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AUGUSTA, Ga., April 6 — Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington and Jerry Kelly were the only players to break 70 Friday as the 2007 Masters continued to confound the players. The struggles of one man, Tiger Woods, spoke loudest.
"I turned a 90 into a 74," Woods said after knocking his ball in the water on 12 and 13 but minimizing the damage with a bogey and a par, respectively, and two late birdies.
Others weren't so lucky. Bart Bryant turned an 82 into an 82 and missed the cut, despite a first-round 72. After a 78 on Thursday, two-time Masters runner-up Ernie Els shot 76 and also packed his bags. Sergio Garcia missed the cut after disappointing rounds of 76-78.
With 2006 runner-up Tim Clark and the Masters rookie Brett Wetterich sharing the 36-hole lead at two under par, Woods was well within striking distance going into the weekend.
"They aren't going anywhere," he said.
Augusta native Vaughn Taylor was just one off the pace at one under par, while fellow Augustan Charles Howell III, a trendy pre-tournament favorite, was part of a group of 15 players who made the cut on the number at eight over par. Vijay Singh led a group of four players at even par.
Woods looked like he might get a rare weekend off but came home with birdies on 15 and 17 and hit a miraculous slicing approach shot from the trees right of the 18th fairway to make a two-putt par and end on a positive note.
"Yesterday I let a good round get away," he said, "and today I salvaged a bad one."
Defending champion Phil Mickelson, the other consensus pre-tournament favorite, got off to a poor start, going three over for his first six holes. He birdied the par-5 eighth to begin to fight his way back, but his old nemesis, the wide-left drive, reappeared and sailed deep into the trees left of the 11th fairway. Amazingly, he escaped with only a bogey and birdied the par-5 13th and 15th holes to get back to five over for the tournament, seven off the lead.
"I fought hard with that five over," Mickelson said. "Tough day with the wind picking up in the afternoon. ... I think the wind's going to blow [Saturday] which means over par's going to win. I'll only have to shoot under par, and I'll be right back in it."
At the 1956 Masters, Jackie Burke made up eight strokes to win, the largest deficit ever made up over the final 36 holes.
"It doesn't matter who you are," David Toms said of the struggling big-name players, "if you don't hit every shot just right, there's a double-bogey waiting on any hole."
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