AUGUSTA, Ga. — Well, look who snuck up the Masters leaderboard with a late-afternoon charge Friday.
Phil Mickelson, a three-time winner of the Green Jacket, had been left for irrelevance before a back-nine 32 pulled him to 6-under for the tournament, eight shots off Jordan Spieth’s lead.
“It was a good back nine, obviously,’’ said Mickelson, who shot 70 on Thursday and 68 on Friday. “I think we got a little luckier with the later tee time. The wind started to die down a little bit, and around Amen Corner, although there was still a little bit of wind, it was nothing like what was going on earlier in the day. We were able to get at some pins and make some birdies.’’
Mickelson said he would not change his game plan going into the weekend, despite Spieth’s 14-under number.
“[Friday] was a tough day starting out, where I’m 12 shots off the lead,’’ he said. “I’ve got a difficult golf course with windy conditions and a lot of tough pins. It was tough to be patient. It was tough not to force the issue and make some dumb mistakes. It would have been really easy to do. But I shot a good round.
“[Saturday] is the same goal — to just go out and shoot as low a round as I can given what the conditions are, given where the pin placements are. A lot can happen on this golf course, and [Spieth] was playing some of the best golf coming into this tournament, he’s playing the best golf in the tournament.
“I expect him to continue that, but you never know what’s going to happen in this golf tournament.’’
Rory McIlroy’s bid to complete a career Grand Slam is highly unlikely as he faces a 12-shot deficit entering the weekend. But at least McIlroy, the No. 1 ranked player in the world, will be here for the weekend after missing the cut last year.
McIlroy shot a second consecutive 71 on Friday and is 2-under for the tournament. A front-nine 40 had him in jeopardy of missing the cut before he rallied with a 31 on the back.
He called Spieth’s 14-under “really, really impressive.’’
“I think a few guys can still catch him,’’ McIlroy said. “It will take, obviously, something extraordinary from myself to get up there, but you never know. I know better than most people what can happen with the lead around here [he lost a four-shot final-round lead in 2011].
“But Jordan’s had the experience. He had the experience last year. He had a couple-shot lead and couldn’t quite hold on to it. But he’ll have learned from that and he’ll definitely handle it better this time around.”
McIlroy attributed his inconsistencies this week to “missing it in the wrong places.’’
“But the good golf is in there,’’ he said. “It’s just a matter of trying to get rid of the bad stuff, which was all on the front nine today.’’
Asked if he can still win this week, McIlroy said: “I would need to shoot a 14-‑under par weekend and Jordan would have to play a couple average rounds, and neither of those two things look like they’re going to happen, so it’s going to be tough.
“I’ll go out and try and play the best that I can and we’ll see where that leaves me. But, a few more nine holes like the one I just had there, you never know.’’
Justin Rose, who began the day at 5-under, three shots behind Spieth, had the most volatile round of Friday, falling to 2-under with three bogeys in his first four holes before rallying to get to 7-under with a 70.
Rose said he “drew a line’’ in his scorecard after the poor start and rebooted.
“Just literally drew a line on my scorecard, pretty deep with pencil — like a metaphorical line in the sand, and just said to myself, ‘Come on, play one shot at a time,’ ’’ Rose said. “I needed to turn it around. It was a bad start, just didn’t feel comfortable on the golf course. The wind was swirling in between clubs on every shot.’’
Morgan Hoffmann, from Wyckoff, N.J., shot an even-par 72 to make the cut in his first Masters. He will play with Jason Dufner on Saturday. Hoffmann rallied after a triple bogey on the 11th hole to make the cut.
He was playing in the group in front of Ben Crenshaw, who was playing his final Masters round, and called it inspiring. After his round, Hoffmann went to the 18th green to watch and said, ‘It gave me goose bumps.’’
Two big-name players made big-time rallies to stay for the weekend Sergio Garcia started the day at 4-under, shot 40 on the front and bogeyed the par-5 13th and appeared on his way out. But birdies on four of the last five holes saved him.
“After the bogey on 13, I felt I’ve seen this movie before — a lot of times here,’’ Garcia said. “It definitely didn’t look like I was going to make it. I got fortunate to be here for the weekend.’’
Garcia is paired with Tiger Woods in Saturday’s third round, not a pairing either player likes because they’re not very fond of each other. The last time the two were paired together was at the Players Championship, when Garcia accused Woods of intentionally distracting him by pulling a club from his bag and inciting a crowd reaction as Garcia was about to hit.
Rickie Fowler also scrambled to make the cut with four birdies on his final six holes.
“It feels pretty good now,’’ Fowler said. “It was pretty stressful out there.’’
Though none of the amateurs in the field made the cut, Corey Conners followed an opening-round 80 with a 69 on Friday. … Kevin Na matched Spieth with the low round of the day at 66, and stands at 4-under for the tournament. … Bubba Watson, the defending champion and winner of two of the last three Masters, is 2-under.