AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) The early returns are in for Rory McIlroy at the Masters, and so far all is good.

The swing is fine, and so are the ribs. Perhaps more importantly, all seems well in the space between his ears.

Now comes the real test, with a rare career Grand Slam there for the taking.

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On a day when par seemed a good score, McIlroy did just a little bit better, shooting a 1-under 71 Friday to inch near the top of the leaderboard in the one major championship he has never won.

It could have been better, as most golf rounds tend to be. Heading into what is expected to be a wet weekend, though, it was just what McIlroy needed to put himself in position for the green jacket that once slipped so agonizingly away.

”I’ve always been comfortable around the lead,” McIlroy said in what seemed like a bit of a message to the rest of the field. ”It’s a place that I’m thankfully quite familiar with and know how to deal with.”

That wasn’t always the case, as anyon..

FacebookPinterestDEA / BIBLIOTECA AMBROSIANAPortrait of the British poet Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892), illustration from The Graphic, volume XXVIII, no 722, September 29, 1883.

Those fortunate enough to have tuned in early to ESPN, even a few hours before its Masters telecast was to have begun, would have discovered that it was showing live golf on its Sports Center at the Masters show.
They, too, would have been exposed to English literature, specifically the 19th century British poet Alfred Lord Tennyson.
ESPN’s Sports Center at the Masters show, in fact, showed the first five holes of Tiger Woods’ round on Friday and even had a camera on Tiger in the woods at the fifth hole, taking an unplayable lie and a drop. More importantly, though, it had introduced him at the first tee with a recitation of the last verses of Tennyson’s poem, Ulysses:
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is..

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) Given Jordan Spieth’s past experiences at Augusta National, there was no reason to panic.

It was the front nine. It was the second round. It was nowhere near the worst he’s been through at the Masters.

So Spieth remained calm despite losing a two-shot lead on the first two holes. He excused it as typical ”punches” from a daunting golf course in difficult conditions. He responded by making two birdies over the final six holes, helping him recover from the inauspicious start.

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He finished with a 2-over 74 that left him 4 under for the tournament.

”I’ve taken a lot of punches on this golf course, and in tournaments in general,” Spieth said. ”I told (caddy) Michael (Greller), `Look, when this course plays tough, I’m good for a double here or some bogeys there. Let’s make these the only ones.”’

Spieth began the day at 6 under. He squandered that before more than half the field teed off.

The 2015 Masters champion pushed his tee shot at the ..

APPLING, Ga. (AP) Authorities have added felony charges against the driver of a charter bus that overturned on a Georgia interstate, injuring passengers heading to the Masters golf tournament.

Maj. Steve Morris of the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that 61-year-old Steven Hoppenbrouwer is charged with seven counts of serious injury by vehicle. That’s in addition to charges of driving under the influence and failure to maintain lane that the bus driver was jailed on Thursday.

The Georgia State Patrol says Hoppenbrouwer was driving 18 Masters patrons Thursday from Atlanta to Augusta when the bus left the road, spun and overturned on Interstate 20. Some passengers suffered broken bones and head injuries.

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Morris said Hoppenbrouwer left jail after posting bond Friday. He said jail records did not list an attorney for Hoppenbrouwer.

Bridgestone has a TOUR B ball for every type of golfer, but there are key performance benefits common to every model.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) Patrick Reed is leading a major championship for the first time, and his confidence is so high that he can only see what’s ahead of him.

Maybe that’s just as well at this Masters.

Reed started and finished the front nine with three straight birdies. He answered Marc Leishman’s bold shot for an eagle by polishing off another run of three straight birdies. It added to a 6-under 66 and a two-shot lead over Leishman going into the weekend at Augusta National.

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Right behind them are five major champions.

Nowhere near him are Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the two names that generated so much of the buzz for a Masters that otherwise is living up to expectations.

None of it matters to Reed, who is going after his first major.

”Everyone wants to win, and if you don’t believe you can win them, then you probably shouldn’t be playing in them,” Reed said. ”I believe that if I play the golf that I know how to play that I can win majors. … There’s..

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) Rory McIlroy has the career Grand Slam well within reach at the Masters.

Tough conditions at Augusta National could help keep him in the hunt.

McIlroy had an up-and-down start to the second round Friday, carding two birdies and three bogeys on the front nine while moving closer to the leaders. Matt Kuchar and six others were tied at 3 under when McIlroy made the turn one shot back.

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With firmer greens, tougher pin placements and just enough wind to make approach shots more challenging, it could be difficult for anyone to make a run up the leaderboard. That could be beneficial for McIlroy.

McIlroy was at his best early in the round. He made a sweeping 30-footer for birdie and the par-5 second. He nearly drove the green on the 350-yard third and then chipped to 4 feet and drained it for a birdie. He was at 4 under before giving back shots at Nos. 4 and 6, both par 3s.

He was over the green on the 240-yard fourth and then missed a 7-foote..

The Masters has long been one of the greatest viewing spectacles in sports. How golf fans consume the tournament has evolved a tremendous amount over time, thanks in large part to live-streaming and AI technology. (Confession: Watching shot-tracer following Tiger's power-draw 3-wood into the fairway on the 10th tee on Thursday might've led me to shed a tear.)
These technological advances have enabled us to devour all-things Masters on more screens and multiple devices and forms of media. You might not be fortunate enough to ever score a ticket to the house that Jones and Mackenzie built, but thanks to Masters.com, CBS and ESPN, we now have a plethora of options to satisfy our Masters cravings, all from the comfort of our couches.
It has now become a work of art—and a point of pride among golf fans—to set up the perfect Masters-viewing theatre. We asked our followers on Instagram and Twitter to share an image of how they watch the Masters, and they did not disappoint. Have a l..

Jamie SquireOne of the most unlikely stories early during Masters Week has been Gary “GT” Nicklaus Jr. If you haven't seen the highlight yet, c'mon—you need to watch it. Jack Nicklaus' grandson, caddieing for his legendary, 18-time-major-winning grandfather, stepped up to the ninth hole during the Par 3 Contest, and promptly aced the hole. The 15-year-old had never had a hole-in-one before. Until then.
Jack's reaction was priceless, trending on every news site from CNN to People Magazine. What a moment. GT has kept his unbelievable week going, it appears, by being the subject of a full minute and a half rap by the freestyle musician Kelley James at a private party for aviation company Wheels Up on Thursday evening.
We know it's not James' best work—but the fact that Jack's grandson was up on the stage with Scott Van Pelt, being rapped about in front of the 1 percent of the 1-percenters of America in attendance at the Masters, is pretty unlikely. But t..

If you've never listened to the broadcast of a New York Mets game on SNY with Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez, you haven't lived, and this is coming from a Yankee fan. Not only are they funnier than just about any god-awful “Saturday Night Live” episode (not saying much), but they also know what they're talking about, and their chemistry as a trio is unmatched. While Darling and Cohen are great, the star, of course, is Hernandez.
The legendary first basemen boasts an incredible resume, including a share of the 1979 NL MVP, five All-Star games, a career .296 batting average, 11 gold gloves, two World Series rings and a guest appearance in one of the all-time great episodes of “Seinfeld”. Since 2006, he's been a broadcaster for the Mets on SNY, a team he spent seven of his final eight MLB seasons on and won one of his two World Series with. Last year, he also got an even bigger gig with FOX as a studio analyst. In other words, the guy can do it all, and no..