BOB’S DANCING WITH THE STARS
MacIntyre does jig after making cut on his Augusta debut.. and fellow Scot Laird joins him for weekend
MacIntyre clearly could not contain his excitement and was congratulated by proud parents Dougie and Carol as he headed to the scorer’s hut after posting a two-under-par 70 to get back to level par at Augusta National.
He said: “I’m delighted as my putting has been really good. That was the key today, that I only missed one putt inside of 10 feet.
“That’s where my golf is because if I don’t miss a putt inside 10 feet I’m confident and my putting is something I have worked hard on.
“My scores are a reward for putting in the practice and also learning the golf course.
“That, along with the advice I got from Patrick Reed and Martin Laird, has helped in that regard.
“But then it takes a while to work this place out as everyone knows.
“I feel I am starting to figure out where I can hit it and where I can’t hit it so we’ll see how it goes over the weekend.
“I felt really good out there today because yesterday I was really nervous.
“I was shaking badly on the first tee which is normal out here but I really just wanted to get right back into the golf tournament.
“That’s what I went and did and I’ve given myself a chance over the weekend.”
Scotland’s top-ranked player headed into day two after an opening 74.
But after a third hole birdie, MacIntyre ran up back-toback bogeys at six and seven to sit three over in total.
He then played a brilliant chip shot to 18 inches for a birdie on eight to head to the inward nine even for the round.
The Oban lefty then lit up the course, holing a six-footer for birdie at the par-3 12th before two-putting the par-5 13th from 12 feet. After finding the trees left on 14, MacIntyre sent a super wedge shot to 10 feet, also for birdie.
He was now inside the top-20 at two under for his round and back to level for the tournament ahead of four closing pars.
Fellow Scot Martin Laird was sharing 11th place after a similar run of magic to MacIntyre, having birdied four holes in a stretch from the eighth to the 16th hole.
However, he bogeyed his closing two in a score of 71 to drop back to one over par.
Laird culminated his birdie push up the board by holing a brilliant 30-footer at the par-3 16th. The Denver-based Scot hit an 8-iron on 16 only for his ball to roll some 30 feet away from the flag.
But he was fist-pumping as he saw his birdie putt drop.
Laird said: “I kind of told myself to give the putt a little extra and I felt like I gave it a good rap up the hill.
“It was perfect, went in nice speed around the middle.
“It’s always nice to see those putts up those ridges going into the hole.”
But Laird knocked a huge pine cone off a tree down the left of 17 to take bogey and was again in the trees off 18.
He was forced to chip out sideways before draining the bogey of all bogeys at the last for his 71.
Laird has now made it to the weekend on three of his four Masters appearances.
He said: “It’s so very good to be back here.
“To be back to Augusta is great and to play really well today was good.
“I’m a little disappointed with my finish but up until then I played really nicely and I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
Overnight leader Justin Rose admitted he was close to pushing the panic button after a desperately poor start to his second round.
Rose saw his four-shot lead wiped out as he covered his opening 12 holes in three over par but birdied the 13th, 14th and 16th to add a 72 to his stunning opening 65 and remain at seven under.
The former US Open champion joked: “The finger was getting closer to the panic button.
“It was a tough start, poor tee shot on No.1 and had to chip out sideways. Then from that moment on, for the first six or seven holes I just kept leaving the ball on the greens but in tough spots.
“I felt like I hung in well and weathered that period of the round. Just little things were going wrong but I didn’t hit the panic button and I’m really pleased to turn it around.”
American big guns Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas both made their moves.
Spieth carded a 68 to move to five under alongside Marc Leishman while Thomas threeputted the last but shot 67 to be four under.
The key today was I missed one putt inside of 10 feet BOB MACINTYRE ON HIS SURGE UP LEADERBOARD