Some big names fell by the wayside at the halfway stage of the 88th Masters at Augusta National as Jose Maria Olazabal and Vijay Singh rolled back the years to make the cut.
One of the traditions of the Masters is that former champions are given lifetime exemptions into the tournament and over the years the likes of Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer have gone on nostalgic runs at the weekend.
However, in keeping pace with modern technology, Augusta’s increasing length has seen many of the old guard languish towards the foot of the leaderboard and even relinquish their lifetime exemptions with Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize and Ben Crenshaw retiring from competing.
Langer will be retiring next year and he cited the length of the golf course as his biggest challenge.
But weather can be a great leveller and two-time Masters champion, Olazabal, and 2000 Masters champion Singh will be around for the weekend.
58-year-old Olazabal, a winner in 1994 and 1999 has played just two professional events since 2022 and he defied the odds to make the cut at the Masters for the first time since 2021.
“I don’t think it gets any tougher than this, to be honest. This golf course with this amount of wind, even though the greens are a little bit softer, I mean, you really don’t know where the wind is coming from, what the wind is doing. Some of the times you are guessing how the ball is going to react up in the air.
“Around the greens it’s very difficult to control the distance, the pace on the greens. From 1 to 10, I would give it an 11.”
The Spanish legend on what is the 30th anniversary of his first green jacket overcame a triple bogey at the par-3 12th with a superb finish in the blustery conditions.
Ollie carded five pars and a birdie on the par-3 16th to make the cut on the number at six-over after rounds of 77 and 73.
At the time the 2012 Ryder Cup captain thought the 12th had taken another victim and was going to cost him a special weekend at the Masters.
“I played really good golf today. It was just a shame that I put a bad swing on 12. As simple as that. It cost me dearly. I made a triple there.
“I still kept on fighting, but I think I’m going to be just a little shy of making the cut.”
Meanwhile, Singh is the eldest man through to the weekend at 61 and he also carded an excellent round of 73 to make the cut on plus four.
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