Lynn learns lesson, stays in contention at midway point of Masters

Boring was better for David Lynn.

All it took was one mistake with his wedge during Friday’s second round of the Masters Tournament to tell him as much.

After already making bogey at No. 6 and with swirling winds making approach shots even trickier, Lynn refused to alter his aggressive approach. The result was a wedge into the bunker that led to his second consecutive bogey and dropped him to 2 under for the tourney.

“I learned a big lesson from going for the flag at 7,” Lynn said. “The play all day long is to go down the left and take your 20-foot putt up the hill. I turned around to my caddie and said, ‘Lesson learned. Let’s just try to play as smart as I can from now on.’ That’s what I tried to do.”

And that’s what Lynn did. He followed his consecutive bogeys with 10 pars in a row before finishing with a birdie on No. 18 that got him back to 1-over 73 for the day and 3-under 141 for the tourney, just three strokes off the lead at 6 under held by Jason Day.

With the conditions unlike anything Lynn had seen during his practice rounds at Augusta National, he knew his best strategy was to “grind out pars.” Still, after posting 4-under 68 on Thursday, the 37-year-old Brit also found it hard to keep his foot off the accelerator as he tried to build on his opening round.

He dodged trouble early before a bad tee shot on No. 6 led to his first bogey and then the ill-advised wedge on No. 7 added another.

From that point on, Lynn remained patient, trying to capitalize on birdie opportunities if they came, but not forcing the issue. Sure enough, opportunities presented themselves as Lynn had reasonable birdie chances from 15 feet and in on 10, 11, 12, 15 and 16.

Lynn made a par save from the sand on No. 17 before knocking his approach 10 feet below the cup on 18. This time, he cashed in to provide some momentum going into the weekend.

“There were a few chances there, so it was nice to salvage one there at the end because I’d been pretty patient,” Lynn said. “They were hard to come by today. I think I deserved one at (18).”