Watch: Play suspended at Masters after trees fall on 17th hole 

Rory McIlroy finished before the weather interruption missing the cut after another disappointing Masters tournament.

Authorities investigate the scene where trees fell on the 17th hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday, April 7, 2023, in Augusta, Ga. Pic: AP Photo/Matt Slocum

After two large Georgia pine trees fell across the front of the 17th tee when the winds kicked up late Friday afternoon, the second round of the Masters was suspended for the rest of the day and was scheduled to resume at 13:00 Irish time on Saturday afternoon.

Augusta National Golf Club released a statement saying that no injuries were reported from three trees that were blown over to the left of the No. 17 tee due to wind.

“The safety and well-being of everyone attending the Masters Tournament will always be the top priority of the club,” the statement read. “We will continue to closely monitor weather today and through the tournament.” 

At the time play was suspended at 16:22 Irish time, Spain’s Jon Rahm had made the turn at 9-under par overall as he was trying to close the gap on clubhouse leader Brooks Koepka, who posted rounds of 65-67 to reach 12-under. The LIV golfer is healthy and aiming to win his fifth major title and add the green jacket to his U.S. Open and PGA Championship trophies.

Reigning U.S. Amateur champion Sam Bennett shots consecutive 68s to sit at 8-under while two-time major winner Collin Morikawa completed two rounds at 6-under, tied with first-round co-leader Viktor Hovland who had given one stroke back Friday through 10 holes.

Bennett, the cocksure Texas A&M golfer, isn’t content with the low amateur silver medal he is guaranteed to win as the only one of the seven amateurs in the field to likely make the projected cut. He doesn’t lack for self-confidence.

“Everybody coming into the week was, ‘yeah, hope you get low am.’ That's pretty much all they were saying,” Bennett said. “I just wanted to put two good rounds up. I knew my golf was good enough to compete out here. I found myself in a situation that now I've got a golf tournament that I can go out and win.” 

Why does he believe he can catch a four-time major winner in Koepka and a stacked leaderboard of elite professionals? “Because I know that my good golf is good enough,” he said.

Koepka’s golf has certainly been good enough. Healthy for the first time in years, he made the most of the better end of the draw and added a bogey-free 67 early Friday to build what was at one point a six-shot lead when he walked off the course. He’s rekindled the killer instinct he had winning four majors from 2017-19.

“I feel really good. I like the way I'm swinging the golf club, putting it, chipping it, driving it, iron play is solid. It feels really similar,” he said.

With the weather forecasted to dump copious amounts of rain on Augusta National most of the day Saturday, tournament officials will hope to be able to squeeze in enough golf to finish the second round and perhaps give themselves a chance to get the tournament completed with 36 holes on Sunday. But the prospect of the first Monday finish in 40 years looms large.

There is plenty of pedigree on the leaderboard beyond Rahm for someone to make a charge and reel in Koepka. Jason Day was in close pursuit at 9-under until he hit into the water on 15 and made double then added bogeys at 17 and 18 to fall back to 5-under. He was joined on that number by WGC Match Play winner Sam Burns and 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth.

The crowd finished at 4-under includes Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Gary Woodland and Joaquin Niemann.

Mickelson, the three-time green jacket winner, skipped his first Masters since 1994 last year with a self-imposed exile to work on domestic issues as well as get away from the glare after harshly criticizing the PGA Tour before later making his lucrative jump to LIV Golf. He’s been a shell of his former glory on the rival circuit but feels a “spiritual” motivation every time he comes to Augusta.

“I'm close to going on a tear,” said the 52-year-old who became the oldest player to win a major two years ago in beating Koepka to win his sixth major at the 2021 PGA. “Even though the scores haven't shown it, like I'm hitting so many good shots, pretty soon I'm going to have a really low one. When that happens and it clicks, then the game feels easy again. Then I stop putting pressure on myself, and the scores just start to fall into place.” 

When play was stopped for the day, Ireland’s Shane Lowry was even par on the day and still sitting on 4-under, tied 10th eight shots behind Koepka. Séamus Power was also even through 12 holes and treading one stroke better than the projected cut line at 1-over. Rory McIlroy completed his second round 77 and left the course without comment after the pre-tournament favorite was likely to miss the project cut.

Northern Ireland’s mid-amateur Matthew McClean shot a second-round 74 to miss the cut at 7-over.

The rest of the tournament will play completely different than the first two days, but chasers hope the course gives them something they can take advantage of to close the gap on Koepka.

“It's going to be the opposite direction of wind, and then (Saturday) if we're playing it's going to be playing in rain and wind, so the ball is going to go significantly shorter,” said Spieth. “You're just going to have to manage a lot.

“In some cases you could argue that's a good thing to have a big lead, but in other cases you could argue if (Brooks) kind of falters a little and you kind of are able to shoot an under-par round somehow, you could make up a lot of strokes easily.”