2026 Masters, Round 2 recap: Rory McIlroy sets Masters record with six-stroke lead

Rory McIlroy carries the largest 36-hole lead in Masters history into the weekend.

The 2025 Masters champ surged to a six-shot advantage through the first two rounds, thanks to a 7-under 65 on Friday.

Masters 2026: Odds entering third round at Augusta National

Rory McIlroy has gained some separation on the Masters leaderboard in his quest for a historic repeat championship.

• Steve Coulter,

• Steve Coulter,

Day 2 is in the books. Here’s a look at the leaders (click here for the full leaderboard):

1. Rory McIlroy: -12 (65)
T2 Sam Burns -6 (71)
T2 Patrick Reed -6 (69)
T4 Justin Rose -5 (69)
T4 Shane Lowry -5 (69)
T4 Tommy Fleetwood -5 (68)
T7 Wyndham Clark -4 (68)
T7 Tyrrell Hatton -4 (66)
T7 Haotong Li -4 (69)
T7 Kristoffer Reitan -4 (68)
T7 Jason Day -4 (71)
T7 Cameron Young -4 (67)

Rory is all smiles heading to the clubhouse after round 2, he’s in the lead by 6 strokes going into the weekend...The largest 36-hole lead EVER at the Masters!

9 birdies 🐦 on the day for the reigning champ ⛳

Rory McIlroy holed out on No. 17 to take a five-stroke lead in the second round.

Safe to say the champ is feeling good with five birdies on the last six holes ⛳

Rory drilled it on No. 16 to set up a birdie putt and go 10 under on the day.

He now sits in the lead by 4 strokes...

Patrick Reed finished round 2 at 6 under, still chasing defending Masters champ Rory McIlroy who currently sits in the lead.

Reed ALMOST escaped Friday without a single bogey on the course, but bogeyed No. 18 to finish the day.

Akshay Bhatia holed out on No. 17 and then gave the look of all looks 👀, knowing he moved onto the cut line...

As if the course at the Masters isn’t difficult enough, Haotong Li played the second round after being up all night sick to his stomach.

He felt so awful, in fact, that he almost withdrew from the tournament.

Well, Li not only stayed in the Masters, but he shot 3 under during the second round and sits within the top 10!

Under the weather, under par: Haotong Li enters weekend in contention at Augusta

I don’t know about you, but when I’m sick to my stomach, there’s no way I’m getting out of bed, let alone shooting a 3-under 69 to be within a couple of the lead at the Masters.

• Patricia Duffy,

• Patricia Duffy,

Rory has walked away with a birdie on the 13th hole at Augusta for the second straight day.

Neither trip started the way the reigning Masters winner would have liked but he certainly can’t argue with the result.

McIlroy sits alone in first place at 8 under with a two-stroke lead.

After starting his second nine with a bogey on the par-4 10th hole, McIlroy has recorded consecutive birdies as he looks to hold off an afternoon charge from Patrick Reed and Tommy Fleetwood.

Tommy Fleetwood is starting to feel the green jacket on his arms.

The reigning FedEx Cup champ’s eagle putt on No. 15 has pushed him into a second place tie with Patrick Reed.

It was Fleetwood’s second eagle on Friday. He previously conquered the par-5 8th hole.

Besides a bogey to start his day, the 35-year-old Fleetwood has been mistake free.

The Masters leaderboard has definitive shape at the top two spots: 2025 champion Rory McIlroy is the leader and 2018 winner is in solo second.

Third place? It’s not as clean.

Justin Rose is in the clubhouse after finishing 5 under through 36 holes at Augusta.

Tied with him are Jason Day and Sam Burns who have less than two holes left on their second round.

Day’s birdie on the par-4 14th hole helped vault him into the three-way tie.

Burns has seen birdie putts drop on No. 15 and No. 17 as he’s clawed back to even on the day.

Patrick Reed had tied Rory McIlroy atop the Masters leaderboard for a moment during Friday’s second round.

McIlroy, who is seeking to become the tournament’s fourth-ever repeat champion, answered the call on the par-3 12th hole.

Patrick Reed had 6 feet for birdie and the outright lead at the par-5 13th, but his putt slid by the right edge. The final turn away from the hole made Reed’s knees buckle in frustration.

McIllroy misses a 5-foot par putt at the 10th hole for his second bogey of the day. Once three up, he drops into a share of the lead with Patrick Reed.

Kristoffer Reitan is making his debut at Augusta National this week.

You wouldn’t know it watching him play the second nine Friday.

The 28-year-old Norwegian nailed four consecutive birdies between holes No. 12 and No. 15 and sits at 5-under with two holes to play.

Reitan, who moved into T-3 on the Masters leaderboard after the surge of good play, still seeking his first win on Tour.

Rory McIlroy has held onto a solo lead at Augusta for the better part of three hours during Friday’s second round.

The lead was two shots for the duration of that time but not any more.

Patrick Reed’s birdie on No. 12 has cut McIlroy’s lead in half, and vaulted the 2018 Masters winner into solo second.

Justin Rose and Kristoff Reitan are tied for third at 5 under. Rose is the clubhouse leader, while Reitan has used a run of four consecutive birdies on his second nine to vault up the Augusta leaderboard.

Reed is bogey free through the first dozen holes Friday.

Xander Schauffele has shot up to T-4 on the 2026 Masters leaderboard after making a birdie putt on No. 10.

Schauffele, who is currently 4 under par on the tournament, has yet to make a mistake in his second round.

Schauffele has finished inside the top 10 at Augusta National in five of the past seven years.

Scottie Scheffler had gone 11 straight rounds at Augusta finishing at par or better.

That streak snapped on Friday when Scheffler finished 2-over 74, his first over-par score at the Masters since a 75 in the second round in 2023. He sits T-23 on the leaderboard with about half of the field still on the course.

Scheffler bogeyed on a pair of second nine par 5s (No. 13 and No. 15) during his second round which sent the two-time Masters winner tumbling down the leaderboard after finishing 2 under after the first 18 holes.

“It’s a hard shot for me, because where I hit my drive there, we caught that tee ball into the wind again, so as far as I can get it out there, there’s still some trees in my way, so I kind of have to start on that bridge, but off the slope I felt like I could pretty easily draw it off,” Scheffler explained about the breakdown on No. 13.

“I just tried to kind of swing it with the slope and just didn’t catch it that solid and kind of hung out there.”

Tommy Fleetwood has entered into a six-player tie for fourth place at the 2026 Masters.

An eagle on the par-5 8th hole and a birdie to open up his second nine on 10 have the defending FedEx Cup champ thinking of his first career jacket.

He sits three shots off leader and Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy.

Like most professional golf events, there is a cut made to reduce the field after 36 holes of the Masters Tournament.

The Masters has a limited field, related to the number of invitations it offers, and this year’s tournament began with 91 players.

Masters 2026 cut line: How is it determined at Augusta National

Like most professional events, there is a cut made to reduce the field after 36 holes of the Masters Tournament.

• Golf Channel Staff,

• Golf Channel Staff,

After two rounds, the top 50 players and ties will qualify for the final 36 holes at Augusta National Golf Club. After Thursday’s opening round, the projected cut line was 3 over par.

Starting in 2020, the tounament ended its 10-shot rule, in which players within 10 strokes of the 36-hole lead made the cut, regardless of position.

Prior to 2014, the Masters would cut to the top 44 players and ties (along with the 10-shot rule).

Haotong Li has moved so far off the projected cut that he’s now just three shots off the lead at Augusta.

Li’s four consecutive birdies on the second nine have catapulted him into T-5 on the Masters leaderboard.

The four straight birdies matches the high for the week. Li finished with a 1-over 71 on Thursday and is currently 3 under on the second round.

Li made a beautiful putt to save par at the 17th hole which snapped the run of birdies.

The projected cut is +4.

Thursday Brooks Koepka might not even recognize Friday Brooks Koepka.

The difference an adjustment to the driver can make, right?

The five-time major champ completed a 3-under 69 on Friday at Augusta national and cited that changing from an A1 to a B1 was instrumental in improved results.

Masters.com

Depending on how the Masters leaderboard shakes out Friday afternoon, debutant Chris Gotterup could be heading into his first weekend at Augusta inside the top 10.

The four-time PGA Tour winner submitted a 3-under 69 during his second round and currently sits T-9 with plenty of players on the course.

Gotterup, who won the Sony Open and the WM Phoenix Open to start 2026, finished his round birdie-birdie and is well above the projected cut at +4 after his first 36 holes at Augusta.

And those looking for Masters history: Gotterup’s four wins are tied for the most any player has had at the time of his Masters debut since World War II. Dave Hill in 1968 and Mark Wilson in 2011 also came to Augusta with a quadrant of career victories.

Justin Rose is in the clubhouse as leader at 5 under, and will wait to see how the rest of the field shakes out at Augusta on Friday.

Leader Rory McIlroy remains on the course holding a two-shot advantage with a dozen holes still to play.

If the leaderboard holds, Saturday’s final pairing will mimic the famous 2025 Masters playoff between Rose and McIlroy.

“We’ll say how the golf course plays for the back end of the day because I know it gave a lot of trouble yesterday,” Rose said in his post-round interview.

McIlroy completed his career Grand Slam last April. Rose finished runner-up at Augusta for a third time in his career.

As far as clubhouse leader is concerned, Rose has a shot lead over Tyrrell Hatton and Wyndham Clark who are in at 4 under.

Rory McIlroy rolls in a delicate left-to-right 15-footer at the par-3 fourth for his third consecutive birdie. He’s now three clear of the field at 8 under.

It’s his only dropped shot of the day, in which he posted a tournament-best 66. At 4 under par, he’s enters the clubhouse three back of Rory McIlroy.

After a water-ball bogey at the par-5 13th, Scheffler hits his second shot over the green at the par-5 15th and into the water fronting the 16th.

It’s a par-birdie-birdie start for the defending champion. He’s now at 7 under, with Hatton, Rose and Burns at 5 under.

McIlroy birdies the par-5 second to reach 6 under, one clear of Tyrrell Hatton, Justin Rose and Sam Burns.

Scheffler, from 245 yards on a severe upslope, hit his second into Rae’s Creek at the par 5 and made bogey, dropping him to 1 under for the tournament and four off the lead.

Here’s who to watch this afternoon:

• 1:08 p.m. - Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood, Akshay Bhatia
• 1:20 p.m. - Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele
• 1:44 p.m. - Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young, Mason Howell (a)

Wyndham Clark started his day even before shooting a 4-under 68 and getting in the clubhouse just one back of the leaders at 5 under.

Justin Rose was tied for the lead briefly after four birdies in five holes, but he just bogeyed the 12th to drop to 4 under.

Brooks Koepka is putting together a solid round. He also started the day even and is now 2 under — just birdied the 12th.

It’s one of the best storylines through the first two rounds every year, but it seems like the amateur storyline will end today. Ethan Fang had the best first round with a 2-over 74 — he’s currently 7 over.

Jackson Herrington was next best at 4 over. He has fared a little better so far today but is still 5 over and only five holes in.

Cut is projected at 4 over right now.

Tyrrell Hatton started the day at 2 over but is now 2 under after four birdies on the first nine.

After hitting the fairway on the par-5 second, Woodland lost his fairway-metal approach to the right. His third shot came up short of the greenside bunker and his fourth shot landed in it. He needed three more strokes to get it in the hole.

Woodland dropped to 1 over par for the tournament. The current projected cut line is 3 over.

He birdied Nos. 2 and 3 to get into red numbers.

Stress-free par at the first for the world No. 1 to remain at 2 under, three off the lead.

After back-to-back bogeys to finish his opening round, Justin Rose dropped another shot Friday morning at the par-4 first.

He’s now at 1 under par, the same number as playing competitor Jordan Spieth, who birdied the first.

Finalizing their warmups (times ET).

• 9:43 a.m. - Jon Rahm, Chris Gotterup, Ludvig Åberg
• 9:55 a.m. - Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka
• 10:19 a.m. - Scottie Scheffler, Robert MacIntyre, Gary Woodland

With a mighty lash into the 240-yard, par-3 fourth, Wyndham Clark hit his tee shot to 8 feet. He made the putt to reach 3 under, two off the lead.

The 2023 U.S. Open champion birdied Nos. 2 and 3 to reach 2 under par. He’s had only one top-30 finish in a major since his breakthrough at Los Angeles Country Club (T-4, 2025 Open Championship).

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The first pairing of Sam Stevens and Sungjae Im are now driving.

He’s off at 9:43 a.m. ET in Round 2.

Jon Rahm ties his worst major score in birdie-less opening round of Masters

Jon Rahm double bogeyed the par-5 13th hole and failed to convert several opportunities for birdie on his second nine at Augusta National.

• Steve Coulter,

• Steve Coulter,