AUGUSTA, Ga. - Nothing is boring about the way Kristoffer Reitan plays golf.
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The native of Norway rallied from a tough finish to his first round in the Masters Tournament on Friday to post a 68 in the second round. He's at 4-under 140 and tied for sixth at the time he finished.
Reitan leads the 22 Masters rookies (16 professionals and six amateurs) through 36 holes. He is one shot clear of Chris Gotterup and Ben Griffin (3-under 141) and three shots ahead of Michael Brennan (1-under 143). Only eight Masters rookies made the cut. All six amateurs had a short week, as did PGA Tour members Andrew Novak, Johnny Keefer and Sami Valimaki.
Reitan qualified for his Masters invitation by being among the top 50 on the World Golf Ranking. He is only the second player in history from Norway to play at Augusta National, following his old friend from junior golf days, Viktor Hovland.
Reitan said becoming the first Masters rookie since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 to win the tournament is not on his radar.
"I'm not thinking about that at all," he said. "Way too much golf to be played. I'm a rookie [in the Masters]. I'm a rookie on the PGA Tour. Just trying to find my feet and my game as well. I'm pretty humble in that regard. I feel like I've still got a lot of work to do to become a better golfer."
Reitan had a brutal finish in the first round
Reitan got to the first page of the leaderboard in the first round with a 7-foot birdie putt at No. 12 and a 27-foot eagle putt at No. 13. He faltered down the stretch, though, with a bogey at No. 15 and a double-bogey at No. 16, both the product of shots hit into the water, and shot 72.
However, Reitan rallied in the second round. He was 2-under with no bogeys on the first nine, with a 7-foot putt for birdie at No. 3 and an 11-footer for birdie at No. 6. After a stutter-step bogey at No. 10, he then rattled off four birdies in a row, beginning with his second of the week at No. 12 (4-foot putt), followed by a two-putt birdie at No. 13 and a 25-foot putt for birdie at No. 14.
Reitan then got a measure of revenge on the 15th and 16th holes.
He took a bold line for his second shot at No. 15 and landed the ball on the back of the green, two-putting for birdie from 45 feet. Reitan's tee shot at No. 16 was startling. The ball hit the flagstick after one bounce and caromed back, coming to rest 27 feet from the hole. He two-putted for par, but with a little more steam, the tee ball could have shot back into the water.
Reitan had another adventuresome par at No. 17. His tee shot sailed into the trees and he carved a left-to-right second shot that landed long and right of the hole. He putted up the bank and got the ball within 4 feet for his par putt.
Reitan said he set 'a low bar'
A closing bogey at No. 18 dropped him out of a tie for third with Justin Rose but even the bogey was entertaining.
Reitan hit the fairway but pushed his second shot into the right bunker. He blasted out too strong, the ball going over the green and rolling down the bank on the other side. Reitan used his putter again from off the green and nearly holed out from around 60 feet, with the ball stopping inches away from the cup.
He said he "set a low bar" for himself for his first week at Augusta, a course he named in a survey as the one he would play for the rest of his life, if he could pick only one, before he ever set foot on the grounds.
"It's my first week here ... you get to the point where you exceed your own expectations, and for me that really doesn't happen that much because I already expect quite a lot of myself," he said. "But that's obviously a good feeling but a weird feeling as well. So, yeah, something different to handle."
Who is Kristoffer Reitan?
Reitan, 28, is from Oslo and the grandson of one of the country's wealthiest businessmen, Odd Reitan, who launched the grocery store chain REMA 1000. The chain now has stores in five European countries.
Kristoffer's father Magnus introduced him to golf, but he also played soccer. He had success in junior golf in Europe and won the Valderrama Boys Invitational, the Italian International U16 Championship, the Skandia Junior Open and then came to the U.S. to win the Junior Orange Bowl.
He and Hovland won the Toyota Junior World Cup. Reitan played in the 2018 Junior Ryder Cup and reached the quarterfinals of the 2015 Junior Amateur, where Hovland was his caddie.
Did Kristoffer Reitan attend college in the U.S.?
He almost joined Hovland in the Big 12. Hovland played for Oklahoma State and Reitan signed with Texas. However, he decided to turn pro in 2017. The following year he became the first native of Norway to play in the U.S. Open, qualifying at Walton Heath in England.
Where has Kristoffer Reitan played professionally?
He earned his card at the 2018 DP World Tour qualifier, the only amateur to do so. Two years later, he won on the Challenge Tour and returned to the DP World Tour. He won his first tournament at the Soudal Open in Belgium, posting a course-record 62 to make a playoff, then winning with a birdie on the second extra hole.
He ended the 2025 season eighth in the Race to Dubai and earned a PGA Tour card. Reitan then won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in December, shooting 63 in the first round and winning wire-to-wire.
What is Kristoffer Reitan's PGA Tour record?
He's now made six of nine cuts this season and was 91st on the FedEx Cup points list entering the week. Reitan posted his best finish on Tour last week with a tie for 10th at the Valero Texas Open.
Reitan earned his invitation to the Masters by being among the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking through the Texas Children's Houston Open.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Who is Kristoffer Reitan? Native of Norway paces Masters rookies