From 3 miles away, Patrick Reed’s family wept as they watched him win the Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods walked off the 18th green Friday with a big smile, and who can blame him? A 4-under 68 moved him into weekend contention at the Masters, as he flashed the fiery Tiger of old during a back-nine run. He’ll enter the weekend tied for sixth and in terrific shape to make a run at his fifth green jacket. A look below at his hole-by-hole on Friday. MORE MASTERS Leaderboard | Tales of Tiger’s equipment | Rd. 1 recap: Is 70 a magical number? Tiger hole-by-hole ROUND 2 STATS: 7 of 14 fairways hit, 16 of 18 greens in regulation, 30 putts (1 3-putt) 18 (par 4, 465 yards): His 297-yard tee shot is properly placed, and his approach from 160 yards finishes 14 feet from the pin. But his birdie attempt loses steam drifts to the right, as he finishes with a par and a second-round score of 4-under 68 that leaves him tied for sixth. (Overall: 6 under) 17 (par 4, 440 yards): A 288-yard drive finds the fairway, leaving 163 yards to the pin. Tiger’s approach is terrific, as he knocks it to 8 feet. But just when all the momentum was with him, Tiger misses the birdie putt and settles for par. (Overall: 6 under) 16 (par 3, 170 yards): Tiger’s tee shot doesn’t find the upper level, and he settles for a two-putt par from 39 feet. (Overall: 6 under) 15 (par 5, 530 yards): His 298-yard drive veers left into the rough, and he wedges it in the proper spot, 128 yards from the pin. His third shot into the green comes up 30 feet short of the pin. No worries — he rolls in the birdie putt and again punches the air. (Overall: 6 under) 14 (par 4, 440 yards): In the rain, Tiger releases his hand off the club on his follow-through — never a good sign. His 282-yard drive finds the rough among the trees. He finds an opening and hits a terrific recovery shot that finishes 28 feet away. As he walks back toward the fairway, a security guard, running to hold off the fans, slips and clips Tiger’s right heel. Tiger grimaces, and tests the foot, but it doesn’t look to be serious. His birdie putt is perfect, and Tiger punches the air as he moves into a tie for eighth. (Overall: 5 under) 13 (par 5, 510 yards): His 302-yard tee shot lands in the second cut on the right side. From 193 yards, his second shot settles on the fringe, about 45 feet away. A tough eagle putt finishes 13 feet away, and his birdie attempt needs one more roll. Par. (Overall: 4 under) 12 (par 3, 155 yards): A terrific tee shot to 5 feet … followed by a disheartening birdie miss after play resumed following a brief weather stoppage. A wasted opportunity for Tiger as he taps in for par. (Overall: 4 under) 11 (par 4, 505 yards): A 307-yard drive finds the fairway. His second shot from 209 yards tracks the pin and finishes 13 feet away. Rolls in the birdie attempt. (Overall: 4 under) 10 (par 4, 495 yards): A 328-yard drive finishes on the right side of the fairway. The approach from 174 yards away finds the green, but unlike the previous hole, he can’t get his 33-foot birdie putt to drop and settles for a tap-in par. (Overall: 3 under) FRONT 9 STATS: 3 of 7 fairways hit, 7 of 9 greens in regulation, 15 putts (1 3-putt) 9 (par 4, 460 yards): His 305-yard drive splits the fairway, leaving him 165 yards to the pin. From there, he finds the middle of the green, with the pin tucked back left. He reads the 37-foot putt perfectly and gives it plenty of speed, the ball falling into the bottom of the cup. It’s the second consecutive day he’s finished off his front nine with a birdie. (Overall: 3 under) 8 (par 5, 570 yards): For the second time in three swings of the driver, Tiger finds the fairway bunker. Just like it did at the fifth hole, it forced him to just hit out ono the fairway, leaving him a third shot of 151 yards. He found the green, 38 feet from the pin, but from there, he three-putted, missing a par putt from 8 feet. The bogey is the 10th he has suffered at the eighth in 84 career rounds at the Masters. (Overall: 2 under) 7 (par 4, 450 yards): Tiger’s 312-yard drive settles along the right edge of the fairway. His approach from 135 yards finds the green, pin-high, about 21 feet away. Two putts for par. (Overall: 3 under) 6 (par 3, 180 yards): His 8-iron finds back middle of the green and tries to move toward the pin. He’ll have a 20-foot birdie putt. With a perfect read — at least 4 feet of break — he drains his second birdie putt at a par 3 in this round and is now tied for 13th. (Overall: 3 under) 5 (par 4, 495 yards): His 296-yard tee shot does the one thing you want to avoid doing at the fifth — find the fairway bunker. His ball is in the first of the two deep bunkers, and forces him to lay up, 76 yards from the pin and near the crosswalk. His third travels past the pin, finishing 16 feet away. His par putt just misses left and he taps in for a bogey that was set up by the poor drive. (Overall: 2 under) 4 (par 3, 240 yards): His tee shot tracks the pin the entire way, finding the top slope where the pin is located, leaving him a 7-foot birdie putt. It falls in for his first birdie of the day and moves him into a tie for 10th. (Overall: 3 under) 3 (par 4, 350 yards): Terrific 308-yard drive leaves him just 34 yards to the pin. His pitch shot to the front right pin starts rolling away from the hole, leaving him 16 feet away. His birdie attempts dies to the right, and he taps in for par. (Overall: 2 under) 2 (par 5, 575 yards): Stays in the fairway this time, his 324-yard drive leaving him 249 yards from the pin and on a flat part of the fairway. Takes a step forward after his follow through on his second shot, as his ball finishes in the right greenside bunker. He blasts out 17 feet beyond the pin — about 1 foot too far to catch the slope and slide back to the hole. Had to be careful with his downhill birdie attempt, and he does well to leave himself a 5-footer to save par. (Overall: 2 under) 1 (par 4, 445 yards): Not a great start, as Tiger’s 292-yard tee shot drifts left into the trees, settling in the pine needles. He found an opening with his approach from 152 yards and it trickles just next to the green. His uphill putt comes up 8 feet short, bu)t he buries the par saver. Should be a confidence booster after he missed a few short putts on Thursday. (Overall: 2 under) Pre-round notes BACKING UP 70. Tiger Woods has opened with a 2-under 70 on five previous occasions at the Masters. The first three times, he followed with a round in the 60s — and eventually went on to win (1997, 2001, 2002). In 2009, he followed his 70 with a 72 en route to a T-6 result, while in 2013, he shot 73 after his opening 70 and finished T-4. LATE TEE TIME. There are 29 threesomes teeing off Friday, and Woods is in the 28th group with Jon Rahm and HaoTong Li at 1:49 p.m. ET. In Thursday’s first round, 18-hole leaders Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka both played late and had favorable scoring conditions along the back nine. Woods is hoping to have a similar advantage Friday provided the wind dies.  “Sometimes what happens is you get that lull in the evening, the guys that go off real late, winds start dying down and you get probably a good six, seven holes where the wind is pretty benign,” Woods said. GOLF CHANNEL REVIEWS. Here’s what the experts were saying after Tiger’s opening 70: “I saw a golf swing that was patient. It was rhythmic. When he gets that extra length and time for transition, he seems to swing and play better.â€� — David Duval “The rhythm never changed from 1 to 18. Which is something he’s worked extremely hard on. He was in control of his round.â€� — Frank Nobilo “The guys at the top are hitting on all cylinders. He’s fully confident with his golf swing. It’s just a matter of whether or not he can capitalize on the greens. Because whoever is going to win this tournament is going to have the week of their life on the greens. And thus far he struggled quite a bit today.â€� — Brandel Chamblee

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SAN ANTONIO — For the third straight round, Si Woo Kim is the leader of the Valero Texas Open, but he’s got plenty of company. Kim, the 23-year-old from South Korea, built a 4-stroke lead, the largest at the halfway point of a PGA TOUR tournament this season, with a pair of 66s. It was gone by the fifth hole on Saturday as Canadian Corey Conners, a Monday qualifier, made his move on Moving Day. Kim, the 2017 THE PLAYERS Championship winner, weathered a rainstorm early in the round, nearly aced the 16th hole for the second day in a row and made birdie at the final hole to shoot 3-under 69 and take a one-stroke lead over Conners. “It’s a tough day. First six holes, like rain and windy,” Kim said. “Back nine weather is better and a little bit of  pressure. Yeah, still feels great and looking forward to tomorrow.” Conners, 27, carried his strong play at the end of Friday into Saturday’s action and said he was in the zone. He birdied four of his last five holes in the second round and five of his first seven holes in the third round. “Corey’s first six holes were crazy — like every shot right on it and then putted good,” Kim said. The rain didn’t seem to bother Conners either. “I just tried to block it out really and just focus, take a deep breath and just be really committed to the shot and not worry about what was falling from the sky because it was raining pretty good on a few of those approach shots,” he said. Conners is the last man to qualify for the Valero Texas Open. Playing out of the 126-150 category on the TOUR this season, he spent Monday at The Club at Sonterra, where 73 players attempted to earn one of four spots into the field. Conners survived a 6-for-1 playoff and is attempting to become the first Monday Qualifier to won on TOUR since Arjun Atwal at the 2010 Wyndham Championship “I feel like I belong in the field,” said Conners, who has two top-5 finishes and ranks No. 66 in the FedExCup. Kim made four birdies after opening the day with a bogey at the first hole. One day after acing the par-3 16th, Kim nearly did it again. He planted his palms to the top of his head in disappointment when the ball hopped over the hole and stopped inside 4 feet away. “I thought first bounce and then, oh, that’s going in, but just missed it,” Kim said. Instead, the hole-in-one heroics on Saturday came courtesy of Nick Taylor, who aced the 221-yard 13th hole with a 4-iron. “It might have been my first solid swing of the day,” said Taylor, who shot 1-under 71. Charley Hoffman, the 2016 Valero Texas Open champion, soared up the leaderboard with a tournament-low 8-under 64, and trails by two strokes. Scott Brown, who was born in Augusta, Georgia, and played his first 21 holes in even par, posted 5-under 67 and is tied with Danny Lee (66) and Jhonnattan Vegas (67) at 11-under 203. FedExCup points-leader Matt Kuchar moved into the top 10 with a 5-under 67. Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler both fell out of contention, shooting 1-over 73. The secondary cut came at 1-under 215. The final round of the Valero Texas Open is setting up to be an old-fashioned shootout. Kim, who has won twice, including his signature win at THE PLAYERS, is trying to go wire-to-wire while Conners, in his second season on TOUR, is seeking his first victory. “I’ve been in this position a few times before where I’ve been near the lead and I’ve got some good experiences to draw off of and hopefully can get over the edge,” Conners said.

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Many have asked Aaron Wise about the new Odyssey putter he inserted at the Wells Fargo Championship. The recent TOUR winner wants to set the record straight: the O-Works Red V-Line Fang CH isn’t a new addition.  In fact, he’s been using it for some time now.  “Lot of people have been asking me about that,” Wise said of the putter. “I didn’t really change. So I putted with this putter forever and then at Zurich I actually switched to another putter and then I switched back at Wells Fargo.”The brief switch paid off in a big way for Wise, who went back to the putter at Quail Hollow and then found the winner’s circle in his next start at the AT&T Byron Nelson.  “Only a short little time with another one but maybe I scared this one into thinking it’s going to lose the job and it’s helped,” Wise said.  Wise ranked seventh in Strokes Gained: Putting with the red Odyssey mallet.  Spaun’s ‘Street’ success: Growing up in Southern California, J.J. Spaun used to skateboard with his friends around town, using guardrails and handrails to perform various tricks. So when Scotty Cameron decided to make a new Newport 2 for Spaun, he added a couple of skater touches with the words “For Street Use Only” stamped on the sole along with a skateboarder in the cavity.  Spaun gave the putter a test run at THE PLAYERS Championship but quickly realized he needed to make a few tweaks.  “I went back to a more neutral hand position,” Spaun said. “Just trying to get back to something that feels more natural. I had the lie angle flattened and some loft taken off. It felt a lot better on the course.” Spaun also noted the dark head finish was something he particularly liked. The putter changes produced a third-place finish, his best showing on TOUR since a runner-up at The RSM Classic.  Notes: Marc Leishman switched from Callaway’s Rogue 3-wood to the Sub Zero version. He also swapped his Rogue 5-wood for an X-Forged UT 2-iron, due to the course setup. … Aaron Baddeley replaced his 5-wood with a PING iBlade 2-iron. … Kyle Thompson added a 22-degree PXG 0317X hybrid. PGA TOUR SUPERSTORE: Buy equipment here

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