Hatton (70) enters Masters weekend three shots off lead

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Despite two late bogeys, Tyrrell Hatton was comfortably inside the cut line as he played his final hole late Friday afternoon at the Masters. It was a welcome relief compared to previous years.

“It was nice to walk up there and know that I couldn’t even mess that one up around here,” he said.

On the flip side, bogeys at 16 and 17 were a disappointing end to an otherwise stellar round – and it might come back to haunt the Legion XIII star as he chases his first major victory.

RELATED: Best of the Masters Rd. 2 | Rd. 2 LIV Golf Masters notebook | Photos from Rd. 2

Hatton’s second-round 2-under 70 leaves him at 5 under for the tournament, in a four-way tie for fifth that also includes defending champion Scottie Scheffler; those two are paired in the third round. They’re all chasing Justin Rose, who leads at 8 under, one shot ahead of Hatton’s fellow LIV Golf player, Bryson DeChambeau.

It’s the best position he’s ever held through 36 holes at Augusta National, and it’s one he surely would have taken at the start of the week.

But thru 15 holes Friday, Hatton was tied for second with DeChambeau, who was already in the clubhouse. Another birdie would have put him in the final group with Rose.

His tee shot at the par-3 16th left him with a near-impossible two-putt, however, as it rolled down the slope away from the pin.

“It was always an 8-iron, and there was a little bit of chat as to maybe changing, and that, in the end, kind of contributed to why I hit the shot that I did,” Hatton explained. “It was such a hard two-putt. I feel like the first attempt was very close to being great. If I hit it probably 3 feet harder, it misses the slope and goes through the other side and then you're almost off the green.

“So yeah, it was very easy to look stupid. I wasn't so annoyed at the making 4 there, to be honest. I can take that on the chin. From where I was putting from for birdie, you can have a fair few attempts and you're very rarely going to two-putt that.

“But yeah, 17 is the one that kind of hurts the most, really.”

That’s because he was left with a routine 1-foot putt for par that hit a spike mark and lipped out. Hatton gave the mark a close look after his miss.

“17 is just like ridiculous,” he said. “Obviously tapping in there and hitting a little mark and goes straight left and lips out left and all of a sudden you look stupid. But I don't really know what to say about that. When you hit a decent putt from a foot, you expect it to go in.”

Perhaps it was payback for the big break he received at the par-4 14th when his tee shot headed for the trees but bounced back into the fairway. “Probably one of the best breaks I’ve ever had,” he said. “Certainly around here. I feel like I've had enough bad breaks, I was certainly due a good one.”

(Photo by Montana Pritchard/LIV Golf)