round at Masters
AUGUSTA, Georgia — Patrick Reed is leading a major championship for the first time, and his confidence is so high that he can only see what’s ahead of him.
Maybe that’s just as well at this Masters.
Reed started and finished the front nine with three straight birdies. He answered Marc Leishman’s bold shot for an eagle by polishing off another run of three straight birdies. It added to a 6-under 66 and a two-shot lead over Leishman going into the weekend at Augusta National.
Right behind them are five major champions.
Nowhere near him are Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the two names that generated so much of the buzz for a Masters that otherwise is living up to expectations.
None of it matters to Reed, who is going after his first major.
“Everyone wants to win, and if you don’t believe you can win them, then you probably shouldn’t be playing in them,” Reed said.
Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson still have a say about winning.
Woods and Mickelson probably don’t.
Woods hit one shot into a cluster of magnolia trees and another into Rae’s Creek. He didn’t make a birdie until the 13th hole and had to settle for a 3-over 75, leaving him 13 shots behind. No one has ever won the Masters when trailing by more than eight shots going into the weekend.
“I’m going to have to shoot a special weekend and I need help,” Woods said. “I’m not in control of my own destiny.”
Mickelson smacked a shot into the trees trying to escape a forest and made triple bogey, deposited a tee shot into Rae’s Creek on No. 12 for a double bogey and shot a 79, matching his worst score at Augusta National. He started the day four shots out of the lead. He ended the day making the cut on the number.
Even without them, the show is just getting started.
Reed, a runner-up at the PGA Championship last summer, was at 9-under 135. He was partnered with Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford for the day.
Hadwin shot a 3-over 75 to tie for 18th at even par. Former Masters champ Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., missed the cut.
Leishman seized on his moment with the best shot of the day. His tee shot on the 15th was too far left, leaving trees between him and the flag. Instead of laying up from 210 yards, he closed with the face of a 5-iron, aimed toward the right bunker.
“I meant to hook it 30 yards, and I put 40 yards of hook on it,” Leishman said with a smile.
Stenson (70) was four shots behind. McIlroy (71) is off to his best 36-hole start in seven years and is looking as poised as ever to capture the fourth leg of the career Grand Slam. Spieth lost his two-shot lead on the first hole and was on the verge of getting left behind until he made a key par putt to close out the front nine with a 40, and then salvaged a 74 to join McIlroy just five shots behind.
“I’ve always been comfortable around the lead,” McIlroy said.
Looming was Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world, who made a 45-foot par putt on the 16th to atone for several birdie putts in the 10-foot range he missed. Johnson had a 68 and was six shots behind, along with Thomas, who had a 67.
Eleven of the 17 players still under par at the halfway point can be found among the top 20 in the world.
Spieth was happy to be near the top after the way he started — a tee shot into the trees on the right and a three putts for a double bogey, and then a drive to the left and three more putts for a bogey. Just like that he was behind, and for a while Friday, it kept getting worse.