Spieth's lead isn't safe after a windy Round 2 at the Masters

It can be hard to remember that golf is a mortal sport that is significantly harder than Jordan Spieth makes it look. Well,  unless you watched Ernie Els on Thursday — that’ll remind the masses that we’re all capable of having a bad day at the office.

The PGA Tour has become a platform for a bevy of talented characters that making driving a ball down the fairway look superhuman. And thanks to last year’s performance at The Masters, Spieth returns to Augusta National atop a slightly higher pedestal from which he is expected to repeat his success.

While that double-bogey on No.5 on Friday wasn’t enough to knock him off the top of Mt. Olympus, the windy conditions on the back nine began to bring out some of the kid wonder’s frustrations — particularly on back-to-back bogeys on the ninth and tenth holes. It was a reminder that the windy Friday will give way to two more full days of tourney play. And Spieth’s lead, while still in tact, isn’t out of reach for a select few of his competitors.

Rory McIlroy proved that on Friday when he maneuvered his way up the leaderboard, improving to three under through two days. His game picked up speed throughout the day, punctuated by a 39-foot putt for birdie on No. 16 which first moved him into solo second place. Even when the wind started to gnaw at him, McIlroy sunk a solid par putt on No. 18 and ended the day -3 without being completely overtaken by the weather.

Friday’s second nine, truthfully, wasn’t kind to anyone thanks to the blustery conditions although it did allow a couple players to creep up the leaderboard and into the discussion. Bryson DeChambeau should have viewers’ attention through Round 2, and not just for his smooth swing and nifty beret game. The 22-year-old amateur made good on being lumped together with Spieth by playing at a veteran level and tying himself for second with McIlroy on the back nine. He even overtook second place momentarily before ending the day with a double-bogey on the 18th and tying for eighth place. He’ll have to wait for a chance on Saturday to show that Friday’s finish was just a blip in an otherwise stellar second round.

Heck, one of the other superstars down the board could make a jump up on Saturday. Brandt Snedeker quietly moved into fifth place on the tournament ending Friday with a -1. Dustin Johnson broke even on the tourney after improving on his first round game and moving up to tie with DeChambeau. Jason Day had a very helter-skelter two days — even with the back nine of his second round improving on the bogie-peppered round he played the day before — but is only +1, well within striking distance. And don’t discount Danny Lee and Scott Piercy, tied for third after the second round on Friday.

None of this is to say that Spieth, the defending champion, won’t rebound from his second round woes. It is entirely possible that he’s still grinding his teeth over the two bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes and has enough bounce-back to cleanly snag himself the green jacket. But Round 2 on Friday was a pretty good indication that he isn’t going to run away with it.