Three South Africans started at Augusta, with Casey Jarvis (+8) and Aldrich Potgieter (+15) missing the cut. Schwartzel, making his 17th Masters start, opened the tournament with a three-over-par 75 on Thursday and followed it up with a one-over-par 73 on Friday, enough to make the cut. During the second round, Schwartzel made a bogey at the first hole, but followed it up with a run of three consecutive birdies at holes two, three and four. However, he double-bogeyed the sixth, bogeyed the seventh before birdieing the ninth. On the back nine, Schwartzel made a bogey at the 10th, recovered with a birdie at the 13th before going on to bogey the 17th again. Meanwhile, defending champion Rory McIlroy (-12) carded a 65 in the second round to build a six-shot lead over Patrick Reed (-6) and Sam Burns (-6). It is the largest 36-hole margin in Masters history – six players, including multiple winners Jack Nicklaus (1975) and Scottie Scheffler (2022), went into the weekend ahead by five – and McIlroy’s 12-under 132 bettered by three the best halfway score by a defending champion (Ian Woosnam, 1992). “I’ve always felt like this golf course can let you get on runs if you allow. I knew I had some chances coming in when I was standing on the 12th tee, but I didn’t think I’d birdie six of the last seven. It just shows what you can do around here,” said Mcllroy.