Jason Day leads the charge of four countrymen poised to strike over the weekend.
The 77th Masters sees the smallest Australian representation in the tournament since 2002, but the four who did make it to Augusta National are well in the hunt at the halfway stage.
Jason Day leads at six-under par 138, Marc Leishman is tied for second a shot back, Adam Scott is nicely poised at three-under and John Senden is in the mix at two-under.
What faces them at the weekend is finally putting to rest the Georgia jinx that has seen Australians come agonisingly close to winning the Masters several times in the past only to come up short at the death.
Greg Norman suffered the greatest last-day collapse in major championship history at the 1996 Masters, leading by six over Nick Faldo only to lose by five to the Englishman.
Norman also finished with a bogey in the 1986 Masters to hand Jack Nicklaus his 18th and last major title. In 1987, Norman lost a playoff when Augusta native Larry Mize holed a miraculous chip shot.
And in 2011, Scott and Day shared second, falling short when South African Charl Schwartzel became the first man to birdie the final four holes to win a major.
Australians have won every other major golf crown.
Day, who had the day’s best score of 68 to take the lead, passing Tiger Woods on the way, said he was aware of the expectations placed on him by golf fans back home in Australia and wanted to avoid being worn down by this.
“Obviously there’s a lot of pressure on my shoulders, being from Australia and no Australian has ever won the event,” he said.
“They have been very, very close, but I’ve just got to try to get that out of my mind and just plug away.
“It’s all how you look at it. If you look at it as pressure, you’re going to worry about it more.
“If you look at it as a challenge and an opportunity to be the first and stay positive with it, you know, it only motivates you to play well.
“So I’ve just got to really not think about it at all I really need to stay committed to the game plan, stay aggressive to my target.
“Just not really worry about anything else but hitting the shot in front of me.”
Leishman, who was the joint leader with Sergio Garcia after the first round, held steady with a 73 to join 53-year-old American Fred Couples in a tie for second.
“That’s good, because I think there’s only four of us in this week,” he said when told that the all the Australians were well placed high up the leaderboard.
“Yeah, pretty impressive so far. Hopefully it’s like that Sunday night. So you know, who knows, hopefully one of us can knock it off.”
Senden could have been even higher up the leaderboard, as he was four-under through 15 holes, but bogeys at 16 and 17 brought him in with a 70.
“I was in there for a while and I was really happy the way I held my composure with the wind and the conditions,” he said. “But anything in the red is a good chance for the weekend.
“It was good to see Jason (Day) and Marc (Leishman) there too. It gives you a lot of inspiration to try and be part of a team, the Aussie team. You got to get into it.”
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