Sam Stevens rallies late to make cut and keep Wichita’s Masters dream alive
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- Sam Stevens rallied with back-to-back birdies to sign for a 2-over 74 on Friday.
- Stevens stood at 2-over through 36 holes and was comfortably inside projected cut line.
- He hit 12 of 14 fairways Friday and has made only one double bogey through 36 holes.
Sam Stevens spent much of Friday morning at Augusta National walking a tightrope, never unraveling but never quite able to breathe easy, either.
That is part of the education for any first-timer at the Masters, especially one carrying the hopes of his hometown with him. And by the time Stevens walked off the 18th green, the 29-year-old Wichita product had passed another meaningful test in his debut on golf’s most iconic stage.
Stevens rallied late in his second round with back-to-back birdies and signed for a 2-over 74, a grinding round that pushed him to 2-over through 36 holes and inside the cut line of 4-over.
He finished in a tie for 39th after becoming the first player in the clubhouse Friday morning, securing a tee time Saturday at Augusta National in his first Masters appearance. After 36 holes, the field is pared to the low 50 players and ties.
For Wichita, that is no small thing.
Stevens, a 2014 Kapaun Mt. Carmel graduate, is the first Wichita product to play in the Masters in 53 years, the first since Grier Jones in 1973. Jones also made the cut and finished inside the top 40 in each of his three Augusta appearances, so Stevens now appears on track to add his own chapter to that slice of local golf history.
Friday’s round was not nearly as crisp as his opener on Thursday. But in a place where one poor swing can turn into a crooked number and one crooked number can wreck an entire tournament, Stevens did exactly what Augusta demands most: he kept the damage manageable.
He opened with pars on his first five holes, steadying himself with up-and-down saves on Nos. 1 and 4. His best early birdie look came on No. 2, but his 11-foot putt slid just past.
The first real trouble came at the par-3 sixth, where a tee shot that finished pin-high was carried by the slope off the green and into a bunker. Stevens couldn’t save par and made bogey. Another bogey followed on No. 7 after his drive finished in an awkward spot behind a tree, forcing him to punch out. His 15-foot par putt teased the edge but stayed out.
He answered the way good players do at Augusta, taking a chance taken where the course allows it. On the par-5 eighth, Stevens striped a 295-yard drive, reached the green in two with a fairway wood and left himself 18 feet for eagle. The eagle try stopped right by the cup, leaving a tap-in birdie and a needed spark.
But Friday never fully let him settle.
A missed four-foot par putt led to bogey at No. 9. He dropped another shot at No. 10 after missing the green with his approach, then narrowly missed a birdie chance at No. 11 when a 28-footer died just short. At the par-3 12th, the kind of hole that can expose even veteran nerves, his tee shot finished just off the green. He putted from the fringe, left himself too much work and made bogey to slip to 4-over for the tournament.
That was the moment when the round — and maybe his weekend — hung in the balance.
Instead of drifting backward, Stevens found another gear over Augusta’s closing stretch.
On the par-5 15th, he pounded a 319-yard drive, his longest of the tournament, into the fairway. His approach just trickled off the back of the green, but his chip settled inside three feet and he converted the birdie putt. Then came the biggest swing of the day on No. 16, where Stevens dropped his tee shot hole-high and let it feed back to within four feet. Another confident birdie followed.
Just like that, the unease of the morning turned into a late rally that felt significant.
It was not a masterpiece. But it was still something useful at Augusta: maturity.
After fighting his driver Thursday, Stevens was far better off the tee Friday, hitting 12 of 14 fairways. That gave him a chance to play defense when needed and stay out of the kind of catastrophic trouble that can bury a debut at Augusta. Through 36 holes, Stevens has made only one double bogey while offsetting the inevitable mistakes with eight birdies.
That matters because surviving Augusta National is often less about perfection than restraint. The course is built to tempt players into force and punish them for it. Stevens has largely resisted that trap. Friday’s round was proof that even without his sharpest stuff, he could still stay afloat and give himself a chance.
A reasonable goal for any Masters rookie is simply to make it to the weekend. Stevens appears poised to do that in his first try, on a course that has humbled far more decorated players than him. For a city that has waited more than half a century to see one of its own back inside the ropes at Augusta, that alone is a moment worth savoring.
Now comes the fun part.
Stevens was the first man off Friday and the first one safely in the clubhouse, leaving him to watch the cut line move while others tried to chase him down. But barring a dramatic shift, he looks all but certain to spend the weekend at Augusta with nothing to lose.
As one of his former coaches texted The Eagle on Friday: He’s playing with house money this weekend.
This story was originally published April 10, 2026 at 1:41 PM.
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