Masters 2014 tee times and pairings for Friday’s 2nd round

The second round at the Masters doesn’t have that instant identity or narrative around it like the other three rounds at Augusta. Thursday ends the months of anticipation as the opening day, Saturday is moving day where the leaderboard can shuffle up and big names make a move, and Sunday is Sunday. Much of the drama on Friday centers on the players in the middle of the board grinding to make the cut, which is more benign after new rules were implemented last year by the Masters tournament committee.

The Masters increased the cut line from the top 44 and ties to the top 50 and ties, while also maintaining the 10-shot rule for anyone within 10 strokes of the lead. Last year on Friday we had the drama of 14-year-old amateur Tianlang Guan making the cut by a shot, unburdening the Masters and rules official John Paramor from historic villainy after Guan was penalized a stroke for slow play, which is never enforced, on the 17th hole. He got in via the 10-shot rule when Jason Day missed a putt towards the end of the round, and so that’s the kind of drama we can get late on Friday.

With the way the course was playing on Thursday, there were plenty of players who went in the wrong direction and a lot of big names are in danger of missing the weekend. Phil Mickelson is 4-over, much of the damage done with two 7s on the 7th and 15th hole. Typically, he’d be about six shots better on those two holes but now he’ll need to put together a round to inch his way up the board and avoid the cut line drama. He’ll be out in the morning, with the course running smooth and for his sake, hopefully calmer winds. Mickelson will be on the first tee at 10:30 a.m. ET alongside Ernie Els and Justin Rose.

While Mickelson headlines the first half of the tee times, the big names in the late marquee groups are in much better shape on the leaderboard and simply trying to improve their position at the midpoint. Both Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy started the week as co-favorites, and both opened the tournament with one of the several rounds in the red. Scott is the new favorite at 11/2 in Las Vegas after posting a 3-under 69 to come in one shot off the pace of Bill Haas. His playing partner, Jason Dufner, effectively ended his tournament at the 13th hole on Thursday when he carded a quadruple-bogey 9. The third member of their group, reigning U.S. Amateur champ Matt Fitzpatrick, is 4-over and trying to make the cut so Scott won’t have anyone in his group really pushing the pace with him. They go off in the penultimate group at 1:48 p.m. ET.

Rory will play in the last group of the day with Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth. For me, this is the best group the Masters put together for the first two rounds. All three are under 25 and all three have shown they’ll be forces on the Tour, and at the majors, for the next 25 years. McIlroy is positioned well at 1-under, and that’s with a bogey on his last hole of the opening round. Spieth is also right there at 1-under, and Reed, after finishing bogey-bogey-bogey on Thursday is still just 1-over and in fine enough shape. The cameras will be on this group all afternoon, and they head out at 1:59 to cap the tee sheet. It’s not far-fetched to think we’ll see one of these guys in the final pairing again before the weekend is over.

The weather is supposed to be perfect again on Friday, and continue that way through the weekend. There should be no interruption in play and because the Masters has such a unique way of qualifying, the field is much smaller (~50 players) than the last three majors of the season. There’s no need to send threesomes off split tees from sun-up to sun-down. Instead, every group goes off No. 1 and plays the course as it was intended. The pace of play has been brutal in recent years, but getting rounds in on time is never an issue. The first tee time is set for 7:45 a.m. for the twosome of D.A. Points and Kevin Streelman and the McIlroy group will then anchor it all late in the day.

Here’s the full tee sheet for Friday at Augusta: