AUGUSTA, Ga. — And then there were five.

LIV Golf’s smallest Masters Tournament representation was sliced in half on Friday, with only five players making the cut to play the weekend at Augusta National.

They are led by England’s Tyrrell Hatton, who turned in the second-lowest round of the day with a 6-under-par 66. Teeing off at 9:31 a.m. at 2 over for the tournament, Hatton surged up the leaderboard with seven birdies. He was tied with the overnight leaders at 5 under before dropping a shot on the final hole.

Still, it was Hatton’s best score in 34 rounds at Augusta National by two shots — and only the fourth time he broke 70.

“Today was a great day,” Hatton said. “Actually walking up 18, I was pretty confident that I couldn’t mess it up enough that I wouldn’t shoot my best score here. I mean, naturally I tried with a three-putt, so that was disappointing, to say the least.”

Still, it looked like his score might hold for the best of the day before Rory McIlroy ripped off six birdies over his final seven holes to post a 65. As it stands through 36 holes, Hatton sits in a tie for seventh place that’s eight shots off McIlroy’s lead.

It’s far better than most of his LIV Golf counterparts fared. The next best is Dustin Johnson at even par.

The only other ones to make the cut were Sergio Garcia at 3 over and Jon Rahm and Charl Schwartzel, who made the cut on the number at 4 over.

Bryson DeChambeau reached the 18th hole needing only a bogey to play the weekend, but he suffered a triple bogey to fall back to 6 over. It was the second triple bogey of the week for DeChambeau, who also carded one on the 11th hole Thursday when it took him three attempts to get out of a green-side bunker.

Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson was also in position to make the cut until he missed an 18-foot par put on his final hole.

LIV GOLF SCORES THROUGH 36 HOLES

–Tyrrell Hatton: T7, -4

–Dustin Johnson: T24, E

–Sergio Garcia: T45, +3

–Jon Rahm: T47, +4

–Charl Schwartzel: T47, +4

–Bubba Watson: +5

–Bryson DeChambeau: +6

–Tom McKibbin: +7

–Cameron Smith: +7

–Carlos Ortiz: +11

Hatton said he doesn’t believe there is any adjustment needed for LIV players to prepare for the Masters or any other major.

“It’s another tournament that you’re at. You go on to the next hole, and you try your best,” Hatton said. “Wherever you play, whatever the tournament is, you’re always giving it your best, and you’re trying to prepare in a way to give yourself a chance to win the tournament.

“I don’t think anyone that’s playing this week would change anything. That would be my guess. But yeah, every tournament you play, you’re trying to win. This week is no different in that sense.”

The Saudi-backed league already had its fewest number of qualified players before Phil Mickelson withdrew last week due to a family health matter. The number has declined each year since LIV Golf’s inaugural 2022 season, with 18 of the league’s players qualifying for the Masters in 2023.

There were 13 players at Augusta in 2024 and 12 last year. This year’s number was directly impacted by the recent LIV Golf departures of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed. Joaquin Niemann did not receive an invitation after being offered a special invite each of the past two years.

Reed enters the weekend tied for second at 6 under. Koepka shares 13th at 3 under.

–Derek Harper, Field Level Media

As they search for consistent sources of offense beyond just Lionel Messi, Inter Miami is preparing to host the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night in Miami, Fla.

Messi leads Inter Miami (3-1-2, 11 points) into its second match at its new home, Nu Stadium, after dueling Austin to a 2-2 stalemate last Saturday. The Red Bulls (3-2-1, 10 points) are coming off a 4-2 win at home against FC Cincinnati.

Inter Miami is seeking its fourth consecutive win in the head-to-head series, having won the most recent meeting last July, 5-1, in New York.

The Herons needed Luis Suarez’s goal in the 82nd minute last week after he entered the game off the bench in the second half and helped them salvage a point. Messi had the team’s other goal.

Miami’s major offseason signee, former Monterrey star German Berterame, has yet to score, and neither has Tadeo Allende, who scored nine goals in the MLS playoffs last season.

“German is a hard worker, a true team player, and arrived here humble, eager to earn his spot,” Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said. “It’s on me to find a way to make him feel comfortable and put him in the best situations to succeed. I have complete faith he will break through.”

The Red Bulls haven’t had trouble scoring thanks to striker Julian Hall, who has tallied five of the team’s nine goals so far, including the first of their four against Cincinnati. But stopping other teams from scoring has been a bigger issue. The Red Bulls’ 13 goals allowed are the fourth-most in the Eastern Conference.

In their most recent win, New York found the scoring balance its opponent Saturday has been looking for as Emil Forsberg and Mohammed Sofo also found the back of the net. It was a needed bounce-back win for the Red Bulls, who suffered an embarrassing 6-1 loss to Charlotte the prior week.

“You know, the side that creates chances and finds different ways to get into the box and be really dangerous,” Red Bulls coach Michael Bradley said. “We felt really good about a lot of things over the first five games, but our pure ability to finish off a few more plays, our ability to be a little sharper in the final moment, that’s what we’re after.”

–Field Level Media

The first-ever Frozen Four played in Las Vegas culminates with historic blue bloods Denver and Wisconsin meeting for a national championship on Saturday.

The competitors have taken different paths to the ultimate game. Denver (28-11-3) carries 12-game winning and 16-game unbeaten streaks to be within one victory of its record 11th all-time title. Wisconsin (24-12-2) seeks to complete a Cinderella run to its first crown in two decades after receiving a proverbial second life in the NCAA tournament following a Big Ten quarterfinal loss.

In their semifinal round games on Thursday, both teams bent but didn’t break.

The Pioneers, who recently won it all in both 2022 and 2024, were outshot 52-26 but topped No. 1 overall seed Michigan 4-3 on senior captain and defenseman Kent Anderson’s double-overtime goal. It was the third-longest game in Frozen Four history.

“It means everything to play in this national championship game,” Anderson said. “It’s our goal at the beginning of the year. It’s what we work for and what we play for at Denver.”

Though the Pioneers boast a Frozen Four-high 15 NHL draft picks, this time of year in hockey is all about unsung heroes. Anderson is certainly one of those, having scored just one previous goal this season and five in his first 148 career games.

“Really proud of him and how he’s led this team,” Denver coach David Carle said. “Not many had him on the ‘BucciOT Challenge.’ No matter.”

Meanwhile, the Badgers got goals from Simon Tassy and Ryan Botterill 27 seconds apart in the first period and went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill — including 1:57 of 5-on-3 time in the second — before holding off a late North Dakota surge in a 2-1 win.

“It doesn’t have to be (a) Mona Lisa,” Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings said. “You just have to find a way to make sure you’re living for another day.”

The Badgers entered Thursday with the second-worst penalty kill in the country (70.9%), but they stepped up at the most crucial time against a high-octane offense.

“Guys took a lot of effort on blocking shots, getting in lanes,” said defenseman Ben Dexheimer, who propelled Wisconsin to its first Frozen Four since 2010 with an overtime goal for a 4-3 win over regional top seed Michigan State on March 28 in Worcester, Mass.

Denver is at its best on the back end, having entered the Frozen Four tied for the fourth-best scoring defense in the country (2.10 goals per game).

On that note, the best penalty killers and key reasons why both teams advanced were the goaltenders: Wisconsin’s Daniel Hauser and Denver’s Johnny Hicks — both older freshmen with past Canadian major junior experience.

Hauser made 21 saves in Thursday’s game, posting his eighth win in nine starts.

However, no goalie on the planet is on a hotter run than Hicks, who is an incredible 15-0-1 with a .957 save percentage since taking over the net from Quentin Miller in December. He stopped a season-high 49 shots against Michigan, staying in the game after taking a third-period hit on a drive to the net.

“He’s a battler. He’s unfazed. He was our best player,” Carle said. “Made the saves you’re supposed to. Made a lot that he wasn’t supposed to.”

The two teams had one previous national championship meeting in Boston in 1973, with Wisconsin winning 4-2. That was the first of six Badgers titles, the most recent coming in 2006.

–Field Level Media