Masters leaderboard 2016: Jordan Spieth stays comfortably ahead at Augusta

Just when it was starting to look a lot like last year, Jordan Spieth decided to make a mistake and give the rest of the field a gift. Spieth opened with two birdies in his first three holes to extend his lead to five shots at one point, but that work was undone with a four-putt double-bogey at the fifth hole.

The rest of the field, which included world No. 1 Jason Day and Rory McIlroy, stalled out in the Friday winds at the Masters. Spieth began his second round by pouring in birdies to extend his lead and begin the early coronation on social media.

Spieth went to sleep with a two-shot lead and four holes into his second round, the margin was five. The first hole at Augusta is supposed to be one of the two or three most difficult scoring holes on the course. It’s a nervy test from tee to green that the best in the world consistently screw up to start their round. A par is succeeding. Spieth, as if to tell the rest of the field to start packing it up, went ahead and made birdie.

To keep the pedal down, Spieth stuck his approach shot at the par-4 third to just two feet.

With that kind of iron play, he does not need his putter. Those are his two strengths -- it’s what got him the runaway win last year and has him in position for the same outcome again this year. The 15-25 foot putts are so critical to saving pars and stealing birdies, and Spieth is the best in the world from that range. And when he needs lag one from a mile away, he can pull that off too.

It is not supposed to be that easy. The wind should keep whipping Friay and Saturday, so there will be big numbers and ugly scores out there. Spieth opened the door slightly when he made the double at the fifth, becoming the last player in the field to finally relent and give shots back.

Spieth’s primary challenger again appears to be Justin Rose, who trails by three shots and was the closest chaser at this event last year. Rose is a world-class major winner whose 14-under score in 2015 would win the Masters in most other years. He’s playing behind Spieth Friday so he’ll know what he needs to do to at least stay within range of the pacesetter.

Here are your scores with everyone now teed off in the second round:

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