Jordan Spieth

Jordan Spieth is tied for fourth on the leaderboard at The Masters after Friday's round and No. 1 on the odds list as far as bettors are concerned. 

Spieth (five-under) shot a second-round 68 and finished the day +400 (bet $100 to win $400) to claim the green jacket on Sunday, per DraftKings. 

Justin Rose remains in first place at seven-under par, but struggled a bit on Friday before picking up five birdies on the back nine. That allowed him to finish even par on the day but knocked him off the top line on the odds sheet.

Both Tony Finau (four-under) and Will Zalatoris (six-under) look like intriguing plays for bettors here, too. 

Finau tied for the lowest score on Friday with a round of 66 while Zalatoris strung together five birdies on the back nine without any bogeys. Justin Thomas (four-under) is also lurking near the top of the leaderboard and will look to make his move on Saturday. 

Things are heating up in Augusta and bettors aren't too far behind.

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Justin Rose finished his second round at The Masters exactly where he began it on Friday: seven-under par and all alone in atop the leaderboard. 

His outing just wasn't anything close to as simple as that. 

The 40-year-old who entered the tournament with 100-to-1 odds to win the green jacket embarked on rollercoaster of an afternoon, finishing the front nine three-over par on Friday before restoring his lead on the back half of the course. 

Rose discussed the ups and downs of his round:

“I was joking that the finger was heading towards the panic button a little bit. I had a little talk with myself on 8 and said, ‘You're still leading the Masters,’ and I just changed my mindset a little bit and started to play match play against the golf course. I scratched a line on my scorecard and told myself I was three down and could I go ahead and beat the golf course from that point? I had a putt on 18 to win my match, 1-up, but unfortunately it just slipped by. But an honorable draw.”

Unfortunately, the time Rose spent restoring his seven-under score gave the field an opportunity to close the four-stroke lead he'd built on Friday.

Here's a look at the top contenders at Augusta after 36 holes. 

2021 Masters Friday Leaderboard

1. Justin Rose (-7)

T2. Will Zalatoris (-6)

T2. Brian Harman (-6)

T4. Marc Leishman (-5)

T4. Jordan Spieth (-5)

T6. Bernd Wiesberger (-4)

T6. Tony Finau (-4)

T6. Si Woo Kim (-4)

T6. Cameron Champ (-4)

T6. Hideki Matsuyama (-4)

12. Xander Schauffele (-3)

Notables: T13. Collin Morikawa (-2), T17. Bryson DeChambeau (-1), T17. Viktor Hovland (-1), T21. Bubba Watson (E), T21. Jon Rahm (E), T32. Gary Woodland (+1), T32. Patrick Reed (+1), T48.  Phil Mickelson (+3).

Full leaderboard available via PGA Tour

Recap

Rose was far from the only player who found noteworthy success with his putter on the back nine Friday. Will Zalatoris was able to cut into Rose's lead with five birdies over his last eight holes. 

It was exactly what the 24-year-old from California needed after a disappointing bogey on No. 9. Zalatoris had played a mistake-free round before his second shot on No. 8 landed off the back of the green and behind the spectator ropes.

That he was able to recover with a two-putt seemed to aid his confidence before heading to the back nine. 

However, no one had a more fascinating day on the greens than Si Woo Kim. After a rough three-putt at the Par 4 No. 14, Kim broke his putter in anger, forcing him to use a three wood to putt the rest of the way. 

Yet at the time of his outburst, Kim was very much in contention for the lead on Friday.

Kim was tied for fifth at four-under par before his disastrous attempt at No. 14. He wound up playing bogey-free golf the rest of the way to finish three-under par for the day and tied for sixth overall. Kim used two putts on each of the last four holes to end his round. Having to use his wood didn't impact him negatively, but there were a few birdie attempts that would've had a much better chance of falling in the cup with an actual putter. 

Elsewhere on the course, Bernd Wiesberger and Tony Finau each shot a round of 66 to tie for the lowest score of the day. The two are now tied for sixth on the leaderboard heading into Saturday with Justin Thomas right there with them at four-under par. 

Thomas cut six strokes off his game after an opening round 73 on Thursday and is in prime shape to attack the course on moving day. 

That won't be the case for a number of big names as the three-over cut line claimed a host of notable victims beginning with the defending Masters champion, Dustin Johnson. 

Johnson shot a 74 on Thursday and couldn't recover Friday, finishing with a 75. Matt Kuchar, Max Homa, Sergio Garcia, Danny Willett, Brooks Koepka, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Matthew Wolff are all heading home early with Johnson. 

Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Ian Poulter and Francesco Molinari each narrowly avoided the cut with Mickelson picking up two birdies on the back nine to keep himself in the field. 

He'll be among those chasing Rose on Saturday as the Englishman attempts to win his first green jacket after finishing second in 2015 and 2017. 

After giving himself a four-stroke cushion over the field, Justin Rose is now the heavy favorite to win the 2021 Masters Tournament.

Rose is listed at +350 after shooting a seven-under 65 in his opening round, overtaking Jordan Spieth as the favorite in the year's first major.

Rose has held the 18-hole lead four times at the Masters, tied with Jack Nicklaus for the most in history. No other golfer has held the lead after Round 1 more than twice.

While the 40-year-old has been stellar at getting off to strong starts at Augusta National, he's never finished the job. Rose has narrowly missed donning a green jacket on several occasions, including two second-place finishes.

If there's a favorite to overtake Rose on the leaderboard, Spieth looks like a strong bet. Spieth is coming off his first win since 2017 at last week's Valero Texas Open and has been brilliant in his Masters career, winning in 2015 and finishing inside the top five four times. 

Spieth is six strokes behind after shooting a one-under 71.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson shot a two-over 74 and hasn't won on the PGA Tour since last year's Masters Tournament. Johnson is nevertheless set at a solid 16-1 odds, with only 12 golfers shooting an under-par score in Round 1. 

Back to its regular April dates, the Masters Tournament will be getting underway Thursday as some of the top golfers in the world look to capture this year's green jacket. And with a stacked field, it's likely to be an exciting weekend of golf coming up.

Last year, the Masters was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, which caused it to not take place until mid-November. When it finally arrived, Dustin Johnson continued his impressive 2020 with a dominant showing, winning it for the first time in his career.

Johnson will look to become the first golfer to win the Masters in consecutive years since Tiger Woods won it in 2001 and 2002. But there will be some strong competition aiming to keep that from happening, as there are several top contenders who could easily end up atop the leaderboard Sunday evening.

Here's everything else you need to know heading into the Masters.

2021 Masters Information

Dates: Thursday, April 8, through Sunday, April 11

TV: ESPN (Thursday 3-7:30 p.m. ET, Friday 3-7:30 p.m. ET); CBS (Saturday 3-7 p.m. ET, Sunday 2-7 p.m. ET)

Tee Times: A complete list of tee times can be found at PGATour.com.

Prize Money: The purse has yet to be announced, but it was $11.5 million in 2020, with the winner earning $2.7 million.

Preview

Johnson will enter the Masters as the favorite to win—and for good reason. The 36-year-old shot 70 or better in each of his four rounds at Augusta National last year, finishing at 20 under par to capture his first career green jacket.

However, if Johnson is going to win again this year, he'll have to fend off some tough competitors while also bouncing back from a bit of a tough stretch. At The Players Championship last month (his most recent stroke-play event), Johnson tied for 48th and didn't shoot better than 70 in any of his four rounds.

Johnson has been consistently strong at the Masters, though, as he's finished in the top 10 in each of his past five appearances at the tournament. He finished second in 2019 and has shot a 70 or better in each of his past nine rounds at Augusta National.

Among the other golfers who are likely to contend for the win this weekend include the golfers behind the top-ranked Johnson in the Official World Golf Ranking: Justin Thomas (No. 2), Jon Rahm (No. 3), Collin Morikawa (No. 4) and Bryson DeChambeau (No. 5).

Each of those four golfers will be looking to win the Masters for the first time. And it's possible any of them could break through and do so.

Thomas is coming off his best career showing at the Masters in 2020, when he finished fourth at 12 under and shot a 71 or better in each of his four rounds. He's also been playing well of late, having won the Players last month by finishing 14 under.

Rahm has finished in the top 10 at the Masters each of the past three years, but he's still seeking his first career win at a major tournament. He's finished in the top 10 in four of the six stroke-play tournaments he's played in 2021.

Morikawa made his Masters debut last year and finished tied for 44th. However, he won his first major tournament in 2020 (the PGA Championship), and he could potentially get back on track this week.

DeChambeau hasn't finished better than 21st in his four Masters appearances, but he's greatly improved his game in recent years, which led to him earning his first career major victory at the 2020 U.S. Open. He also won the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month and followed that up by tying for third at the Players Championship.

Another golfer to watch this week is Jordan Spieth, the 2015 Masters champion who has had a resurgence of late. While the 27-year-old hasn't won a major tournament since 2017, he's been playing well recently, finishing fourth or better in four of his past six tourneys. Spieth is also coming off a win at last week's Valero Texas Open, as he finished 18 under by posting scores of 67, 70, 67 and 66.

After finishing third or better in four of his first five Masters appearances, Spieth has ended up tied for 21st and tied for 46th the past two years. But he should play much better this year, assuming he can keep his recent momentum going.