Honorable amateur
Michael Thompson did the right thing, even though it might have cost him a chance to make the cut at the Masters.

The amateur called a one-stroke penalty on himself on the 15th hole after he saw his ball move after he had already addressed it. He wound up taking a bogey, then followed with bogeys on the next two holes to end any chance he had of making the cut.

“It really turned my round, turned the momentum against me,” said Thompson, the U.S. Amateur runner-up. “It was very unfortunate, but I’m sure it’s happened many a time before here.”

Thompson might have gotten away with not saying a word. The ball moved so slightly his playing partners didn’t notice, and the rules official wasn’t close enough to tell.

It was his word and his word only — and he turned himself in.

“He handled himself beautifully,” said two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, one of Thompson’s playing partners. “He claimed that he grounded the club. I didn’t see that, but my back was turned, I guess. And it was at a very critical juncture too. He’s looking at birdie and he knows he’s right on the cut line, too.

“You know, when the greens get this fast, a little gust of wind can move the ball. I didn’t see him ground the club, but he said he did.”

The bogey also cost Thompson the low-amateur title. He finished at 7-over 151, a stroke behind Trip Kuehne.

But Thompson said he’d do the same thing if it happened again.

“You just have to follow the rules. It doesn’t matter how you’re playing or what’s going on,” Thompson said. “Stuff like that that happens, but it’s unfortunate that it happened for me this week because I really wanted to stay for the weekend.”

Plucked Rose
Justin Rose’s chances for a green jacket are all wet.

The Englishman did his traditional Masters swoon Friday, falling out of contention when he went in the water on 15 on his way to a triple bogey. With a 6-over 78, Rose went from a share of the lead to 10 strokes back.

“There’s plenty to play for sometimes, even if you’re not meant to win,” Rose said. “But yeah, obviously, it’s not going to be the exciting weekend I was looking forward to — exciting Saturday, anyway, I was looking forward to.”

Rose wasn’t having a great day to begin with, playing the front nine in 2 over. But it was the par-5 15th that ruined him. He laid up short of the pond on the 530-yard hole — and still put his third shot in the water. He flew the green with his fifth shot and that ball looked like it might go in the water, too, but it stopped short.

He finally got on the green with his sixth shot, then two-putted for an 8.

“A 20-second lapse in concentration. In hindsight, I should have gone for the green,” Rose said. “I struggled with my concentration today. It was such a long round. Coming in last is tough, and there’s a lot of noise going on. That’s what I found really tough coming in. I don’t know if I didn’t quite work my way around, but I was struggling out there. It was a tough finish.”

This isn’t the first time Rose has blown up when he’s been at or near the top of the leaderboard. Leading after the first two rounds in 2004, he shot an 81 on Saturday that matched Lee Trevino for the worst third round ever by the 36-hole leader at the Masters.

Oh, and that 78 Friday? It tied 72-year-old Gary Player.

Playing it again
Gary Player won’t settle for just one tee shot next year.

The 72-year-old didn’t come close to making the cut at the Masters on Friday. But he made his own cut with a 78.

“I said if I break 80, I’ll come back next year,” said the three-time champion, who bent down and kissed the green as he came off 18. This was Player’s 51st Masters, topping the record for most played that he’d shared with Arnold Palmer. He hasn’t been a threat here in years, making the cut only twice in the last 17 years. But he feels as if he can still play, and he loves this tournament.

But the fitness fanatic said he will make one change before next year’s tournament.

“I’m going to increase my weight training,” the diminutive South African said. “It’s really irritating when I can’t reach these par 4s.”

Notes: Defending champion Zach Johnson finally went for a par-5 in two Friday. He had gone the entire tournament — and Thursday’s first round — without even trying to reach the longest holes in two. “That wasn’t my point, going for it. It was just the way I played,” Johnson said. It worked. He made birdie. ... Johnson Wagner, the last person to make the Masters field after winning in Houston last weekend, made the cut. He’s at 2-over after a 76 Friday.

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