Fri Apr 11 21:17:56 2008

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Masters Second Round News & Notes

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Augusta, GA (Sports Network) - Contrary to what you might know about Brandt Snedeker (or what you might not know), this is not his first appearance at the Masters.

Snedeker captured the 2003 U.S. Amateur Public Links title, which earned him an invitation to Augusta National. He participated as an amateur in 2004 and tied for 41st.

"The course has changed, everything has changed. I've changed a little bit, hopefully all for the better," said Snedeker, who is in second place at minus- seven. "I've grown up a lot, my life has changed a lot and it's been a good kind of maturation process."

Snedeker is in the field this week after a victory last year at the Wyndham Championship. It was quite a year, that 2007 for Snedeker. He was voted Rookie of the Year, finished 20th on the FedEx Cup points list and made it to the Tour Championship.

"I never really believed that I was as good as I ended up playing last year," said Snedeker. "When you finally get back and take a full scope over my whole year last year, I realized I played some great golf and I need to kind of pat myself on the back a little bit more and realize that I am a good player and I do belong out here."

With all due respect to the Wyndham Championship (played the week between the PGA and the FedEx Cup Playoffs), and to Jeff Overton, Tim Petrovic and Billy Mayfair, the co-second-place finishers in Greensboro), this is the Masters.

Snedeker knows this, but won't discount the role of his maiden PGA Tour title last year.

"I didn't really know how good I was until Greensboro last year, until I won," he said. "I got to see myself and realize I can hold up under some pressure. I'm going to pull on my experience a whole lot over the weekend because I'm going to need it.

"Around this place it's about staying patient, which is extremely hard to do, because this course is waiting for you to make a mistake. And realizing you're going to make some mistakes, you're going to make a couples bogies, There's no way you can play this course perfectly, and to have fun with it."

A green jacket would be fun.

FINAL TRIP

Amateur Trip Kuehne made his second appearance at the Masters after winning the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship last year. His last trip to Augusta for the Masters was in 1995 when he finished as the runner-up to Tiger Woods in the U.S. Amateur.

Kuehne announced this week would be his last in competition. He wanted to make the cut in his last appearance and had a decent chance after an eagle at the par-five 13th on Friday.

That got him down to four-over par, which was within the ever-fluctuating cut line.

Then the 16th hole happened.

Kuehne hit a terrible nine-iron and left with a double-bogey. He parred out and missed the cut with a six-over-par 150 total.

"I did what most amateur golfers do, they shank or they hit bad shots and unfortunately I picked a very inopportune time to hit it sideways," admitted Kuehne.

So Kuehne's competitive career came to an end in disappointment.

"I can't repeat it enough, to have an opportunity to play the weekend in the Masters tournament as basically a working man, that was all I ever wanted in life to have that opportunity again," he said. "I thought that if I could ever make it back to this tournament and in these situations and this golf course, that I could really foster the amateur game. Because I thought I could play well here."

LATE STUMBLES

On Thursday, the final group of Lee Westwood, Aaron Baddeley and Camilo Villegas elected to play the final hole despite near darkness. They didn't want to have to come back early Friday morning.

Westwood was the only player to salvage a par.

On Friday, waning light was not the issue, but several players stumbled badly in the late groups.

Defending champion Zach Johnson double-bogeyed the 17th after bogeying it on Thursday. An errant six-iron was the cause for the big number.

"If it flies a foot further or a foot shorter, I'm fine, if that," said Johnson, who is tied for 29th at plus-two. "It was probably inches. It literally hit the turf instead of the sand, and it obviously came backwards instead of straight down or whatever."

First-round leader Justin Rose found the water with his third at the par-five 15th, then nearly went into the drink again with a chip shot. All tallied it was a triple-bogey eight.

The Englishman followed with a bogey at 16 and also dropped to two-over par.

"A 20-second lapse in concentration, in hindsight. I should have gone for the green," said Rose. "I laid up way too close to that green, and the way they grow the grain into you, I had a bit of a tricky lie and no yardage at all. So that was hard."

* Prayad Marksaeng of Thailand, who was participating in his first Masters, withdrew after nine holes on Friday. He cited a back injury and was six-over on his round and plus-16 for the championship.

* Amateur Michael Thompson was penalized a stroke on the 15th green when his ball moved after he addressed it. He bogeyed that hole, then the next two to finish at plus-seven.

* Tom Watson was also penalized on Friday. He moved his marker to allow one of his playing partners to putt, then never moved it back. It was a two-shot penalty. "I'm getting old," he said. "I'm losing strokes the easy way by doing stupid things."

* Speaking of Thompson, no amateur made the cut, so there will be no presentation of the Silver Cup. Kuehne finished at plus-six, Thompson at plus- seven and Drew Weaver, the British Amateur champ, came in at 12-over par.

* Thunderstorms are expected in the area on Saturday. Cooler temperatures are in the forecast for Sunday when there may be more than 18 holes in the forecast.

* Fred Couples missed the cut for the first time at the Masters. He shared the record for most consecutive cuts made at the Masters at 23 with Gary Player, who established a new record for appearances this week with 51.

* If Tiger Woods is to don the green jacket for the fifth time, it won't be a historic comeback. Jack Burke, Jr. overcame an eight-shot deficit at the midway point in 1956. Woods is only seven behind Immelman.

* Woods was six back when he won in 2005.

* The hardest hole on Friday was the par-four 10th, which played to an average of 4.3118. The most difficult hole for the week has also been No. 10 with a cumulative average of 4.2888.

* Friday's easiest hole was the par-five eighth at 4.6702. For the tournament, the par-five 13th has been the least difficult with an average of 4.7807.