2022 takeaway: Scotty Scheffler looking to prove bonafide, Justin Thomas lurks in Moving Day entry

AUGUSTA, GA – Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the world’s No. 1 golfer, who has also won three of his last five tournaments, scored 67 on Friday at the 2022 Masters and holds five strokes in the first major of the year. However, most of the world’s No. 1 players have yet to become World No. 1 after just two months of not winning the PGA Tour – like Scottie Scheffler.

The 25-year-old Schaeffler’s ride simulates his ride over the past two months. His first win on the PGA Tour came on February 13 at the Phoenix Open. It was his second on March 6 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. His third fell just three weeks later on March 28 at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, the same day he became the number one golfer on the planet.

And now, two weeks after that, He tied the record by holding the largest lead of 36 holes (five strokes over four contenders) in the history of the Masters.

Schaeffler has quietly been a beast in the big business for the past few years. His last six starts yielded the top 20, and he’s been a statistical champion over the course of his career despite only winning a couple of months ago. Again this week, he leads Field in strokes earned from a tee into the green, and his performance is certainly sustainable.

After 36 holes and two days of Masters dominated by the stunning play of Tiger Woods’ comeback, this event finally has a story outside of Big Cat. Four of the five golfers who led by five strokes after 36 holes at the Masters They went to win the green jacket. The only person who did not accomplish this feat occurred before the start of World War II.

It shouldn’t seem strange that the world’s number one player would win the Masters on his third start at Augusta National. However, since his ascension to the top of the world happened as quickly as it had, doubt still existed.

One of the events that came up in the week was whether Schaeffler was a real #1 player. The question was not whether he was a good golfer but rather whether he was on the stove.

A Masters victory would erase all doubt about Schaeffler’s future And his future. Now, the question that has dominated the first part of this week – What will Tiger Woods do in the 2022 Masters Championship? Deleted and replaced By a man wearing Big Cat’s Nikes. The question now for Schaeffler is the same one Tiger has answered many times over the course of his career: Will anyone catch the No. 1 player in the world during the last 36 holes of this major tournament?

Here are nine more thoughts on Round Two of the 2022 Masters Tournament.

2. The cat is alive: Again, a 71-74 might not look great in the history books, but Tiger is a show for the ages considering he was browsing prosthetics this time around a year ago. After coming off at 39, he made his way to 35 in the second nine and easily made it to the weekend. Do you compete on Sunday? I don’t think it looks like he’s thinking about how poor he is yet and How did he break his body now. Saturday, however, will tell, and we may get one last magical action from the cat in the place he controls the most.

“I don’t feel as good as I’d like to feel,” Woods said. “That’s fine. Like I said, I have a chance to go into the weekend. I hope to have one of those headlight moments and turn it on at the weekend and get it done. I’ve seen guys do that with a chance to get into the back nine defense. If I’m five or Six players in the back nine defensive line, anything can happen. I want to put myself out there. This is the key. I want to put myself out there. Tomorrow is going to be a great day.”

3. Dustin Johnson Kamen: The grind was on for the DJ on Friday after two ghosts caused by horrific engines on the 7 and 9 in the first nine. He made nine consecutive teams in the second nine to go home with a score of 73 that doesn’t look great on paper but was nearly twice better than the field average in the second round. The DJ knows that weekends are long, and he’s simply trying to play his way into Sunday noon. His patience and discipline (seriously, patience and DJ discipline) are impressive, and winning a Masters at the age of 6 under would be more impressive than winning it at 20 records as he did a year and a half ago.

4. Justin Thomas jumps, Colin Morikawa moves: Morikawa’s slide to the top 10 on the leaderboard was a quieter one than the GT, but these two “if he’s out on 31 early in the day, things are going to get a lot more interesting” to watch on Saturday. Thomas put on a show. He matched Schaeffler’s 67 late in the day, earned a 14-16 and completely covered his 76th as of Thursday. He’s legitimately in the mix, and with a 5.6 hit close to shot in the second round, a path to contention on Sunday for him doesn’t seem impossible.

Watch the 2022 Masters live broadcast on Saturday with Masters Live Where we follow the world’s best golfers around the Augusta National with Featured Groupscheck in the famous Amen corner And see the leaders around the turn on Holes 15 and 16. Watch the live broadcast CBSSports.comThe CBS Sports . app And Paramount +.

5. 2011 and 2016 as well: After Thursday, I made it clear with a leaderboard that included Dustin Johnson, Songjay M and Cameron Smith – the top three riders of the November Masters – that we had a new version for 2020. Apparently, we had more iterations for 2011 and 2016 as well. Charles Schwarzl (2011 Champion) shot 3-under 69 on Friday and sits in 3-under after 36 holes. He’s missed out on the last six cuts around the world and isn’t in the top 10 anywhere since last July. Danny Willett (2016 champ) hit 74 but is still 10th. Water on number 12.

6. The most difficult test: Friday’s average scoring rose to 74.6 due to nightmarish high winds that were as lively as they were inconsistent. The best indication of how hard Augusta National is on Friday? Six golfers fired in the 1960s, and seven in the 1980s.

7. Back to Back Hideki? I probably liked Hideki Matsuyama’s 3-point show a lot so far this week. He has been non-functioning for most of the past few months and pulled out of the Texas Open last week with a neck injury. right Now? He has a real chance of becoming the first golfer since Tiger in 2001-02 to win two consecutive greens.

8. How cool is golf? 63-year-old Larry Miz, who averaged 230 yards from a tee this week, beat 28-year-old Bryson Dechambeau who averaged 310 yards from a tee on a golf course he once said he played for on a par 67. I know DeChambeau is clearly not healthy, but imagine that would happen in any other sport!

9. Bubba being Bubba: Let’s all take a moment to appreciate this incredible shot on #18 that led to a birdie for Bubba Watson and helped him spend the weekend in Augusta.

10. Who can win? If we believe the trend below will continue, the winner of the 2022 Masters will be one of the following.

• Scotty Scheffler
• Charles Schwarzl
• Sungjae im
• Shane Lowry
• Hideki Matsuyama
• Harold Varner III
• Dustin Johnson
• Kevin Na
• Cam Smith