Jason Day continued to fly the flag for Australia at Augusta National as tough conditions proved challenging for the Aussies in the second round of the Masters Tournament.

Day opened with a bogey on his first hole but quickly composed himself following up with a birdie on the par-5 2nd hole, one of three birdies on the front-9 to make the turn at 2-under the card.

But it was the challenging back-9 where his game started to decline; bogeys on the par-4 11th, par-5 13th and par-4 18th saw Day sign for 1-over 73 (T15). This was his first over par round in a Major since the 2014 Open Championship, and places him five shots behind leader, Jordan Spieth.

"I didn’t play too bad, I felt like I did alright, but with the conditions it’s very difficult and coming home is a tough stretch as well," said Day.

"I holed a lot of good putts out there today for par and birdie, you just have to take them when you can, now I’m sitting and waiting to see how Jordan goes out there."

"It’s really tricky, down through Amen Corner is very difficult, you don’t know where the wind is coming from. On 15 I hit a 9-iron from 120 yards with a 20-yard wind, it’s difficult because you don’t want to spin it back into the water," added Day.

"Jordan seems to love this golf course and it all depends on where he’s at, if (the weather) gets tougher like they’re predicting that may bring the scores back.  Sitting at 1-over isn’t too bad if we have similar conditions tomorrow."

"It almost feels like a US Open, you just have to survive and I’m trying my best just to survive right now."

Hot on the heels of Day is fellow Queenslander Cameron Smith who also fired 1-over the card to match Day’s 73, but a bogey on the par-3 4th hole and a double bogey on the par-3 6th hole dashed his hopes of sitting inside the top-20 after the opening rounds.

Adam Scott couldn’t find the momentum he needed on the front-9 after opening with a superb birdie on his first hole. By the turn he had racked up three bogeys on the par-3 4th, par-4 5th and par-4 7th which put him in jeopardy of missing the cut. But three late birdies, including one on his closing
hole, gave some relief and saw Scott finish with an even par round.

It wasn’t the same story for Victorian Marc Leishman, after he made a mid round charge with back-to-back birdies on the par-4 9th and 10th. A double bogey on the par-5 15th and bogeys on his closing two holes ended his hopes of a weekend berth signing for 5-over 77 to put him 7-over the card for the
tournament.

The week also went from bad to worse for Steven Bowditch, who is carrying a wrist injury, carded 10-over 82 in the second round to put himself 17-over the card for the tournament and out of the weekend’s play.

The cut was made at 6-over with the top-50 players, including ties, making the weekend.

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