Brian Gay's putter fails as he posts 74, makes cut

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Brian Gay wipes off clubs on No. 16 during the second round. He carded 2-over-par 74 for the round and is tied for 37th.

Brian Gay avoided the bogeys for a while – for hours, in fact – but they finally popped up on the back nine.

In the second round of his second Masters Tournament appearance, Gay parred the first 10 holes before the wind conspired to make his round a littler tougher. Three bogeys in a four-hole stretch ultimately pushed his round – and his tournament score – to 2-over-par 146.

“I felt really in control. I didn’t miss a shot, really, the first 12 holes,” Gay said. “I didn’t make a birdie, though.”

A former resident of Louisville, Ga., Gay attended his first Masters as a patron before he was 10 and just
before he moved to Alabama.

Gay competed at Augusta National Golf Club in 2010 but missed the cut by going 7-over. He wasn’t close to repeating that quick exit three years later; his score this year was never worse than 3-over. He’ll be back today.

After his first bogey Friday, on No. 11, he hit a low 7-iron on his tee shot into No. 12 into a bunker. After pitching out, his long putt for par missed.

“The wind’s nuts over there,” he said of Amen Corner. “It should have been against us, and it was somehow blowing down.”

The 41-year-old Gay picked up his last bogey on 14 before he finally got his first birdie of the day on the par-3 16th.

“I had a tap-in,” Gay said. “I didn’t make any birdie putts all day – that one was not even a foot. I was really happy with that one.”