Dustin Johnson has made the turn at Augusta National and is now tied with Marc Leishman for the lead at 6-under. Johnson shot his best ever round at Augusta on Thursday, a 5-under 67, but he struggled early this morning with two bogeys in his first three holes. He has not bogeyed a hole since, and has steadily worked his way back up the leaderboard, picking up back-to-back birdies on Nos. 9 and 10 to get to 6-under.
Masters leaderboard 2013: Dustin Johnson leads, Sergio Garcia’s struggles continue
First-round leader Sergio Garcia has yet to make a birdie on Friday, yielding the lead to Dustin Johnson, who made his move at the turn.
Johnson is as talented as anyone on the PGA Tour, but he’s made repeated mental errors at past majors that have prevented him from picking up a career-defining win. DJ has always struggled a bit around the green, but he’s probably the best driver in the world. That was on display at the par-5 13th hole Thursday, when he sent his drive up and over the trees on the dogleg left to land it 354 yards out. He needed only a 9-iron on his second shot, and then cleaned up on the green with an eagle. Dustin still has that hole ahead of him, as well as the par-5 No. 15, so expect him to add a few more birdies before his round is over. All he needs to do is navigate some of the other slick greens (Nos. 14 & 17) with his short game.
One player who’s going in the opposite direction of Johnson is Sergio Garcia. Sergio promptly lost his lead early on Friday morning, dropping two shots with back-to-back bogeys in his first five holes. He righted the ship momentarily, but then started his trip to Amen Corner corner with a pull into the water on No. 11. Left is the one spot on that hole which you must avoid, and almost no one ever goes at the pin unless it’s way on the right side of the green. Sergio’s ball never had a chance:
He did pull off a nice bogey “save” by getting up-and-down, but he still has yet to make a birdie in the second round.
Phil Mickelson, who added an early birdie at No. 2, has stalled out and remains at 2-under. It could be much worse for Phil at this point, with only 12 players in red figures as the field contends with some nasty pin positions. Here’s a current snapshot of the leaderboard, along with some other notables:
| Score | Player | Thru |
| -6 | Dustin Johnson | 10 |
| -6 | Marc Leishman | 2 |
| -3 | Matt Kuchar | 8 |
| -3 | Sergio Garcia | 12 |
| -3 | Fred Couples | 10 |
| -2 | Phil Mickelson | 8 |
| -1 | Adam Scott | 12 |
| E | Rory McIlroy | 8 |
| 3 | Tianlang Guan | 14 |
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