Brooks Koepka holds lead as storms halt second round at the Masters

The second round of the 87th Masters came to a halt on Friday when pine trees fell near the 17th tee at Augusta National Golf Club in the US state of Georgia.

The strong winds brought down the trees, but there were no reports of any injuries to the spectators or players.

After the trees fell, players and spectators were evacuated from the course, and the second round was suspended.

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The earlier suspension of play lasted only 21 minutes, while a further 54 minutes of play was possible before it was halted again.

Brooks Koepka was the leader at 12 under when play stopped, taking advantage of fortuitous tee times that left him in the clubhouse long before the storms arrived.

Jon Rahm was three shots back in second, but he had nine holes still to play, while US Amateur champion Sam Bennett had finished his second round and was 8 under for the championship.

The spectators were terrified by the incident, with one, Deshey Thomas, saying that pinecones were hitting them in the back, and they turned around and looked up and heard a huge cracking noise, and the tree crushed 10 chairs.

Play was suspended during the second round of the 87th Masters after two pine trees fell near the 17th tee at Augusta National due to strong winds. Getty / AFP

“Luckily we got everyone out of there. We were blessed,” Thomas added.

Witness Megan Hill described how the tree fell to her left. She said: “I was sitting, looking, waiting for the next group to come up to the tee and it fell maybe eight to 10 chairs to our left.

“I stood up and screamed and thought, 'Is it going to fall on me?' It fell to the left of us and it was so scary. If the wind had been blowing a slightly different direction, we might have got