The Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy continues his solid defense of the green jacket and, this Friday, closed the second day of the Masters in Augusta as the sole leader with an aggregate score of -12.
McIlroy is six shots behind American Sam Burns, with whom he shared the lead after the first day, as well as fellow American Patrick Reed, both with a -6. They are followed by Irishman Shane Lowry and the Englishmen Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood, who now have an aggregate of -5, seven shots behind the leader.
McIlroy completed a brilliant round of 65 strokes (-7), improving on his 67 from Thursday for an aggregate of -12.
The Northern Irishman started with consecutive birdies on holes 2, 3, and 4, but gave up two shots with bogeys on the 5th and 10th. After overcoming the slump, he signed a great final streak of six birdies, four of them consecutively on the last four holes. The birdie streak included a spectacular chip from near 30 meters on the 17th hole, which McIlroy celebrated with a fist in the air, aware that he was about to complete a near-perfect day in his title defense.
The Northern Irishman aims to become the first player to win back-to-back at Augusta since Tiger Woods did it in 2001 and 2002.
Meanwhile, American Scottie Scheffler, the world number one, fell to 24th place with an aggregate of +2, fourteen shots behind McIlroy, after a poor day marked by two early bogeys, two reactive birdies, and two final bogeys.
Bryson DeChambeau was the surprise of the day as he was eliminated with an aggregate of +6, two shots below the cut, hampered by a triple bogey on the 18th hole.
None of the Latin American golfers managed to make the cut: Mexican Carlos Ortiz finished with +11, Colombian Nicolás Echavarría with +13, and Argentines Mateo Pulcini and Ángel Cabrera with +15 and +16, respectively.
