Australian Cameron Smith has ridden a stellar finish to join a four-way tie at the top of a star-studded leaderboard halfway through the second round of the Masters at Augusta National.

Smith finished off his rain-delayed first round for a 5-under 67 before lighting up Augusta National’s finishing holes in his second round. The two-time PGA Tour winner finished eagle, birdie, birdie, birdie to shoot a 4-under 68 and 9-under 135 overall.

Alongside him are world number one Dustin Johnson (70), American star Justin Thomas (69) and Smith’s International Presidents Cup teammate Abraham Ancer (67) from Mexico.

American Patrick Cantlay (66) and Korean Sungjae Im (70) are a shot further back, while former Masters champion Danny Willett (66), and his fellow Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood (66) and Justin Rose (70) were all in the clubhouse at 7-under.

“I just like playing good golf and I wasn’t doing that in the middle of my second round so I vowed to try to lift my game on the way home,” Smith said.

“But I guess I played a little better than expected. That was a bit weird but most certainly welcome.

“I’m looking forward to testing myself against these guys over the next two days.”

Cameron Smith is 9-under after his first two rounds.(AP: Charlie Riedel)

Johnson, who had a 30-minute turnaround after also returning on Friday (local time) to finish his first round, began the second round on the back nine and quickly pulled away with three consecutive birdies starting at the 11th.

But the American star, looking to become the first world number one to win the Masters since Tiger Woods in 2002, then made his first bogey of the week when he three-putted from 32 feet at the par-four 14th and dropped another shot at the 15th thanks to a water ball.

Australian Adam Scott was leading a charge through Amen Corner when he fell apart on the par-five 15th, in the finishing stretch of his opening round.

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Going for the green in two, Scott found the water in front of the green but the real twist of the knife came after he took a penalty drop and his pitch shot bounced into the flagstick, ricocheted backwards and once again ended up wet.

The resulting double bogey was a significant blow and despite a gutsy bounce-back birdie on the following hole, Scott bogeyed the 18th to settle for a 2-under 70. He could only shoot an even-par 72 in the second round leaving him seven off the pace.

Meanwhile, pre-tournament favourite Bryson DeChambeau is at risk of missing the cut after a roller-coaster round with four birdies, a triple-bogey and four bogeys through 12 holes

Defending champion Woods is even on his second round through five holes to sit four under and five shots back.

AAP/Reuters



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