Masters 2017 live updates: Friday’s scores, highlights, leaderboard changes at Augusta National

We’re underway at Augusta for the second round of the Masters on cut day. Veteran Charley Hoffman had a 4-shot lead and was 7 strokes under par after the first round, putting himself in terrific position to contend deep into the weekend. William McGirt started the day in second place after posting a 3-under par opening round yesterday. If those names weren’t familiar as a casual golf fan, don’t worry: Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Justin Thomas are all lurking just behind.

The theme of the week so far has been the windy conditions, pushing scores well above past weekday averages for Bobby Jones’ tournament at Augusta National. Thursday’s round featured blustery conditions all around the golf course, and wind is likely to play a role again throughout Friday, before Mother Nature becomes friendlier on the weekend. Sunnier skies and calmer winds should leave the course a bit more exposed, but you can expect the course to dry out from early-week rains as things continue.

We’ll have updates on this live blog throughout the day from our SBNation golf staff.

5:43 pm: Rick’s here!

Rickie Fowler’s now joined the growing glut at 4-under-par atop the leaderboard. Here’s Alex Kirshner on Rickie -- and his return to contention after a couple years of major championship struggles. It’s looking more and more like the cut line’s going to sneak up to +5 with one of these dudes making one more bird down the stretch.

Also, Bubba mad.

5:04pm: Seemed pretty certain the 10-shot rule was going to keep everyone at 6-over-par or better around for the weekend. With winds starting to calm down, that miiiight no longer be the case.

We’ve got ourselves a new leader, and he might push that cut line up. Thomas Pieters is sitting pretty atop the board with Sergio and Charley Hoffman at 4-under-par, and he’ll still have an opportunity to pick up shots down the stretch here. If he can get it to 5-under or better, that cut line comes up.

You shouldn’t be shocked to see Pieters here (especially if you read this Definitely Extremely Smart blogger frequently.) He’s a superstar in the making. Just wrote a quick little jam on his background here.

4:40pm: Hey, we’re assembling a heckuva leaderboard coming toward the end of the day here!

Outside of Charley Hoffman up top with Sergio and William McGirt at T-4, the top of the board is loaded with big time names. Sergio leads, Rickie is a shot behind him, young dynamos Jon Rahm and Thomas Pieters chasing, Justin Rose and — shhhh, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day are in fine position for the weekend. Oh, and yeah, one more guy.

[ahem] SKOOOOOO PHEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAL.

Sorry, sorry, that was excessive. But, hey, welcome to the Friday coverage, Phil Mickelson! Phil’s tracking through a nice Friday round — nothing outlandish, just a solid 1-under par bit through 10 holes — and that’s enough to put him squarely in contention. He’s tied with McGirt at 2-under and 2 back of Sergio & Hoffman.

3:39pm: We’re gonna do this again. Pending a late day surge from one of the afternoon tee times to 5-under or better, Sergio Garcia’s going to play in the final group of a major championship on Saturday. A birdie on the 17th pulled him dead even with Charley Hoffman, and a par on the 18th got him in the clubhouse with a 3-under-par 69 today. So, you can go ahead and fire up the familiar narratives.

Elsewhere: Rory McIlroy’s closing in on posting an even-par round that should have him squarely in contention come tomorrow. Jon Rahm, Adam Scott, and Thomas Pieters have all moved into red numbers at 1-under.

2:44 pm: No, no. Sergio didn’t make a 7 on the 10th. A scoring error put a momentary scare in his fans, but Garcia only took a bogey 5 on the first hole of the backside. He fell back off the lead, but he’s back to just one behind Charley Hoffman’s lead with a birdie at 15 to get to 3-under-par. He’s got the three finishing holes left to play.

But there’s another name of note now making a run -- and starting similarly to Garcia this morning: Rickie Fowler. A couple early birdies have him tied for 3rd with William McGirt and, yes, that’s right — 57 year old Freddie Couples. Couples didn’t even get to play this event last year with the back issues that have played his career, and he just returned to competitive senior golf a couple months back after a long absence. Fred’s probably in a ton of pain, hasn’t practiced putting for more than a few minutes in years, and he’s 57. He’s also navigating another brutal day at Augusta better than few. That’s absurd.

1:25 p.m.: We now have co-leaders at the top of the board on Friday afternoon. Sergio Garcia took a one-stroke lead at 4-under, after he birdied his first three holes and then birdied No. 9. Meanwhile Hoffman has made bogeys on four holes, including 6, 7, 8, and holes 10 and 11 on the back nine. Garcia made bogey on 10 while Hoffman hit par on hole No. 11 to tie things up at the top.

Kyle Robbins, Golf Writer, SBNation.com (12:17pm EST): We’re off and running at Augusta with what looks to be another wild, windy afternoon on cut day. Almost everyone on the course today so far is backing up — we’ve only got nine players under par for the tournament right now. Charley Hoffman’s included on that list, making bogey his last three holes — the 6th, 7th, and 8th — to back up to 5-under par.

The biggest story of the morning so far? VIVA SERGIO. El Nino’s holding down solo second place, just two behind Hoffman. He started the tournament going 21 straight holes without a bogey before stumbling on the 4th. He’s 2-under through seven holes of play today. Also of note? Rory McIlroy’s lurking. He’s into red numbers at 1-under par.

We’ll update this leaderboard periodically throughout the day. The Masters official board, which refreshes itself automatically, is available right here.

Click here to see the full list of tee times for Friday morning.

The live streaming coverage from the Masters will continue through both Masters.com and WatchESPN. The Masters website’s coverage begins on Friday morning, so technically nothing is stopping you from watching golf on your computer all day at work.

The WatchESPN coverage gets started a little later than the Masters website, with its coverage corresponding with when the television airing begins, right at 3 p.m. There’s an encore presentation you can watch online on Friday night, too.

Time: 3 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. ET

Live streaming: WatchESPN

Encore presentation: 8 p.m. - 11 p.m. on ESPN/WatchESPN.

Time: 3-7:30 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Live streaming: WatchESPN
Encore presentation: 8-11 p.m. on ESPN.