Spieth fights back into the hunt at Masters

Heading to the 13th hole Friday at Augusta National Golf Club, Jordan Spieth was well back in the pack as he chased his second Masters title.

After wrapping up his round, Spieth was well in the mix to make something happen this weekend.

Spieth, the 2015 Masters champion, finished with birdies on Nos. 13, 16 and 18 to shoot a 3-under-par 69. After a 75 on Thursday, he is at even for the tournament and only four shots off the lead.

“Well, yeah, significantly better,” Spieth said of his position after the round compared where he was after 12 holes. “From (Thursday) at this point in time, drastically. So, it was a really good day (Friday) at Augusta National. I’m very pleased with the second round of this Masters, and we’re in a position now where we, I think, can go out there and win this thing and certainly make a run.

“So, that right there just kind of gives me chills, because after (Thursday) I was really disappointed in being 10 shots off the lead. But those last couple putts, I had confidence in them, put really nice strokes on them, and I finally got them to go. It took awhile (Friday). I hit all nine greens on the back nine and had three birdies and one of them was a two-putt.”

If not for a quadruple-bogey on the par-5 15th Thursday, Spieth would be tied for the lead. He had two early bogeys Friday on the second and fourth holes but responded well with birdies on the third and eighth holes and then followed those with pars until the 13th.

Spieth will tee off at 2:10 p.m. on Saturday and will play his third round with Phil Mickelson.

“I think they like where it’s at,” Spieth said of the course heading into the weekend. “I think we’re looking at a somewhat similar to the last, 2016 and 2014 Masters. I think these greens are going to bake out. You’re going to see putting become a lot more difficult than it was, even though it was windy, I think the actual putts you have are going to be more challenging because the greens are going to be a foot faster, and they’re going to get a bit crusty around some of the hole locations.

“They were already starting to get that way. They weren’t firm, fortunately, but they will start to get that way by Sunday. I imagine balls will be bouncing some, and it will be a different golf course than what we saw (Thursday).”

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 8:41 PM with the headline "Spieth fights back into the hunt at Masters."