US Masters: Tiger Woods hot on the heels of English pair

Published on Saturday 10 April 2010 00:47

TWO months after providing the finalists at the World Match Play, two Englishmen are now setting the pace in The Masters at Augusta.

• Tiger Woods, who posted a solid second-round 70 to remain very much in the hunt at the Masters, selects a club at the seventh

Ian Poulter is the common denominator, but instead of Paul Casey, the man he beat in Tucson, it is now Lee Westwood, the man who took "a few dollars" off him in practice on Tuesday, that he has to try to defeat.

Tiger Woods, whose bid for a 15th major in his first tournament since November, is also in the thick of things at halfway. On a day made much more difficult by some of the pin placings – 50-year-old overnight leader Fred Couples could add only a 75 to his opening 66 and 60-year-old Tom Watson fell back to three under as well with a 74 – Poulter shot his second successive 68 to set the target at eight under.

Westwood, third in the last two majors, is alongside him following a 69 highlighted by an eagle on the second, but both bogeyed the last – Westwood after being distracted on the tee by an ill-timed click of a camera – and as a result the chasing pack are breathing down their necks.

Woods, round in 70, shares third spot on six under with great rival Phil Mickelson, last week's Houston Open winner Anthony Kim and Korean KJ Choi.

Woods holed from just outside 20 feet at the 13th and 15th, the two par fives on the back nine, and remains a firm favourite for the title despite his sex scandal having kept him in hiding and away from even the practice range recently.

"I've put myself right there," said the world No 1. "On this course you can make up shots and you can lose shots. It makes for an exciting weekend."

Poulter, whose outfits over the years have attracted even more attention than his golf, was asked what goes with a green jacket. "Absolutely anything," he replied before revealing that he will be wearing a "hot pink pair of tartans with a white shirt" tomorrow.

It took him 12 attempts just to break par at Augusta, but now he has had three 68s in his last four rounds. "My game is certainly a lot better and I've learnt the course over the last six years. I feel very comfortable and you can't let this course intimidate you. You can't back off from any shot."

Westwood, who hit a massive drive and six-iron to 18 inches for his eagle, said: "It was a tricky, a grinding day, and all in all I'm delighted with the way things have gone."

If Poulter and Westwood leading the first major of the season was the ecstasy for the European contingent, then the biggest agony belonged to Sandy Lyle. There were only three shots separating Lyle and Couples when the 52-year-old Scot set off again in the third group of the day. But the 1988 champion, who has had nothing better than his first day 69 since he won the title, shot a nightmare 86. His previous worst was 82.

The 52-year-old Scot's horrendous front nine 46 – only three less than the worst in the tournament's long history – was followed by a triple bogey 6 on the 12th and a fourth double bogey of the round on the 14th.

Northern Irish pair Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, Dubliner Padraig Harrington and Welshman Ian Woosnam crashed out too. Bernhard Langer couldn't match his fine opening 71 either as a 78 ended his weekend.

Life at the top of the leaderboard was sweet and short for Couples. He three-putted at both 16 and 17 before a misclub on 18 made it three bogeys in a row and Couples found himself sliding out of contention. A 75 left him at three-under, five strokes behind the leaders.

"I needed to be at five, six-under, to be realistic," Couples said. "I'm not out of it, but 75 is not a great score."

The 50-year-old American is playing some of his best golf in years, and his 66 on Thursday made him the oldest player to hold the outright lead after the opening round of this tournament. But Couples' creaky back acted up again Thursday night. By the next morning, he was hoping he wouldn't drop to last. "I didn't think I'd be able to play very good at all today," he said. "I didn't feel good, but I got it around."

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero, the youngest competitor in Masters history, became the first British Amateur champion to make the cut since Sergio Garcia in 1999.

Manassero, a brilliant 13th in The Open last July, just made it through on three over after a 76 playing alongside Westwood.

He is the only one of the six amateurs to survive to the weekend, so will be involved in a prizegiving ceremony.

Completed second round (US unless stated)

MADE CUT

136

Ian Poulter (Eng) 68 68, Lee Westwood 67 69

138

Tiger Woods 68 70, K.J. Choi (South Korea) 67 71, Ricky Barnes 68, 70, Phil Mickelson 66 71

141

Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 71, Tom Watson 67 74, Fred Couples 66 75

142

Bill Haas 72 70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 73

143

Dustin Johnson 71 72, Kenny Perry 72 71, Sean O'Hair 72 71, Mike Weir (Can) 71 72, Matt Kuchar 70 73 Robert Karlsson 71 72, Hunter Mahan 71 72

144

Nick Watney 68 76, Steve Marino 71 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 69 75, Zach Johnson 70 74, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 74 70, David Toms 69 75

145

Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 76, Heath Slocum 72 73, Ryan Moore 72 73

146

Jerry Kelly 72 74, Steve Stricker 73 73, Ben Crane 71 75, Steve Flesch 75 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 74 72, Camilo Villegas (Col) 74 72, Scott Verplank 73 73

147

Nathan Green (Aus) 72 75, Jason Dufner 75 72, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 70 77, Lucas Glover 76 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 75, Metteo Manassero (Ita) 71 76

MISSED CUT

148

John Senden (Aus) 71 77, Ben Curtis 73 75, Tim Clark (Rsa) 75 73, Larry Mize 76 72

149

Bernhard Langer (Ger) 71 78, Nathan Smith 74 75, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 75 74, John Merrick 72 77, Soren Hansen (Den) 74 75, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 76 73, Mark O'Meara 75 74, Ryan Palmer 72 77, Luke Donald (Eng) 74 75, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 74 75

150

Kevin Na 74 76, Justin Leonard 75 75, Brad Benjamin 73 77, Simon Dyson (Eng) 77 73, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 75 75

151

Oliver Wilson (Eng) 78 73, Brian Gay 74 77, Todd Hamilton 74 77, David Duval 76 75, John Rollins 75 76, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 74 77, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 79, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 76 75

152

Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 75 77, Stewart Cink 76 76, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 75 77

153

Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 75 78, Ross Fisher (Eng) 77 76

154

Vijay Singh (Fij) 76 78, Chris Wood (Eng) 78 76

155

Chang-won Han (Kor) 79 76, Ben Martin 75 80, Ben Crenshaw 77 78, Sandy Lyle (Sco) 69 86, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 80 75

157

Anders Hansen (Den) 80 77, Craig Stadler 79 78

164

Michael Campbell (Nzl) 83 81, Ian Woosnam (Wal) 81 83

WD: Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 74