AUGUSTA, Ga. — If Saturday is moving day at a major championship, Friday turned into proving day for Scottie Scheffler.
Tiger Woods looms over the 2022 Masters, and will play the weekend after shooting a second-round 74. Scheffler, the latest successor to Woods atop the world golf rankings, looms atop the leaderboard.
Through six holes of his second round, Scheffler was 1 over par on the day. He birdied the seventh, eighth, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th holes to shoot a 67, move to 8 under and become the sixth player ever to take a five-shot lead into the weekend. Four of the first five won the tournament. The only one who lost: Harry Cooper in 1936.
While Woods is showing off a new, vulnerable version of himself, Scheffler is reprising Woods in his prime at Augusta National, dominating par-5s and the field.
Scheffler ranks sixth in driving accuracy, hitting 82.1% of fairways, and third in greens in regulation, at 72.2%, proving that putting matters most at the Masters when you give yourself plenty of chances to make birdies.
"I feel like my game's in a good spot," Scheffler said. "I've done a good job managing my way around the golf course the last couple of days."
After shooting a 67 in high winds, Scheffler couldn't have sounded more relaxed had he been tending a grill in his backyard. Asked about his thought process as winds gusted up to 30 miles per hour in the afternoon, he said, "It's not overly complicated."
Scheffler is attempting to win his first major, and has all but assured that Woods, nine shots off the lead, will have to settle for a consolation prize.
"Hey," Woods said with a smile, "I made the cut."
Scheffler earned the top ranking in the world with three victories in his past five tournaments, trying to become the first player since Jason Day in 2015 to win four times in six starts. Majors and the Masters are supposed to be different, and have been for so many talented players through the years.
Scheffler might win a Masters before Rory McIlroy (or anyone from Ireland), Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. Unlike many of his peers, Scheffler is turning potential into reality.
If he's feeling pressure, he's quite an actor. After making birdie at tricky No. 12, he stood on the back of the green laughing with his caddie.
Woods was 4 over after five holes but rallied, making birdies at 13 and 14 and just missing birdies the next two holes. He continued to walk with a slight limp because of his surgically repaired right leg, and continued to say that he needs buckets of ice and hours of rehab every night. He also played with his customary grit, and continued to show uncharacteristic appreciation for cheering fans.
"I hit a couple of shots that I got a couple of bad gusts and also made a couple of bad swings on top of that," Woods said. "Then on 4 I ended up in a divot. It was just like, OK, what else can go wrong? I told [caddy] Joey [LaCava], it's tough for everybody. Let's get back to even par for the day. Let's finish out the day at even par somehow …
"It's going to be exciting, and it's going to be fun for all of us."
The four players five shots back of Scheffler are diverse and accomplished. Charl Schwartzel is a former Masters champ from South Africa who has faded from view; Sungjae Im is a rising player from South Korea; Shane Lowry is from Ireland and has won the British Open; Hideki Matsuyama is from Japan and won last year's Masters.
None of them plan to spend the night in an ice bath, like Woods. "I don't feel as good as I'd like to feel," he said. "But that's OK. Hopefully I'll have one of those light-bulb moments and turn it on.
"I need to give myself a chance going into that back nine on Sunday."
Scheffler's back nine on Friday might have won him the tournament.
