Tiger Woods has struggled through his second round at Augusta but he will continue his unlikely comeback from injury on the weekend after making the cut at the Masters.
In his first tournament after more than 500 days away from golf following a career-threatening car crash, Woods began the day in 10th place at 1-under.
But on a day when winds gusting up to nearly 50 kph made play difficult for most players — with 14 rounds out of 89 under the par mark of 72 — Woods shot a second-round 73 to leave him at level par for the tournament.
The cut was made at 4-over, leaving him safe for the final two rounds. Woods is nine shots off the lead at halfway.
The clear number one on the leaderboard was the world number one, Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler shot a 5-under round of 67 to get to 8-under overall, leading by five shots from a quartet of players — Ireland's Shane Lowry, South Africa's Charl Schwartzel, defending champion Hideki Matsuyama and South Korea's Sungjae Im.
Scheffler, a 25-year-old who lives in Texas, came into the tournament as the hottest player in world golf.
He has won three Tour titles this year — the Phoenix Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the WGC Match Play.
After a 3-under opening round, Scheffler made six birdies between the seventh and the 16th on his way to a 5-under round.
Scheffler showed brilliant touch around the course to hold the equal record margin at halfway in Masters history. Four of the previous five men to hold a five-shot lead after two rounds have gone on to win the tournament.
Woods was not on song from the start of his round, dropping a shot at the first.
Then three bogeys in a row from the third to the fifth holes saw him slip back to 3-over for the tournament.
He birdied the eighth to finish the front nine in 3-over 39.
He made another birdie at the 10th and when he made back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14, the huge galleries following his group gave huge roars of approval.
Woods has admitted that walking the course is a physical challenge for him, after his comeback from leg surgery.
He had chances to get closer — including a short putt that slid wide at the 16th — but closed out his round with three pars.
“I don’t feel as good as I would like to feel,” Woods said with a smile after the round.
Smith stays in touch, Scott leaves it late
It was an up-and-down day for the Australians in the field.
Australia's Cameron Smith had a tough second round but, like Woods, he benefited from the winds dying down late in the day as he rebounded to finish on 2-over for the day.
Smith lost a string of shots early, and he was at level par with four holes to go, before birdieing the par-three 16th.
He then hit a brilliant approach to the final hole, setting up another birdie to finish with a 74, leaving him at 2-under for the tournament.
Adam Scott was travelling well at 1-over the card until a disastrous triple-bogey on the 14th put him right on the cut line. He birdied the 16th, but then bogeyed the next to need a par at the last.
He hit his second shot on 18 into the bunker and then had to spray out and run the ball down the slope to get close to the hole.
Scott was left with a 2-to-3-metre putt and it dropped, for the Aussie to finish on 4-over.
Of the other Australians, Min Woo Lee, Marc Leishman and Cameron Davis all finished on 4-over as well, to come back on the weekend, while Lucas Herbert shot a 4-over 76 to finish at 6-over and miss the cut.
Cink sends crowd crazy with ace on the 16th
Away from the top of the leaderboard, Stewart Cink had a second round to remember with a hole-in-one at the 16th.
Like many players, Cink hit his tee-shot out to the right, to catch the bank and run the ball down the slope towards the hole.
The crowd began to roar as the ball picked up momentum, and it rolled smoothly down the hill and into the cup for an ace.
Cink and his son Reagan, his caddie for the round, were walking off the tee as the ball went in. As the roar went up, Cink raised his arms in triumph and his son turned around, dropped the golf bag and jumped into his father's arms for a hug.
The golfer then accepted a hug from playing partner Harry Higgs, and high fives from the other caddies and the third player in the group, Brian Harman.
Cink, 48, is best remembered for his fairytale-crushing win at the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry, where he beat Tom Watson in a four-hole playoff to thwart his fellow American's bid to become the oldest winner of a major title in history at 59.
His best result at Augusta National has been a third-place finish in 2008. Cink would not match that result in 2022 — he finished with a 3-over round of 75 to miss the cut on 6-over.
However, he and his son will carry a great memory from the Masters.
