Scottie Scheffler, the best golfer in the world according to the world rankings, broke away from the field at the 86th Masters in Augusta (Georgia).

The 25-year-old Texan leads the field after rounds of 69 and 67 with a total of 136 strokes (8 under par) and five strokes ahead of a quartet.

Second place with 141 strokes is shared by last year's Japanese winner Hideki Matsuyama (69 strokes on Friday), South African Charl Schwartzel (69), the 2011 Masters winner, and Irishman Shane Lowry (69), the British Open winner 2019, as well as the South Korean Sungjae Im (74), who led the field after the first lap.

Scheffler goes into the last two rounds with the largest lead at half-time in the history of the Masters, which has been held since 1936.

Five players led the field by five shots after 36 holes in this major.

That was enough for four professionals to receive the green winner's jacket at the end.

The last one to succeed was the American Jordan Spieth in 2015. This time Spieth (150/74+76 strokes) missed the cut (148 strokes) as did Bernhard Langer (152/76+76), the only German in the field.

 “I had a bogey on the first and third holes.

After that I played solid golf and a very good back nine," said Scheffer - an understatement.

On a day when the wind swept across the course at 25 and with gusts of up to 48 kilometers per hour, Scheffler achieved seven birdies and, together with his American compatriot Justin Thomas, the best round of the day with 67 strokes.

“I put myself in a position to win this tournament.

It's exactly what I wanted,” said the Dallas pro, who seems on course to win for the fourth time in his last six tournaments.

Scheffler, who finished 18th and 19th in the first two Masters years, said that in 2020, in the joint final round with Tiger Woods, we learned a lot about how to play the course.

Nobody made the cut more times than Woods

Tiger Woods also set a record.

He also made the cut in his 21st participation as a professional, no active professional in Augusta has survived this cut more often.

Although the 46-year-old superstar dropped from 10th to 19th on Friday after 74 strokes and a total of 145 strokes, he hasn't given up on his winning ambitions yet: “I have a chance this weekend.

Even if you're five or six shots behind the leader going into the last nine holes on Sunday, you can still win.

We've experienced that many times in the past.” Woods complained that his result was three strokes higher than Thursday due to some gusts of wind, a bad ball position, but also a few bad shots.  

Woods started the second round disastrously, four bogeys on the first five holes.

After that, the crowd's favourite, who was accompanied by most of the fans on his round on Friday, alternated between light and shadow, brilliant shots and unusual mistakes.

In the end there were six bogeys and four birdies on his scorecard.

Woods again only hit 9 of 18 greens (greens in regulation), 10 of 14 fairways and needed 28 putts.

Although he wasn't limping as badly as the day before and seemed to be able to cope better with the physical challenge of the hilly course, he complained after the round: "I'm in pain all day".

He wraps his injured right leg in a compression stocking during the round and places it in ice after the round.

"After I break my leg, my team always fixes it at night.

I'm good at breaking it.

They're really good at fixing it," Woods jokingly described how his team of physical therapists gets him fit for the next round.