First-round leader Haas drops to 26th

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Bill Haas reacts to a bunker shot that led to a bogey on the 10th hole. Haas, who opened with a 68 on Thursday to lead the Masters, lost six shots to par in the middle on his round Friday and now trails leader Bubba Watson by nine shots.

First-round leader Bill Haas hit a rough stretch in the middle of his round Friday, and his 78 dropped him from the top of the leaderboard to a tie for 26th.

Haas was grinding it out at even par until he got to the ninth hole and hit his approach shot fat, leading to bogey.

The wheels fell off from there. He bogeyed the 10th, double-bogeyed the 11th, and bogeyed the 12th and 13th.

“I felt pretty good, but it was a super disappointing day,” Haas said. “At least I’ll be around for the weekend. I hit it fat on No. 9. I wish I could say that derailed me. It is what it is.”

On No. 11, Haas got a bad break when his tee shot wandered left and the ball came to rest against a tree, forcing him to chip out backward.

“To go up against a tree on a hole where a par is a birdie,” Haas said. “So bogey, bogey and obviously to have it up against the tree on the hardest hole of the course, I kind of saw it coming there.”

Haas said he had an OK iron shot on No. 12, but it sailed over the green, as did his approach on the par-5 13th, leading to another bogey.

He battled back with birdies on the 14th and 15th, which kept him in position to climb back up the leaderboard on moving day.