Charley Hoffman enters weekend hot behind Jordan Spieth

Charley Hoffman put together two rounds in the 60s and finds himself in the final group today alongside red-hot Jordan Spieth, but his first task on the third day comes outside the course.

“I’m hoping my kids sleep in a little bit (Saturday),” Hoffman said. “That’s the first approach.”

The 38-year-old is riding a wave of momentum in his second Masters Tournament appearance, shooting 4-under-par 68 on Friday to sit five shots back of Spieth in second place at 9-under.

Hoffman birdied five holes in the second round and played bogey-free until the 18th hole, where he finished with 5 after failing to get up-and-down from the left side.

A notable stretch came on the second nine when he birdied three consecutive holes, Nos. 12, 13 and 14. He made birdie putts of 8, 15 and 23 feet to stay within range of Spieth’s record-setting 130 through 36 holes.

Hoffman finished only four strokes shy of Raymond Floyd’s 131 in 1976, but he still finds himself looking up to 21-year-old Spieth.

“I’m just playing golf, and I’ve only played 36 holes, and we’ve got a lot of golf left,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman entered with 11th-place finishes in the past two events, but he acknowledged that Saturdays were rough those two weeks. He shot 79 at the Valero Texas Open and 74 at the Shell Houston Open, yet placed just outside the top 10 each week.

“Hopefully, I play four good rounds instead of three of them out here this week,” he said. “I can’t say why I played bad on Saturday the last couple (of) weeks, but I felt comfortable. I got off to a couple bad starts, bad breaks those Saturdays.”

It certainly hasn’t been a bad start at Augusta for the San Diego native. He has just three bogeys to 10 birdies in two rounds, including an eagle Thursday on No. 15.

Hoffman made a 35-foot birdie putt Friday on No. 2, followed by a 17-footer for birdie on No. 5. He followed a strong up-and-down for par on No. 10 with the hot stretch around Amen Corner.

“I don’t think you can really press on this golf course too much out there, and I didn’t,” he said. “I was still aggressive where I needed to be aggressive, and took my medicine where I needed to take my medicine.”