Charl Schwartzel heads into the weekend of The Masters tied for second place and five strokes off the lead of American Scottie Scheffler.
Schwartzel signed for a second round of 69 that lifted him to three under par overall, with Scheffler leading the field on eight under following his 67.
The South African, who is chasing a second Masters title after his win in 2011, forms part of a strong chasing pack of Major champions including Open champion Shane Lowry and defending Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, who are also on three under.
“It was tough. I think we had a little fortune this morning. It was very cold, but we didn’t deal with a lot of wind for the first five or six holes. It started picking up around seven and eight, and then the back nine it got hard. I must be honest. These two rounds are some of the two best ball-striking rounds I’ve had in a very long time,” said Schwartzel.
Scheffler’s five-stroke lead ties the Masters record for the biggest 36-hole lead as he joins Jordan Spieth (2015), Raymond Floyd (1976), Jack Nicklaus (1975), Herman Keiser (1946) and Harry Cooper (1936) with this honour.
Tiger Woods is currently tied 19th having made his 22nd consecutive cut in The Masters, and is one shy of the record of 23 held by Gary Player and Fred Couples.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout is the only other South African to make the cut and heads into the weekend tied 16th on level par.
The cut fell on four over, with Erik van Rooyen and Garrick Higgo missing out on eight over and 11 over respectively.
