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Takeaways from second round of 2026 Masters: Bryson DeChambeau misses cut after meltdown for the ages
Bryson DeChambeau watches his shot from a bunker on the 18th hole during the second round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Katie Goodale-Imagn Images

Takeaways from second round of 2026 Masters: Bryson DeChambeau misses cut after meltdown for the ages

The second round of the 2026 Masters concluded on Friday with reigning champion Rory McIlroy taking control of the leaderboard and one of the biggest names in golf, Bryson DeChambeau, missing the cut after a brutal 18th hole meltdown. 

Here are some takeaways from Friday's round.

Bryson DeChambeau's meltdown

DeChambeau already put himself in a bad position on Thursday thanks in large part to a triple-bogey on the 11th hole where he struggled to get out of the bunker. He never really recovered after that for the remainder of the round. 

He added a little suspense to it on Friday, saving his meltdown for the 18th hole where he again triple-bogeyed to finish the day two over. That left him six over for the first two rounds, missing the cut entirely.  

DeChambeau, who is still looking for his first green jacket, was one of the most bet-,on golfers going into this year's tournament, especially after playing in the final group at last year's tournament.

One year later and he is not even playing on the weekend, and his play in the sand is one of the biggest reasons why. 

Scottie Scheffler has work to do

If the world's No. 1-ranked golfer, Scottie Scheffler, is going to claim his third green jacket he is going to have a lot of work to do over the weekend after going two-over on Friday. It is the first time he has gone over par in a round at Augusta in over three years, and it leaves him at even-par going into Saturday's third round. 

During Friday's play, he put two balls into the water on Par 5s, resulting in a pair of bogey's on the back nine. 

He is 12 strokes off the lead. 

Bad luck hit of the day

Kristoffer Reitan had the bad-luck hit of the day on Friday when he nearly aced the 16th hole, watching as the ball struck the flag stick and then rolling harmlessly away from the hole. 

Reitan shot a 68 on Friday and sits four-under par going into Saturday's third round. Had he aced it, he would have finished the first two rounds six-under and in a three-way tie for second going into the weekend. 

Rory McIlroy looks to be in control

There is still work to do, but McIlroy has put himself in a great position to repeat at the Masters following a 65 second-round on Friday that puts him 12-under par through the first two rounds, with a six-stroke lead going into Saturday.

He is one of just six golfers to ever have a six-stroke lead or better through the first 36 holes in the history of men's majors. The previous five all went on to win. That is a pretty good indicator of where things could be going here. 

What makes that performance even more impressive is that he did not hit a single fairway on any of the par 5 holes through the first two rounds, yet still managed to birdie or par on every single one of them. 

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on X @AGretz

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