No. 16 continues to haunt Matt Kuchar

Matt Kuchar’s problems with Augusta National’s par-3 16th hole continued during the second round of the Masters Tournament on Friday.

The hole wasn’t his only mistake, however, and neither did it take him out of the tournament. Kuchar struggled to shoot 75, but at 1-under-par 143 is by no means out of the tournament and doesn’t feel he needs to take unnecessary risks in the third round.

“You can only do what you can with the score,” said the Georgia Tech graduate and third-place finisher in last year’s Masters. “There’s no sense in being silly. Just play the shot that gives you the best chance to make a reasonable score out here. I think your game plan doesn’t change.

‘‘It’s just a matter of making putts or not.”

Kuchar has found the right bunker at the 16th hole in each of the first two rounds, and made bogey both times.

Last year, he was tied for the lead with two holes left on Sunday, and three-putted 16 from the right fringe for bogey.

Kuchar actually has a decent overall track record at No. 16, averaging just a shade over par (3.05) in his first 22 rounds, but three of his eight bogeys at the hole have come the past three times he’s played it.

“It’s not an easy hole for me,” he said. “It should be – hit the middle of the green and take what it gives you.”

Kuchar could have put himself out of any reasonable chance to contend on the weekend at No. 18, but made an all-world par.

He tried to hold his tee shot against a left-to-right wind but overdid it a bit and the ball sailed into the trees, glanced off a tall pine, and kicked back out to the bottom of the hill that slopes down from the tee, traveling barely 100 yards on the 465-yard hole.

Kuchar had a good lie and blasted a 3-wood up the hill and to the left, short of the greenside bunkers and leaving him with a difficult flop. He landed the ball on top of the bank, however, and it trickled down to within 8 feet of the hole. He made the par attempt.

“I’ve made some good pars on 18,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever hit one so short there.

‘‘But where the pin was (front right) it was possible to make a 4, and I’m glad to escape with a 4.”