AUGUSTA, US — Chinese golfer Li Haotong battled through illness and into Masters contention with four consecutive birdies Friday (Saturday in Manila), despite being so sick in the morning he could barely leave the bathroom.
Speaking after his second-round 69 propelled him to just a shot off the clubhouse lead, Li admitted he was surprised to have even completed 18 holes, let alone reach the tournament midway point at four-under-par.
I “went to the toilet last night a lot of times, and this morning when I got to the golf course and was still feeling really bad and kind of, like, (living) in the toilet,” he told reporters.
“I was feeling really, really bad. No energy, fuzzy, want to throw up something. I actually just planned to play a few holes, see how it goes,” he said.
“If (I was) really sick, then I probably just decide not to. So glad I survived today.”
Li, the top-ranked Chinese golfer and world number 84, birdied his second hole on Friday, but endured an otherwise shaky front nine including two bogies.
Somehow he then pulled himself together and scored straight birdies on holes 13 through 16.
Li sank a nine-foot putt on 13 to begin his hot streak, then nearly holed a 150-foot approach iron on 14 to leave himself an tap-in for birdie. AFP
AUGUSTA, US — World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler sank down the Masters leaderboard Friday (Saturday in Manila), twice splashing into the water on a difficult day, but insisted he played much better than his score suggested.
The four-time major champion, seeking his third Masters crown in five seasons, struggled to a two-over par 74 in Friday’s second round.
It was his second-worst score in 26 rounds at Augusta National, leaving him on level par 144 at the tournament’s midway point.
“Was really challenging. I played really pretty well. I felt like I played a lot better than my score,” Scheffler said.
“Just the little things that I felt like I was close to having a really good round. Just a few things here or there, a few breaks that didn’t go my way. Yeah, the margins are small.”
Scheffler’s round snapped the third-longest streak in Masters history of rounds at par or below at 11, his run eclipsed only by the record 16 of Tiger Woods and 15 by Jon Rahm.
Scheffler stumbled early with bogeys at the par-three fourth and par-four fifth holes but responded with birdies at the par-five eighth and par-four 10th.
The big heartbreak came with bogeys at the par-five 13th and 15th holes.
Scheffler plunked his second shot at 13 into Rae’s Creek and found water again at 15.
“I got off to a slow start. A few up and downs early that I should have had that I didn’t convert. Then I fought back to get it to even,” Scheffler said.
“And then the fairway on 13, probably my only shot I would rather be able to hit again. Maybe a different decision there. That’s a tough shot, but I felt like I could make something happen to that pin.”
His 3-iron missed badly.
“I just didn’t draw it enough,” Scheffler said. “I just tried to swing it with the slope and just didn’t catch it that solid and kind of hung out there.
“It was frustrating to get it back to even, have a couple of par-fives in front of me, and then not do many things I felt wrong and wasn’t able to convert really basically anything coming down the stretch.”
Scheffler also struggled on the greens.
