Jason Dufner hanging tough for his Masters bid, sharing the lead with Fred Couples through the halfway mark
Two-time Nationwide Tour winner Jason Dufner is not letting go of his bid for the green jacket at this year’s coveted event and has pulled in stunning rounds so far to stay in contention for his Masters title.
The 35-year-old American, who lost the PGA Championship title on the playoff last year, apparently has found a taste for the major events and has pulled in outstanding performances so far to throttle the giants in the field.
With a strong three-under, 69 on the opening day, Dufner has now carded a second round of two-under, 70 and is currently leading the event with the veteran Fred Couples.
The duo are one shot better than a group of five raging giants of the likes of Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy, Louis Oosthuizen and overnight leader Lee Westwood.
He said, “I didn’t play anything on Wednesday, took Wednesday completely off. Played some casual rounds here, which wasn’t too bad. So, I’m feeling pretty good”.
Dufner had a poor start of the season and has not been able to card an impressive performance so far.
Notwithstanding, Dufner insists that he feels good about his form and putting and hopes to take it all the way to the top.
Starting off his second round with two birdies on second and third, Dufner fell for a terrible double-bogey at par-three fourth.
He regained composure to pull in another birdie at the sixth but dropped another shot at the ninth just before making the turn.
His back nine turned out to be a well calculated one where he pulled in three birdies. He dropped another shot at the 18th, something that kept him from clinching an outright lead in the event.
He added, “I have been feeling really good about my game. Couple of rounds here and there, had a really bad nine holes at Bay Hill . . . I’m just kind of searching to put four together”.
The American has not been able to break par for the last almost two months and his scoring average has dropped to 70.1 percent and he currently stands at 76th on the PGA Tour.
He will have to do better than his opening rounds to tackle the giants in the field over the weekend.
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