Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau cut into Justin Rose’s lead at the Masters

By Jacob Lev and Kevin Dotson, CNN

(CNN) — After some rain overnight softened up the course, the scoring conditions were ideal for Friday’s second round at the Masters. And many of the world’s best golfers were ready to take advantage.

Following a masterful opening round at Augusta National, round one leader Justin Rose came back to earth on Friday, allowing much of the field to move within striking distance heading to the weekend.

Rose shot a very respectable round of 71, but had too many bogeys mixed in with his handful of birdies.

However, the 44-year-old Englishman has many on his tail including Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy.

DeChambeau, a two-time major winner, started out the second round scorched earth and continued on to finish the day at 4-under par, sitting one stroke behind Rose for the lead.

The Northern Irishman, McIlroy, had a disastrous back nine in Thursday’s first round but did a total 180 on Friday, carding a 6-under par that leaves him just two shots from the lead.

Rose welcomed the opportunity to go against some of the best world.

“That’s the company that I expect to keep, and that’s where I have tried to be my whole career,” Rose said to reporters after the round. “That’s where I’ve been for a lot of my career. So I’ve been a Top-10 player in the world for a decade or more. So yeah, this is nice to, obviously, yeah, be back in that mix, a hundred percent.”

Rose and DeChambeau will tee off at 2:40 p.m. ET on Saturday while McIlroy will get started 10 minutes earlier.

In the hunt with two rounds to play

McIlroy and DeChambeau headline the crop of stars to remain in the hunt for the iconic green jacket.

The 35-year-old’s quest for a maiden Masters win and a career grand slam appeared dead following Thursday’s multiple double-bogeys that saw him fall from second to 27th on the leaderboard.

After Friday’s astonishing play from McIlroy, he talked about the reset needed to get back into contention.

“Once I left the property last night, I just sort of tried to leave what had happened here. You know, I rushed out of here to get home to see Poppy before she went to bed. So that was sort of nice to get to see her before she went to sleep,” McIlroy said.

“Yeah, I guess that’s something that I didn’t have a few years ago, to be able to get home and have that sort of, you know, take my mind off the golf a little bit. But yeah, I just – I feel like I just did a good job of resetting.”

DeChambeau, the LIV Golf star, for the second straight day looked like a man on a mission.

The 31-year-old spoke on the confidence he has in winning golf’s most prestigious event.

“I’d always say, to win it takes a little bit of luck and a great amount of skill set. I feel like my skill set is the same, if not a little bit better in certain aspects,” DeChambeau said.

“So I’m just going to give it my absolute best, and whatever happens, happens. And I’m okay with whatever does happen. Because ultimately, it’s not – it’s not everything but it would be amazing to win. It’s just more, continue to keep putting myself in positions like this.”

Amongst the others still vying for a win sees Canadian Corey Conners, who sits tied for third place at 6-under par.

Multiple golfers including Tyrell Hatton, Matt McCarty, Shane Lowry and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler sit at tied for fifth on the leaderboard.

Scheffler struggles with consistency

Scheffler finds himself in unfamiliar territory, three strokes back of the leader Rose after an inconsistent second round.

After a bogey-free Thursday, the 28-year-old bogeyed four holes in the back nine including on the 18th hole that found him ducking and diving the magnolia trees that saw him getting to his knees to knock his ball back into the fairway.

“Golf is a funny game. It’s a day-to-day thing. Yesterday I felt really sharp. Today not as sharp. Could the conditions have contributed to that? I’m sure a little bit,” Scheffler said.

“That’s what’s great about this golf course is it’s quite challenging and you get winds like that, you’ve really got to manage your expectations, manage yourself around the course. Sometimes I did a good job of that. Other times today, maybe not so good.”

Scheffler is eyeing becoming the first golfer to win back-to-back Masters since Tiger Woods in 2002 and it won’t be an easy road for him going into the weekend in Augusta, Georgia.

But if theres one thing Scheffler knows how to do, thats make a comeback and will try to do so starting at 2:10 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Bernard Langer and the others to miss the cut

His final Masters might have not ended the way he would have liked but Bernhard Langer got the send off one can only dream off.

The two-time Masters champion missed the cut after bogeying the 18th hole to put him at 3-over par for the weekend, just narrowingly missing the +2 cut line and etching his name in history as the oldest player to make the Masters cut, a record Fred Couples set in 2023.

The 67-year-old previously announced it would be his final Masters after playing in the tournament 41 times prior.

Following the final hole, Langer took off his visor and saluted the applauding crowd at Augusta National. He was then met by Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley before catching up with his family and walking into the clubhouse a final time.

“There were lots of standing ovations throughout the golf course in various spots. Today coming up 18 was mixed emotions because I was still inside the cut line, and even when I made bogey, I wasn’t sure I’m totally out of there or not because I actually thought 3-over would make the cut, as windy as it was today,” Langer said.

“So there were lots of emotions flooding through my mind the last two days as I was walking down the fairways. I saw my wife, I saw my four kids, and I saw two of my grandkids came out and supported me, and friends from Germany and family from Germany. Just even friends from all over the world, literally, were walking a few holes with me. It meant a great deal.”

Among Langer – Brooks Koepka, Tony Finau, Keegan Bradley and Couples did not make it to the weekend at the tournament.

Tom Kim will get the third round of the 2025 Masters started, teeing off at 9:50 a.m.ET on Saturday and the tournament runs through Sunday.

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