Masters rookie Ancer makes statement with Friday 67 to vault into contention

Abraham Ancer was already fired up about playing in his first Masters Tournament this week. When he watched his friend and fellow Mexican Carlos Ortiz win the Houston Open last Sunday, his enthusiasm went to another level.

Ancer has carried that over into the tournament, where he has shot 68-67 and is at 9-under 135. He was tied for the lead among those who finished 36 holes on Friday.

The second round was suspended by darkness with 48 players yet to complete play. That will happen this morning, but Ancer will be among the top players heading into the weekend regardless.

Ortiz’s win in Houston was the first by a Mexican on the PGA Tour in 42 years. Because the field for the 2020 Masters was frozen on March 17, after the tournament was rescheduled from April, Ortiz’s invitation is for the 2021 tournament.

Ancer arrived at Augusta National on Nov. 5 to get comfortable with the course. He was in the locker room on Sunday when Ortiz was in the mix.

Round 2 Photos

“I was going to go play the back nine, but I was like, I've got to go watch my boy win this thing,” Ancer said. “I’ve never been that nervous watching somebody else play. I was actually freaking out there a little bit. So that was really cool to watch. It was awesome. I got pumped up.”

Ancer, who qualified for the Masters by making it to the 2019 Tour Championship and being inside the top 50 in the world (he’s now 21st), gained valuable experience last December in Australia as an international team player in the Presidents Cup. Ancer, a rookie, went 3-1-1, losing only his singles match to Tiger Woods.

“I've always said that experience in Melbourne definitely prepared me or helped me feel a lot more comfortable, really, in any scenario I get put on or whoever I'm playing with or whatever tournament it is,” Ancer said. “I mean, the amount of pressure that you feel there, the excitement, every putt counts so much. That whole week was big for me and my career.”

Ancer was 9-under par for the 25 holes he played Friday. He had to stop his first round on a disappointing note, three-putting No. 11 for bogey.

“So I was a little bit mad about that, so we got called off, and so I had to be really patient and know that … I mean, there's no reason … it's not going to help me if I'm going to be mad and coming back and thinking about that.”

With the restart of the second round on Friday morning, that meant Ancer had to start on the devilish par-3 12th hole. He hit the green and two-putted for par.

“I felt good, I knew what my number would be so I hit some 9-irons on the range,” he said.

“It's a challenging tee shot coming back and starting on 12, but I managed to hit the green and two-putt, and from there it was really nice, smooth sailing.”

It certainly was. Ancer played his final six holes to complete his first round in 4-under par, making birdies on Nos. 13, 14, 15 and 18, giving him six for the round. In his afternoon round of 67, he had six more birdies to offset a bogey on No. 10 to start his round, including birdies on three par 3s.