Englishman Justin Rose is struggling early in the second round of the 85th Masters, opening the door for Marc Leishman and others to pounce.
Rose defied tough conditions in the opening round with a career-best seven-under 65 at Augusta National but the 40-year-old was three-over through his first seven holes on Friday to drop to four-under.
His four-shot overnight buffer had been reduced to just one shot as Australia’s Leishman sat at three-under as he made the turn.
Austria’s Berndt Wiesberger was five-under on his second round through 12 holes to also sit just one shot back at three-under.
Hideki Matsuyama and Brian Harman share second place, also having not yet started their second rounds.
Rose started with a wild tee shot on the first that ultimately led to a bogey and while he clawed the shot back with birdie on the par-five second, he made errors on the par-three fourth and sixth holes that led to further bogeys.
On the fourth, he failed to get his second shot on the putting surface while on the sixth his long birdie putt failed to climb a slope and returned back to his feet. He then made a mess of the par-four seventh as well.
Leishman, who had four birdies in the first six holes on Thursday before giving them all back, once again shot out of the blocks with three birdies in a row out of the gate.
The Victorian is looking to become just the second Australian to win the green jacket behind Adam Scott in 2013, a year when Leishman finished fourth.
Wiesberger managed six birdies in his first 10 holes on Friday before dropping a shot on the iconic par-three 12th.
Former champion Jordan Spieth had an early birdie in his round to sit two-under, now just two shots back.
Cameron Smith is one-over for the tournament through two holes after an early birdie, while Matt Jones (+2), Scott (+3) and Jason Day (+5) all have new life thanks to Rose’s struggles.