Masters 2019: Francesco Molinari shares early second round clubhouse lead

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Open champion Francesco Molinari shares the early Masters second round clubhouse ahead of seven under with Jason Day and Brooks Koepka on Augusta.

The Italian, 36, had five birdies in a bogey-free 67, while Australian Day also chose a 67 and overnight leader Koepka birdied the latter to join them.

World number two Dustin Johnson and Justin Harding are a shot back.

Ian Poulter is another shot back after a Fight 71, but Justin Rose seems to miss the cut to four left.

The top 50 players, plus tires, and those within 10 shots of the leader to play the weekend.

World number one rose, which quickly started birdies on its first two holes, added two extra birdies on the second nine.

However, four bogeys on his card meant that he marked exactly on the cut at three about playing the 18th and 38-year-old, who has finished second twice in the last three years, boge yed the last.

Four-time winner Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland are among the later starters.

Magic Molinari becomes a member of the elite group?

Molinari enjoys something of a purple stain in his career, with four victories in the past year, including the first Italian to win a protagonist with his victory at Carnoustie in July.

Three little birds on the first nine were supported with two more on the second nine as the Ryder Cup star built on a solid aperture 70, meaning that he has so far bowed only one hole – the tough par -four 11th.

But history is against Molinari: only four players have won the Masters while Open champions – Arnold Palmer (1962), Seve Ballesteros (1980), Tom Watson (1981) and Tiger Woods (2001) – while are best performance in Augusta is a draw for the 19th in 2012.

Molinari, whose first experience with Augusta National was like a caddy for his older brother Edoardo in 2006, said: "That was a good motivation to see how good they were and how much I needed to improve. "

He spoke before the tournament about how he has worked extensively on his putting and work around the greens because they have abandoned him in the past.

"I changed almost everything you can imagine on my putting stroke," he said. "I could have started left-handed, it would have been a similar process.

" It is still uncomfortable if you have a few putts or chips because the margin of error is so small, but I did better than in the past. "

Koepka and Day fight back

Day, whose best Mastersfinish came in second place in 2011, was overrun by a physiotherapist for a bad back during Thursday.

The healing hands helped the former number one of the world's number two under 70 and the 2016 American PGA champion followed it on Friday with six birdies and only one bogey, after being hit in a bunker on the 12th

Three times, big winner Koepka has had three birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey on a turbulent first nine.

A quirky tee shot the second in trees, followed by a second that clattered another tree and resulted in a lost ball and penalty, led to a seven on the par-fiv The second number

But the world number four birdied the next, to deal with a birdie on the first to stay on six below.

Two bogeys on the parches of the first nine par times, the American briefly dropped to four but birdies on the par-eight eighth and 15th hole brought him back to six before rolling into another on the last .

Poulter & # 39; has a three percent chance of & # 39;

After finding a fairway with his opening shot and the first bogeying, Poulter birdied the par-five second and then went on a run of nine parachutes before successive birdies on the 12th and 13th put him briefly in the lead on six par.

However, a "disappointing tripod" led to a bogey on the 14th and the 43-year-old ended with five pars

"Apart from that, I have only a few errors this week made, "said the Englishman. "I'm just trying to be smart and not get myself out of the tournament like I did in the past."

About his chances of this weekend, Poulter added: "I have a three percent chance. It was a stat shown on television that 43-year-olds have a three percent chance of winning this week."

Masters experience still excite Mickelson

Phil Mickelson said playing his 100th competition round at the Masters simply meant that he became "old" before adding that he "is still so excited to be here to be".

"This is a spiritual place if you love golf like we do," said the 48-year-old who played his first round in 1991.

The triple champion, who twice behind the pace started at five substandard and ended at four under, said: "I did not steer the ball well and that is the key, if I hit it reasonably straight, I can attack many holes.

" If I drive like I did on Thursday, I'm going to have a goo D

Curse strikes again when Wallace goes home

And the Par-three curse lives to fight another year after the English Matt Wallace, who beat Sandy Lyle in a play-off to win Wednesday's mini-tournament followed his opening 75 with a 77 to miss the cut of his Masters debut in eight.

Full report and quotes at the end of game

2019 Masters on the BBCDates: April 11-14 Location: Augusta NationalCoverage: watch uninterrupted live coverage of the final rounds on BBC Two, with up to four live streams online. Live radio and text commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra, BBC Sport website and mobile app. All details