Don’t mention LIV? Given you can get put in the stocks at Augusta National for the heinous crimes of running or using your mobile phone, the use of the *** word in ear shot of the high heid yins would probably get you hurled in the Savannah River.
There’s no getting away from the rebel tour in the 87th Masters, though. Brooks Koepka, one of 18 LIV renegades who teed off in the opening major of the year, had set a robust halfway target at the top of the leaderboard when the printing presses on this side of the pond were clanking and birling into action.
A neatly assembled five-under 67, tacked on to his opening 65, gave the four-time major champion a sturdy 12-under aggregate. According to the number crunchers who chomp on data and statistics, the only other player in Masters history to be 12-under through 36 holes was a certain Greg Norman back in 1996. Norman, of course, blew that position of authority but, in his position of power as the figurehead of the LIV series, there’s something of a delicious intrigue to this particular Masters tale.
Norman’s post as disrupter in chief of golf’s ecosystem means that the Australian is about as popular at Augusta as a weather delay. And that predicted weather delay did arrive not long after Koepka had established a strong redoubt at the head of the early standings. Mercifully, that initial halt to proceedings lasted only 15 minutes or so. In Masters parlance, you could say it was a suspension unlike any other.
The weather forecast may have made for grim reading and Koepka, who shared the overnight lead with Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland, sent out his own warning with another display of poise and purpose.
Three birdies, and an eagle on the eighth, were the highlights on a bogey-free card which propelled him to the summit as he upped the ante in his push for a first green jacket.
A year ago at Augusta, Koepka cut a fairly forlorn figure after missing the halfway cut.
A series of niggling injuries and a loss of form led to the former world No.1 trying to take his frustrations out on a car. Given the burly
Koepka has the kind of build
you’d get with the sandstone buttes in Monument Valley, the motor got off lightly.
“Last year, I don’t even know if I should be saying this, but I’m pretty sure I tried to break the back window of the car with my fist,” Koepka reflected. “I tried to put it through the back window, not once but twice.
“The first time it didn’t go, so I figured I’d try it again. The window did not break. Apparently [I’m] not strong enough. The ride home was pretty silent. But yeah, I guess Mercedes make a pretty good back window.”
Despite his toils and troubles, Koepka, who won on the LIV series last weekend, believes he is getting back to the form which swept him to four wins in eight major championship starts. “I feel really good,” he said. “I like the way I’m swinging the golf club, putting it, chipping it, driving it, iron play is solid. It feels really similar (to that run).”
While Rory McIlroy’s latest assault on the career grand slam came to an end with a sorry 77 there were some wonderful amateur dramatics from Sam Bennett.
The reigning US Amateur champion posted a 68 for the second day in a row to sit at eight-under and very much in the mix. Bobby Jones, golf’s greatest ever amateur campaigner and the co-founder of the Masters, would’ve been delighted.
For Bennett, the memory of his late father is driving this unlikely title tilt.
His dad, Mark, suffered from early onset Alzheimers and passed away in 2021.
The last thing he wrote down was advice to his son in June 2020 which said: “Don’t wait to do something”. Bennett has those words etched in a tattoo on his arm and he has certainly been inspired by them this week.
He’s not intimidated by the scale of the occasion or his lofty perch either.
“This is right where I want to be,” he said. “I love pressure, I love nerves. I try to use them to my advantage. I think I can [win]. I’m ready for the weekend and have got myself in a good spot. Anything can happen.”
It’s shaping up to be quite a weekend.
