Tiger Woods makes the cut at the Masters, trails leader Scottie Scheffler by nine strokes at the halfway point

Tiger Woods has struggled through his second round at Augusta but he will continue his unlikely comeback from injury on the weekend after making the cut at the Masters.

* Missed the cut

In his first tournament after more than 500 days away from golf following a career-threatening car crash, Woods began the day in 10th place at 1-under.

But on a day when winds gusting up to nearly 50 kph made play difficult for most players — with 14 rounds out of 89 under the par mark of 72 — Woods shot a second-round 73 to leave him at level par for the tournament.

The cut was made at 4-over, leaving him safe for the final two rounds. Woods is nine shots off the lead at halfway. 

The clear number one on the leaderboard was the world number one, Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler shot a 5-under 67 to get to 8-under overall, leading by five shots from a quartet of players — Ireland's Shane Lowry, South Africa's Charl Schwartzel, defending champion Hideki Matsuyama and South Korea's Sungjae Im.

Scheffler, a 25-year-old who lives in Texas, came into the tournament as the hottest player in world golf.

He has won three Tour titles this year — the Phoenix Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the WGC Match Play.

After a 3-under opening round, Scheffler made six birdies between the seventh and the 16th on his way to a 5-under 67.

Scheffler showed brilliant touch around the course to hold the equal record margin at halfway in Masters history. Four of the previous five men to hold a five-shot lead after two rounds have gone on to win the tournament. 

Woods was not on song from the start of his round, dropping a shot at the first.

Then three bogeys in a row from the third to the fifth holes saw him slip back to 3-over for the tournament.

He birdied the eighth to