Friday is in the books at the Masters Tournament, and Illinois golf has a former player seeing the weekend.
Day two at the Masters was a fun watch. Numerous big names don the leaderboard. Justin Rose continued to hold on to his first-round lead, as he is -8 heading into the weekend. 10 other golfers are within four strokes of the lead, with some of the big names including Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Scottie Scheffler, to name a few.
The Illini have a name in the hunt, too. While he isn’t within four strokes of the lead, Brian Campbell managed to traverse the tough slopes of Augusta National and pushed through to make the cut.
Campbell shot a second round +1, 73, to enter the weekend +1 and a tie for 37th place. Campbell had his second round going well, as he was -1 through 14 holes. The tough finish at Augusta National got him, though.
A bad putt on No. 17 left Campbell with a knee-knocker for his par putt, which he would miss. After the bogey on No. 17, Campbell headed to the tough No. 18. A bad tee shot got Campbell into some tree trouble. This led to a punchout, which eventually led to a bogey.
Brian Campbell can still make a run up the Masters Tournament leaderboard after a tough finish
The name of the game at the Masters is to mitigate the disasters. Don’t let a bad shot turn into a double or triple bogey. Campbell did a great job of that, as he had some issues coming down the stretch but took his medicine and came out with two bogies.
Realistically, nine shots back of the lead heading into the weekend is probably too much to overcome, especially with the names ahead of him. If Campbell can shoot a couple of rounds in the high 60s or low 70s, he could finish the 2025 Masters in a great position.
Getting into the top 12 or somewhere near it will likely get Campbell into the 2026 Masters Tournament. That number is at -3 right now. Also, a good finish will help shoot Campbell up the World Golf Ranking. If he can get and stay in the top 50 in the world, that is an invitation to the Masters next year, too.
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