Masters scores and results: Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth emerge as late challengers to Bubba Watson

No one from the late tee times was going to challenge Bubba Watson's multi-shot lead, but some world-class players are in position inside the top 10 and ready to make a run with 36 holes to go in the Masters.

We've hit the midpoint of the 2014 Masters, and Bubba Watson overwhelmed Augusta National and the rest of the field to take a three-shot lead heading into the weekend. Watson, who had the most impressive round on Thursday while playing bogey-free golf, made his charge with five straight birdies on the second nine to bolt past everyone on the leaderboard.

Watson set the early number that was not going to be matched by the later tee times, but some big names did put themselves in position with 36 more holes to play. As expected, 54-year-old Fred Couples is right there in his usual perch inside the top 10. While he's been a full-time player on the senior circuit for four years now, Couples continues to use that lifetime invite as a former Masters champ and makes noise every year at Augusta. He always does this, makes a move and gets on the first page of the leaderboard after two rounds. A 1-under round of 71 on Friday put him at 2-under for the tournament. Now we get to the point in the week where Couples' longshot chances have been extinguished in recent years. If he can hang around one more day, he'll be one of the top stories again on Sunday.

Adam Scott, who started the day as the new solo favorite, is still right there at 3-under following his even-par round of 72. Scott's shot at a title defense went off track early in his second round, as he made three bogeys in his first five holes. That's been an easier stretch of the course, so it was not looking good as the Aussie made the turn and hit Amen Corner. But he found some form coming into the clubhouse, carding an inward 33 to undo the damage from the first nine.

Friday at The Masters

• Watson charges to top of leaderboard• Scott and Spieth are late challengers• Mickelson and Garcia miss the cut• McIlroy nearly takes out Scott• Fred Couples channels 1992• Hole-by-hole breakdown• Drop in TV ratings with no Tiger

The only major hiccup of Scott's near-perfect round on Thursday came at No. 12, when he put his ball in Rae's Creek for the first time and walked off with a double bogey. One day later, he hit the shot of the round there and dropped his ball just over the bunker in the front of the green and just a foot from the cup. Two more birdies at the easier and gettable par-5s (13 and 15), and Scott was right back inside the top 10. The way he's playing right now, it's hard to see Scott receding from the top 10 and he'll be the biggest challenger for Bubba.

The other big name who put himself in position late in the day was Jordan Spieth, the 20-year-old making a bid to become the youngest Masters winner ever. He's a part of what I thought were the best first- and second-round pairings, with Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed. But out of that sub-25-year-old group, only Spieth is really in a spot to do anything on the weekend. Reed is going home and McIlroy needed a par on the 18th hole just to make the cut after a day of unlucky bounces and breaks (including one wild bounce off a sprinkler head).

Spieth caught some tough breaks too, and missed an easy birdie chance at No. 13 when his approach shot just rolled off the back edge. At the next par-5, however, he gained two strokes on the field by draining an eagle putt and jumping up the leaderboard to 3-under. Spieth dropped a shot after an ugly drive left on No. 17, but then got it right back with a perfectly played 18th. He hit an easy fade up into the middle of the fairway, then put his approach shot right at the top of the slope and funneled his ball back down only a foot from the hole for the tap-in birdie. Spieth continues to amaze us and break new barriers at his age, and now he's contending in his first ever Masters, inside the top 5 at the 36-hole mark. It seems precarious on almost every hole, but we probably need to consider him a serious title contender this weekend.

It's Bubba's to lose right now, and if he plays anything close to the form we've seen the first two days, that margin will stay at a couple shots. But with Bubba, that can all come undone on a single hole -- after all, he is coming off an event where he withdrew because he hit three balls in the water and made an 11 on one hole.

The biggest development may not be who's leading, but who's not going to be there on the weekend. This is just the second time in the last 69 majors that neither Tiger Woods nor Phil Mickelson will play on the weekend. Mickelson's struggles continued on Friday, with a blow-up triple bogey at the 12th putting him at 5-over for the tournament and outside the cut line (more on Mickelson and the cut casualties).

Here's your leaderboard at the midpoint of the Masters: