AUGUSTA, Ga. — Scottie Scheffler’s bid to win a third Masters in five years came to an unofficial close Friday.
Scheffler, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, is still in the tournament, it’s just that he failed to make any sort of move in Friday’s round and stands at even par after shooting a second-round 74 and is 12 shots off Rory McIlroy’s lead.
“I felt like I played a lot better than my score,’’ Scheffler said. “I got off to a slow start, (missed) a few up-and-downs early that I should have had that I didn’t convert. Then I fought back to get it to even.’’
Scheffler said his goal for the weekend is, “I would like to hole a few more putts.’’
“I felt like it was rolling nice today, but balls just weren’t dropping,’’ he said. “Maybe my reads were a little bit off. I felt like I was starting on line, could have been speed on a couple of putts, but overall today I felt like I definitely played better than my score.
“It was frustrating to get it back to even, have a couple of par-5s in front of me, and then wasn’t able to convert really basically anything coming down the stretch.’’
Scheffler said you “can’t force’’ things on the weekend, but he might not have any choice with the deficit at 12 shots.
He hopes his strong results at Augusta — his two wins — can help propel him over the weekend.
“Any time you can have success on this golf course, I think it can only give you more confidence,’’ he said. “Being able to get it done here, you have to do a lot of things right. I think it would be silly to say that doesn’t give you some confidence going into a tournament like this.’’
