Sports

Trevor on top

• Trevor Immelman’s second consecutive 68 holds Tiger Woods and Co. at bay as this year’s Master heads to the weekend.

Scott Chancey

AUGUSTA — Trevor Immelman’s challenge at Augusta National Golf Club was nothing compared to what he faced away from it.

He had a non-cancerous tumor removed from his diaphragm late last year, and even missed part of the 2007 season because of a stomach parasite.

In this year’s Masters, the PGA’s 2006 Rookie of the Year scored a second consecutive 68 Friday and went from co-leader with Justin Rose to alone atop the pack with a two-day total of 136, one stroke better than Brandt Snedeker.

Four-time Masters champion Tiger Woods is tied for 13th with a two-day 143 after scoring a 71.

Two-time winner Phil Mickelson lurks closer, tied for third three strokes back after finishing Friday with a 68.

But the story of the day was Immelman.

After shooting 1-under during the front nine, he closed his day out with back-to-back birdies. He finished the 18th with a 10-foot birdie, and appeared happy to be back at Augusta after missing the cut last year because of his stomach parasite.

“You know, I have a real passion for golf and I put a lot of hours in and made a lot of sacrifices to try and succeed at the game,” Immelman said. “So you know, I'm definitely driven to try and achieve things, so, you know, while it gave me perspective on the one point, I was still trying to get back to the form I was showing before it all happened.”

Woods hoped to return to his normal form as well after an opening round 72.

After a birdie on the first hole, just missed a five-footer on the second that would have converted an up-and-down.

After an eight-foot par putt lipped out at the sixth, Woods birdied the eighth to move back even. Finally, near the end of Friday’s round, Woods moved below par to stay with a birdie at No. 17.

The adventure grew interesting after that.

At the 18th, Woods escaped disaster. After driving into then hitting around the trees and onto the 10th fairway, a sand-wedge shot after that might have put him in position for another birdie had it not hit a ball that belonged to Stuart Appleby.

An eight-foot par putt kept Woods’ hopes up.

“I’m in good shape,” he said. “I’m obviously seven back, but I need to play well, obviously we’ve got some tougher conditions coming in, and have to stay patient. The golf course, you can make up shots here quickly. You’ve just got to hang in there.”

Mickelson improved from Thursday’s 71 by birdying two of his first three holes. And while Mickelson made his charge, he could not help but look at the leaderboard.

“I’m always looking,” Mickelson said. “I’m always looking to see what the leaders are doing. You want to stay close. You don’t want to make any big mistakes and get way out. But if you’re falling behind, you’ve got to take a little bit more aggressive approach to some pins and try to make some birdies.”

Mickelson did just that with a 30-foot putt on the 17th.

Rose wasn’t as fortunate with three bogeys prior to a triple bogey on the par-5 15th, dropping him to a tie for 29th at 146.

“It was a 20-second lapse in concentration in hindsight,” Rose said of the 15th.

Snedeker, if he had not two-putted for bogey on the 18th Thursday and then bogeyed on the 16th Friday, would have been alone atop the leaderboard.

Snedeker, who last played in the Masters in 2004, tries to keep as little pressure on himself this year as possible.

“You ask anybody out there, they’d love to have a chance to play Augusta National, let alone in tournament conditions, and that’s what I get to do,” said Snedeker, who is a former U.S. Public Links champion. “I enjoy it, have fun. I feel like I’m playing good golf.”

After bogeying that 16th Friday, Snedeker responded with a 40-foot putt for birdie on the 17th and a 15-footer for birdie on the final hole. He knows that the chase is on for that green jacket.

“Now the fun starts,” Snedeker said. “The first two days you kind of find out where you are, and the weekend you separate the men from the boys, so we’ll see how well I’ve matured going into the weekend.”

Friday’s most impressive round belonged to Steve Flesch, who started the round even par and finished with three birdies, no bogeys and even an eagle on the par-5 13th to be in that third place tie with Mickelson and Ian Poulter.

“I played great,” said Flesch, who won the Reno-Tahoe Open earlier this year and has four PGA Tour wins overall. “The way I kind of planned on playing this week was attack the par 5s when I could, not necessarily go for them in two, because getting far enough out there now, as wet as it is, I’m not getting much roll on my driver. So if I got the chance to go for one I would, but just lay up, let my wedge kind of do the work there.”

On that 13th, Flesch hit 3-iron from 234 yards and finished off the hole with a two-foot putt.

“I wasn’t planning on going for any par 5s this week, but I got the tee ball out where I only had 233 downwind, 200 front and I thought you can’t hit it out here this far and not go for it,” Flesch said. “But I actually thought it was over the green. That pin was so far back there, I didn’t realize you could get it back there and still have it where I did.”

During the next 36 holes, what lies ahead is their toughest test yet, if not only for the pressure.

“Around this place, it’s about staying patient, which is extremely hard to do,” Snedeker said. “This course is waiting for you to make a mistake. … But there are about 200 million people that would trade positions with me in a heartbeat, so I’m going to enjoy it while I’m doing it.”

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