Bryson DeChambeau added a second round of 73 to his opening 65 at the Masters on a windswept day at Augusta National, with one of the former US Open champion’s three birdies coming in unorthodox fashion on the 13th.
After hitting his tee shot into the trees, DeChambeau opted to hit his second shot towards the adjacent 14th fairway, but not before taking it upon himself to remove a sizeable signpost.
“Yeah, I picked up the signpost. I was trying to direct people. Trying to get people to go to the restrooms,” DeChambeau joked in his post-round press conference.
“For me it was pretty much the only option. I was looking at an opportunity to hit it back into the 13th fairway, but I knew I could hit one around the corner down 14 fairway and have a 140 to 150-yard shot in.
“So I decided to do that, and the Patrons were nice enough to move over to the side to make sure it was wide enough so if I hit one errant, nobody would get hit by the ball.
“I hit a great shot around the corner and was able to take advantage of a pretty open entrance to the green at that back right flag and made a nice birdie putt.”
DeChambeau revealed his new set of irons were only approved by the USGA 48 hours before play got under way on Thursday.
“I have to say, it was pretty close,” he added. “We didn’t really think it was going to be non-conforming but they were, just the groove edge was just too sharp.
“Last week we found out literally Thursday afternoon that they were non-conforming from the USGA.
“And then we worked on them all over the weekend, and finally Tuesday morning we got them to where they were in a place where they were conforming and was ready to go.”
With winds gusting up to 42mph, the pace of play was funereal and the penultimate group of Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele took six hours and two minutes to complete 18 holes.
Scheffler added a 72 to his opening 66 and Schauffele returned a second consecutive 72 to remain level par, but McIlroy struggled to a birdie-free 77 to slump to four over.
Defending champion Jon Rahm was a stroke further back following a 76, with the cut falling at six over to allow two-time winner Jose Maria Olazabal to make the weekend at the age of 58.
