Oliver Goss only amateur to make the cut

Oliver Goss will celebrate his birthday today, but the party will have to wait because the University of Tennessee sophomore will be teeing it up in the third round of the 78th Masters Tournament.

Goss, the only amateur to make the cut, shot 1-under-par 71 Friday and sat at 3-over par. He also secured the silver cup awarded to the tournament’s low amateur.

“It’s my 20th birthday tomorrow, and that’s the last thing I’m thinking about,” said Goss, who birdied the par-5 second and eighth holes, along with the par-4 14th. “I’m just absolutely excited to be playing on the weekend … the conditions are only going to get harder.”

Goss had a nice gallery of family and friends following, including his parents, girlfriend Jessie Campbell and grandparents Clive and Bernie Humphries, from England.

He also had support from Augusta caddie Brian Tam, who had success last year helping Chinese amateur Guan Tianlang make the cut at the Masters. “He’s (Tam) helped me a lot,” Goss said. “He’s been out here 10 years, so he has a really good grasp of the greens. When I came down before the tournament, practicing, he gave me some really good reads, and that’s the reason I chose him.”

Making the cut earned Goss a spot in the Butler Cabin when the champion is awarded the green jacket, while the low amateur receives his trophy.

England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick didn’t know where the cut line was when he finished his round, and the birdie putt he missed on 18 proved to be costly. The U.S. Amateur champion shot 73 and missed the cut by a stroke at 5-over par.

“I had no clue where I was at,” Fitzgerald said. “But I don’t know that I would have done anything differently. It’s disappointing to miss by one. I’ll get over it, but I would have liked to play on the weekend of a major.”

British Amateur champion Garrick Porteous was cruising along at even par for the day before taking triple-bogey 7 on the seventh hole, leading to 41 on the front. He shot 80 and missed the cut at 12-over.

Jordan Niebrugge improved on his opening round by seven strokes, shooting 74, with birdies on No. 6 and No. 8. The Oklahoma State University sophomore said he learned a lot this week.

“I get to see how the top players handle themselves on the course, and that’s going to be huge for what I want to do in the future,” Niebrugge said.

South Korea’s Chang-woo Lee shot 73 on Friday after posting 80 in the first round.

“Yesterday, I wasn’t confident in my distances and iron play,” Lee said through an interpreter. “But today I trusted my swing and that made the difference.”

It was a rough day for U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Michael McCoy, who carded 83 in closing out his first visit to Augusta. But the 51-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, wasn’t complaining. He enjoyed the Masters experience, from staying in the Crow’s Nest to having his name called on the first tee. He even had his son Nate, a member of the PGA Tour Canada, on his bag.

“That was special,” McCoy said. “He’s a great kid. I hope this inspires him to work hard, keep at it, being around all these great players. I think that he’s seen how hard they work.”