Giants of Golf Atop Masters Leaderboard as Jordan Spieth Leads Rory McIlroy by One Stroke

Jordan Spieth held on. Phil Mickelson stumbled on the back nine and Tom Watson said goodbye.

Yes, it was an emotional, blustery second round at the Masters.

Mickelson and Watson, with five Masters titles between them, both missed the cut. Lefty had his worst round ever at Augusta National – a 7-over 79 – and the 66-year-old Watson, playing his final round on the course, was just one stroke better with a 6-over 78.

But when the day ended after the tears and frustration, the defending champion sat atop the leaderboard with Spieth leading Rory McIlroy by a stroke.

Defending champion Jordan Spieth kept his nerves in check and steered his golf ball through gusts of up to 30 mph skillfully enough to hang onto the lead at the end of a chaotic second round at Augusta National.

Spieth’s 2-over 74 gave him a two-day total of 140 – Rory McIlroy is a stroke back after one of the few sub-par rounds of the day – and made the Texan the first player to lead six consecutive rounds after he went wire-to-wire in a 2015 win. Friday marked the first time since the third round in 2007 that no player broke 70.

Bryson DeChambeau, the U.S. Amateur and NCAA champion at SMU, played with Spieth and Paul Casey and was 3-under par and closing in on Spieth at No. 18. But he ran into trouble off the tee – hitting one drive out of bounds and another into an unplayable lie and wound up making triple-bogey 7.

Tom Watson missed the cut and said “Adios” to Augusta National as a competitor with the same flair he used to win two green jackets among his total of eight majors. Not surprising, he got a standing ovation from the packed gallery.

With rival Jack Nicklaus, Watson dominated golf in the mid-1970s and ’80s.

On his last competitive hole at Augusta National, Watson split the fairway with his tee shot at No. 18 and nearly made birdie there. He had just enough time to check his emotions before family members – led by his son and sometimes-caddie Michael – poured onto the green.

Watson, 66, said earlier in the week that while he’ll come back for the annual Champions Dinner, but he was done struggling to make the cut and didn’t want to take a competitive slot from any other player, and so it was time to say, “Adios.”

In a quirky tribute to the late Bruce Edwards, his close pal and longtime caddie, Watson left an egg salad sandwich on the bench at No. 13.