Sport/ Golf

Bubba's birdie blitz bags three-shot lead at the Masters

Watson tears back nine apart to race clear of Australia’s John Senden, with defending champion Adam Scott right in the hunt

Bubba Watson plays the joker after a cracking tee-shot on the 16th hole set up another birdie. Photo: Reuters

Bubba Watson likes the way he looks in green. He wants to get that colour back in his wardrobe.

I’m trying to get the jacket back. I want that feeling again Bubba Watson

Watson surged to the Masters lead with a spree of birdies on the back side on Friday, positioning him for a weekend run at his second green jacket in three years.

“I’m trying to get the jacket back,” Watson said. “I want that feeling again.”

Bubba Watson hits from the fairway on the 17th hole.Photo: EPA

The 2012 champion at Augusta National sparked the best run of the tournament so far when he stuck his tee shot at No. 12 within three feet of the cup. He tapped in for the first of five straight birdies that propelled him to a four-under 68.

Even after making his second bogey of the tournament by missing a short putt at the 18th, Watson walked off with his second straight round in the 60s, a 36-hole score of seven-under 137, and a three-stroke lead.

“It’s not science here,” Watson said. “It’s try to hit the greens, and if you’re hitting the greens that means you’re obviously hitting your tee shots well. So that’s all I’m trying to do, just hit the greens.”

Look who’s in the mix again, too: 54-year-old Fred Couples, who posted his second straight 71.

This is the fifth straight year the 1992 winner has gone to the weekend in the top 10 – he was leading two years ago – but he’s never been able to hang on.

“I can’t panic,” said Couples, looking to become the oldest major champion in golf history. “You’re not going to pick up two or three shots here because you want to. It’s not that kind of course. You’ve got to hang in there, expect a tough shot here and there. It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow.”

Bubba Watson lines up his putt on the 18th hole, which he missed. Photo: EPA

Watson opened on Thursday with a 69 and went bogey-free through the first 26 holes, finally stumbling at the ninth. But that bogey was quickly forgotten when he put on a dazzling display of the golf that had the patrons roaring. He took advantage of both par 5s, sandwiched around a curling, 40-foot birdie putt at the 14th that prompted him to throw both arms in the air.

I was in awe when I was the champion. I didn’t know how to handle it the best way, so I didn’t play my best golf Bubba Watson

Watson made it five in a row at the par-3 16th, pulling off another magnificent tee shot with the 9-iron, the ball rolling up about four feet short of the flag. He became only the fifth player in Masters history to run off nothing but birdies from the 12th to 16th holes.

A year ago, the left-hander finished in a tie for 50th last year as the defending Masters champion, his worst showing in five previous appearances. He likes being two years removed from his championship a whole lot better.

“I was in awe when I was the champion,” Watson said. “I didn’t know how to handle it the best way, so I didn’t play my best golf.”

Watson’s closest pursuer was Australia’s John Senden, who birdied 14 and 15 on his way to a 68 and 140 overall.

Defending champion Adam Scott rallied for a 72 after making the turn at three over, keeping him solidly in contention at the midway point with a 141. He was joined by Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, who birdied four of the last five holes for a 68, and Sweden’s Jonas Blixt, who managed 71 despite a double-bogey at the 11th.

Fred Couples loosens up before hitting a shot at the 13th hole. Photo: AFP

Five shots back, Couples was joined at 142 by Jimmy Walker, a three-time PGA Tour winner this season who shot 72, and Jim Furyk, whose 68 matched Watson, Senden and Bjorn for the best round of the day. Twenty-year-old Jordan Spieth also was at two under as he headed to the 18th hole in the final group of the day.

First-round leader Bill Haas, teeing off on a warm, sunny afternoon with the wind picking up and the greens getting firmer, was still at four under approaching the turn. Then came a miserable stretch of holes starting at No. 9: bogey, bogey, double-bogey, bogey, bogey. He staggered to a 78 – 10 shots higher than the day before, knocking him nine shots back.

At least Haas gets to keep playing.

Three-time winner Phil Mickelson missed the Augusta cut for the first time since 1997.

Lefty had a triple-bogey at the 12th, where he knocked three straight shots in bunkers for his second triple of the tournament. Three birdies on the back side gave him a glimmer of hope, but 73 totalled up to 149 – one shot too many.

“It’s tough to overcome those big numbers,” said Mickelson, who had plenty of big-name company beyond the cut line.

Sergio Garcia, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Graeme McDowell, Dustin Johnson, Angel Cabrera and Charl Schwartzel were all headed home as well before the weekend.