AUGUSTA, Georgia — There was plenty of electricity around Augusta National today, and not just because of the lurking thunderstorms that suspended play for about an hour with eight groups still on the course.

When they returned, they found a soft, windless course and took advantage of it to fashion a rather historic leaderboard by any standard.

For the first time ever, five players are tied for the lead after 36 holes in a major, each at 7-under: first-round co-leader Brooks Koepka, Jason Day, 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, and Francesco Molinari.

See a similarity? Each owns hardware earned by winning a major.

(Hang on. We’re not finished.)

There are more major championships in second place. We’re looking at you, Dustin Johnson (68-70), a single stroke back, and at you, Tiger Woods (70-68), winner of 14 majors. Also at 6-under are Justin Harding, a 33-year-old South African who’s posted a pair of 69s, and Xander Schauffele, who went 33-32 Friday for a 65, low round of the day.

Let’s go to the golf blotter and see how the leaders worked themselves up this star-studded scoreboard.

Koepka, the two-time major winner who shared the opening round lead at 68 with Bryson DeChambeau, birdied 18 to finish 1-under on the day and answered a double-bogey on 2 with a birdie on 3.

“I feel no matter how bad I’m playing, no matter what’s going on, I’ll be able to figure it out,” he said. “I really get excited. I know it doesn’t look like it, but I’m always excited to get to the grounds and be there and ready to tee it up.”

Day, the hero of people with bad backs the world over, has battled the problem since he was a teenager. Thursday, moments before going to the No. 1 tee box, he bent over to kiss his young daughter and his back went out. (Women!) But he’s limped around more than adequately.

“My wife told me to suck it up,” Day said. “She’s given birth to three children and all I do is play golf so…”

So, he sucked it up. It hasn’t been Willis Reed hobbling onto the court to lift the Knicks over the Lakers in Game 7 of the ’70 Finals, but it’s been a pretty gutsy performance on a special stage;

And here’s Scott, who’s shot a 69-68, and the Friday round would have been better had he not missed true birdie putts on 11 and 14 and three-putted 16. But that was after an eagle on 15 so…he shares the lead legitimately.

Oosthuizen opened with a 1-under 71 and followed it with a 66 Friday, second-best round of the day. King Louie’s coming off a pair of Top 5 finishes this season and was a playoff runner-up to Bubba Watson here in 2012.

And finally the Low Italian so far, Molinari, is the most unknown of the bunch, but not to golf fans. He’s ranked No. 7 in the world, won the British Open in 2018 and finished second at Quail Hollow in the 2017 PGA.

“He’s a major winner, he’s won multiple events, and the form he’s been in the last two years is quite incredible,” said England’s Ian Poulter, 43 and hanging around at minus-5, as is 48-year-old Phil Mickelson at minus-4. “He’s raised his game from an all-around perspective and he’s mentally stronger than what he was in the past. So he’s got the whole package.”

Scott, Oosthuizen, Woods and Schauffele were all on the course after the brief weather cell passed, and they made the favorable conditions count.

The last time play was suspended on a Friday at Augusta National was in 2005, when Woods, 43, won the most recent of his four Masters. And at times in the second round, Woods did very 2005-Woods-like things, like slam dunking a long putt on 9 for a birdie (35 on the front), like hitting it to 6-feet on 12 (missed the putt), lasering an iron through the trees down the right side on No. 14 to 10 feet from the pin where he made birdie, as he did on 15.

He had putts to take the lead and just missed a pair. The roars were familiar.

Speaking of the more veteran set, leading the Old Dudes On Parade, Pure Age Division, is two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer, 61 and about as destructible as a shot put; he’s won 39 times on the Champions Tour. He’s 1-under, a stroke better than fellow two-time champ Bubba Watson and tied with Patrick Reed, the defending champion. Langer and caddie Terry Holt have a combined age of 101.

“Yeah, (experience) helps, but it doesn’t make up for hitting five more shots into every green than somebody else, you know? I’m hitting a 4-iron and they’re hitting a 9-iron. I’d rather hit a 9-iron and have a little less experience.”

Poulter and Mickelson know about experience too. As does Woods. They’ve got it.

But there are younger legs with lower scores in front of them. A lot of them. And right behind them too.

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Friday’s second round of the 2019 Masters gave you all the golf you could have possibly wanted.

Sharing the lead are five major winners, a stroke off the lead are two major winners, and other big names lurk.

Only the forecast of Sunday rain can screw this up.

But while skies are still clear, let’s take a quick tour (so to speak) of the second 9 at Augusta National.

No. 10, Camellia: You don’t see squirrels here. Think about that. If you are a squirrel in north Georgia, this piece of property is where you’d want to be born, grow up, and retire. Tall Georgia pines. Loblolly pine. Pine pines. The greenest grass, the lushest pine straw. And yet…no squirrels.  Why? Some friends and I have a theory that somebody, to make the experience of the Masters an even greater one for patrons, eliminated all the squirrels. Somehow. And they left one squirrel who wears a black armband and goes around Richmond County telling all the other squirrels, “Don’t go in there. Larry did and … well, just don’t go in.” That’s just a theory though.

No. 11: White Dogwood: Important Tommy Fleetwood Lookalike Update: I’m waiting on someone to walk up to me, point at Fleetwood and say, “The homeless guy is 2-under?” Gosh I love Fleetwood.

No. 12: Golden Bell: My Twitter bestie @ThatsGolf alerted me early Friday morning, right after first round co-leader Brooks Koepka double bogeyed the par-5 2^nd, that of the past 22 Masters winners, just three made a double during their four rounds. The most recent was Jordan Spieth on No. 17 in the third round in 2017, and he knocked in 28 birdies that week and won. So…unless you’re going to make 28 birdies, it’s best not to double bubble. And one of the quickest ways to double, according to 6-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus, is to hit one of six bad shots: tee shots at holes 2 (Koepka went left and low near a creek and trash, and way way way way right is out of bounds and woods), 11, 12 and 13, and the second shots at the second nine’s par 5s, 13 and 15. Of the nine players in the lead or within a stroke of the lead through two rounds, only Koepka has scored a double.

No. 13: Azalea: 87 players started the 2019 Masters and 65 will play this weekend. Among those missing the cut: Stewart Cink, Justin Rose, Fred Couples, Danny Willett, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey.

No. 14: Chinese Fir: Corey Conners, the last player to qualify for the Masters when he won the Valero Open in a playoff Monday, is at 3-under, four strokes off a share of the lead. His clothing sponsors forwarded him clothes to Augusta National and his manager found him a place to stay as he hooked it late Monday straight from Texas to Georgia.

No. 15: Firethorn: Former Masters champion Zach Johnson, who made the cut on the number, was swinging on the 13 tee to warm up when he accidentally ricocheted his golf ball off the tee marker. His playing partners, including Ian Poulter — “We were trying to hold (laughing out loud) in, but we had to let it out,” — enjoyed it. “It was a beauty,” Poulter said. “We’ve all done it.” Johnson wasn’t penalized because he had not addressed his ball with the intention to hit it. Too bad it happened on the 13^th, which is 100 yards from the patrons, or more could have enjoyed a Weekend Golfer’s Moment in real time. Our Twitter brother @BunkiePerkins shared the video, along with his expert journalistic opinion: “Zach Johnson just laid up off the tee.” Nice.

No. 16: Redbud: Friday’s Inspiration For Grinding It Out Award goes to Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick, 24 and winner of the 2013 U.S. Amateur and five PGA European Tour events. He shot a bloody 78 Thursday—and a pristine 67 Friday. He’s at minus-1. Doubt he improves another 11 strokes Saturday and signs for a 56, but he’s trending in the right direction. Tip of the American visor to Matthew.

No. 17: Nandina: My London friend Keith Jackson of SkySports wrote in February a terribly interesting story you will enjoy if you google “Keith Jackson Charlotte Austwick cobras, almost drowning.” I know, right? Austwick went to Johannesburg to chase her dream of pro golf and, in the first few days she was there, almost stepped on a baby cobra—they are bad hombres—almost drowned, got pneumonia, and shot 103 in the first round of a golf tournament. Then shaved 29 strokes off her score the next day. Those zany Europeans! Take 10 minutes, read it, and count your blessings. Austwick is counting hers.

No. 18: Holly:  The forecast for Sunday is an 80 percent chance of rain. Volunteers were asked Friday if they could stay and work Monday as Augusta National plans ahead. Today was just the second time in the past 11 years that rain has fallen during the tournament and the first time since 2008 that there’s been suspension of play. Not since 1983 has the Masters finished on a Monday. With seven majors winners in the current top 9 players on the historic leaderboard, it’s certainly not finished now.

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