Masters leaderboard breakdown: Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau close gap with Justin Rose after 36 holes

Overnight rain created a slightly softer Augusta National Golf Club for Round 2 of the 2025 Masters on Friday, and while winds picked up in the afternoon, there were low scores available for the 95-man field that met the cutline at close of play. While overnight leader Justin Rose could not replicate the magic of his opening round, he nevertheless managed to claw his way to a 1-under 71 on Friday and maintain hold of the lead alone after 36 holes.

The problem for Rose is that a lot of notable names went immensely low around him, narrowing the gap and moving within just a couple strokes of his advantage. Suddenly, Rose's effort to hold the lead through 36 more holes looks like it will be even more difficult.

Some of the names in the top 12 going to the weekend include Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, Jason Day, Ludvig Åberg, Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Reed and Collin Morikawa. That is a veritable who's who of the professional golf world with whom Rose now must contend, beginning with Moving Day on Saturday.

With ideal weather conditions in the forecast and the game's best stacked on the first page of the Masters leaderboard, a truly great Saturday and Sunday may be in store at Augusta National Golf Club.

Let's take a look at where the leaderboard stands after 36 holes.

2025 Masters leaderboard breakdown, Round 2

1. Justin Rose (-8): Rose entered Friday with a fairly conservative game plan, hitting a lot of 3 woods off the tee and just trying not to make mistakes. Like everyone else, he probably expected the weather to make scoring difficult later in the day, but while winds picked up, it was never quite as blustery as we saw a year ago. That meant even guys in the afternoon were able to pull a bit closer to his lead -- though 11 of 13 rounds in the 60s came from the morning wave, per Justin Ray -- and now he'll be put to a real test on the weekend. 

2. Bryson DeChambeau (-7): Sitting 4 under through his first eight holes, it looked like DeChambeau might go really low. However, he wasn't as sharp on the second nine and had to grind just to get it to the clubhouse with a 68 and solo second. How he handles the weekend with a ton of stars around him will be fascinating, as he proved last year at the U.S. Open, he has the game to beat them all, but he'll have to fight the temptation to be overly aggressive at a course ready to penalize that. 

T3. Rory McIlroy, Corey Conners (-6): No one took advantage of those conditions better than McIlroy, who flipped the script on his Thursday second-nine meltdown with an incredible 31 coming in. He shot the round of the day with a 6-under 66 to make a huge move up the leaderboard. His second nine featured three of the best iron shots from anyone all week on Nos. 10, 11 and 13, punctuated by a 4 iron from the pine straw that was not meant to go right at the flag but did and barely found the surface to set up an eagle. McIlroy now sits T3 alongside Conners as the Canadian played quite well once again and posted a 70 in the afternoon to maintain his place in the top 5 going into the weekend. 

T5. Scottie Scheffler, Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt McCarty (-5): Scheffler had an uncharacteristically wild round with five bogeys and four birdies, including a visit to the magnolia trees left of the 18th leading to a closing bogey. After not putting a bogey on the card on Thursday, Scheffler appears to have some things to work out going into the weekend and appears at least a little bit vulnerable for the first time in a couple of years at the Masters. 

Lowry rather quietly put together a terrific 68 to join the group at 5 under and moved himself into the mix going to the weekend as he seeks his second major championship. Hatton had it to 7 under late in his second nine before a mini meltdown on the greens of the 16th and 17th dropped him back to T5. 

McCarty had an even crazier round than Scheffler as he opened with a double bogey-bogey start to fall outside the cut line before roaring back with four straight birdies to close his first nine. He made four more birdies on the second nine to briefly get to 6 under before a bogey on 18 dropped him back to -5. 

T9. Viktor Hovland, Jason Day, Rasmus Højgaard (-4): Højgaard had the second-best round of the day to McIlroy with a fantastic 67 to move from the cut line sweat to the top 10. Hovland had it to 6 under after four straight birdies on his second nine but gave two back to close his round and slip four off the pace. Day also gave one back on the 18th, his only bogey of the day. 

T12. Ludvig Åberg, Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Reed, Collin Morikawa (-3): It's nothing but heavy-hitters and Masters champions in the group at T12. Åberg is the only one in the top 20 who had an over par round on Friday, as he had never quite got it going and finished bogey-bogey to drop down the leaderboard. Matsuyama, Morikawa and Reed all put it in red figures on Friday to erase somewhat disappointing first rounds, and now can start thinking about contending with another round in the 60s on Saturday. 

T17. Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood and three others (-2): Two more pre-tournament favorites moved up into T17 as Schauffele and Fleetwood both posted 3-under 69s to give themselves an outside chance at a green jacket. 

T22. Min Woo Lee, Bubba Watson and 3 others (-1): The last group in red figures includes the two-time Masters champion Watson, who has found some life at Augusta National once again. Lee, meanwhile, hung steady with a 72 but continues to struggle stringing together birdies like we're accustomed to seeing from the Chef. 

T27. Max Homa, Justin Thomas, Wyndham Clark and 7 others (E): Homa and Thomas continue to absolutely grind it out despite not having their best stuff. Clark, meanwhile, looked like he was headed for a plane ride home on Friday night before making five birdies in his final 11 holes to not only make the cut but get in range for a top 20. 

Notables who missed the cut: 

1. Russell Henley
2. Dustin Johnson
3. Fred Couples
4. Bernhard Langer
5. Sergio Garcia
6. Tony Finau
7. Brooks Koepka
8. Cameron Smith
9. Robert MacIntyre
10. Cameron Young
11. Will Zalatoris
12. Phil Mickelson

Some players with great histories at Augusta National won't be around for the weekend, including Couples and Langer, who were inside the cut line until the very end of their second rounds at 65 and 67 years old, respectively.