AUGUSTA – Max Homa’s impressive performance in windy conditions Friday marks his fourth career 36-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR and first-ever in a major championship. On Tour, he’s one-for-three converting to victory (Won/2022 Fortinet Championship, 2nd/2023 Genesis Invitational, T5/2023 BMW Championship). Both Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler share the lead.

For Scheffler, this is his 13th career 36-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR, the most of any player since he joined the TOUR at the start of the 2019-20 season. (The second-most is eight by Patrick Cantlay).

Scheffler is three-for-12 to date converting to victory with wins at the 2022 Masters Tournament, 2023 WM Phoenix Open, 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. … It’s his third career 36-hole lead/co-lead in majors; one-for-two to date converting to victory (Won/2022 Masters Tournament, T2/2023 PGA Championship).

With a win, Scheffler can become the fourth-youngest player to win the Masters multiple times, behind Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Seve Ballesteros.

For Homa, as noted, this is his fourth career 36-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR but first in a major championship. His previous-best 36-hole position in a major: T11, 2023 Open Championship when he finished T10.

Tiger Woods stole the headlines for the day, extending his streak of consecutive made cuts at The Masters to 24, and breaking a tie with Gary Player and Fred Couples for the longest streak in tournament history.

For Woods, the streak began with his win in 1997, but note, he did not play in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2021.

Woods is an 82-time PGA TOUR winner and five-time Masters Tournament champion.

The conditions took the field average in the second round to 75.079, the highest in a single round at the Masters since the third round in 2016 (75.719). The 6-over is the highest 36-hole cut relative to par on TOUR since the 2020 U.S. Open (+6) and highest at the Masters since 2017 (+6).

Notables who missed the cut include, Justin Thomas, Sungai Im, rookie Nick Dunlap, Sergio Garcia (who was playing well on the LIV Tour), Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns, Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson.

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Can you imagine plotting and planning, scheming and teaming-up with some buddies to score tickets and attend The Masters at Augusta National only to have it rain? Worse that rain, it’s raw, damp and unpleasant … a.k.a “inclement weather,” which has suspended play in the mid-afternoon or both Friday and Saturday’s rounds.

The Masters is the jewel of professional golf’s Major tournaments, outclassing the PGA Championship, The Open and The U.S. Open. It is to golf what Wimbledon is to tennis or what the Boston Marathon is to long distance racing. It is the best.

With that tag, it is a very tough ticket.

That’s the way current Augusta National head honcho Fred Ridley and his predecessors – all good olde boys from the South – in Clifford Roberts (1931-76), Bill Lane (1977-80), Hord Hardin (1980-1991) – it was under Hardin’s era when the first black member of Augusta was approved – Jack Stephens (1991-98). Hootie Johnson (1998-2006) and Billy Payne(2006)-2017) – all wanted it.

The Masters evolved and improved with age. It awkwardly navigated the prejudicial ways of the past regarding African-American members and membership for women, as it wasn’t until Billy Payne’s watch when the first female members were introduced.

Despite it’s flaws, and its old-school policies all fighting modern technology and 24/7 sports coverage, the Masters remains pure and has proven-out the “less is more” theory of sports broadcasting.

Nowadays, there’s streaming coverage of the Amen Corner and Featured Groups, but the TV right are only in the pocket of CBS Sports. They’ll be on at 8:30am this morning and 2:00pm this afternoon to cover a rain-soaked tournament and hopefully tuck it in before “60 Minutes” starts at 7:00pm in the east.

Thankfully, unlike college basketball, CBS sports anchor Jim Nantz will stay on with his coverage of The Masters.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The Masters – as stated above – is truly one of the “Bucket List” events for any sports fan. What are the others? Here’s a list facing this reporter and a list of Bucket List items already checked-off.

BUCKET LIST EVENTS to COME (Hopefully):

1. The Masters
2. Winter Olympic Games
3. Super Bowl
4. Pebble Beach golf
5. Kentucky Derby
6. French Open and Australian Open

FIVE BUCKET LIST EVENTS CHECKED OFF:

1. Summer Olympic Games (Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens)
2. NCAA Final Four
3. World Series and Stanley Cup Final
4. U.S. Open (golf and tennis)
5. NHL Winter Classic

(Note: The BIG EAST Tournament in New York and the ACC Tournament (1990 in Charlotte) are high on the list, as was a UCLA vs USC game at The Rose Bowl). There are far too many NBA events to list, but I might place the 1992 NBA All-Star Game in Orlando with Earvin Magic Johnson’s return to play as No. 1 and the 2004 NBA China Games in Shanghai and Beijing with Yao Ming as No. 2).

LIV vs PGA TOUR: The playing of the 2023 Masters re-united the best golfers in the world as members of the upstart LIV Golf tour were permitted to compete alongside their former colleagues on the PGA Tour. “It’s good to be back,” said Phil Mickelson on his return as he’s currently T-8 with 71-69 in the books and EVEN par.

Off the course, LIV and the PGA Tour will still do battle in the court of law, as this past Friday, Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated a Jan. 11, 2024, trial date and pushed back the start of the trial at least four months, citing reasons of the need for more time for discovery stemming from the coffers of the Saudi Public Investment Fund which has bankrolled LIV golf to absurd lengths of signing bonuses and payoffs for 54-hole tournaments.

The disputes involve eleven LIV Golf players who filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour on Aug. 3, 2022, accusing the tour of using its monopoly powers to squash competition.

On Sept. 29, the PGA Tour filed a countersuit against LIV Golf, accusing it of interfering with its contracts with players. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan suspended more than 30 players for competing in LIV Golf tournaments without conflicting-event releases.

Meanwhile with LIV golfer Brooks Koepka at the top of the Masters leaderboard, it bodes well for the rival tour and its competitive business model.

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