Ollie finds Masters touch again

Three years after fearing a future in a wheelchair, Jose Maria Olazabal was back leading the Masters today.

The 33-year-old Spaniard, who had 18 months out of golf following his 1994 victory at Augusta, turned in a superb 66 in a second round which also saw Colin Montgomerie lead in dramatic fashion, fall away, then battle back into contention.

It also saw troubled Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros - on his 42nd birthday - miss the halfway cut for the third year running, world number one David Duval follow the lead of Tiger Woods yesterday by having an eight on his card as he lost ground and Woods double-bogey the short 12th after coming up way short in the water as the wind gusted.

Olazabal, whose career was in danger of being ended by a herniated disc in his back originally diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis, was joint fourth overnight on two under par, but then went into overdrive.

Putting as very few can, he birdied the long second and short sixth to turn in 34 before picking up further shots at the 11th, 13th, 15th, where a spectacular chip from over the green rolled down the slope to within a few inches of the cup, and 18th.

It put him on the eight under par mark of 136, two ahead of American Scott McCarron, who still had two to play, and three clear of a revitalised Greg Norman and US Open champion Lee Janzen.

It was on the 15th that Duval had taken his eight. He laid up in two, but then saw his pitch spin back in the water and, in avoiding a repeat, flew his fifth shot over the green and took three more to hole out.

He finished with a 74 for a one over par total of 145, having been among the 12 players who had to return to the course at 9am to finish off their first rounds.

The lead was momentarily held by Montgomerie when he sank a 90-yard sand wedge to the third for his first-ever eagle in the Masters.

The two lifted Montgomerie, making his eighth visit to the tournament and eighth last year, to four under par, but it was followed by three successive bogeys and then by a double bogey six on the 11th, where he hit a five-iron over the green into Rae's Creek.

His finishing burst was impressive, however. He did not birdie either of the two par fives, the 13th and 15th, but holed from 20 feet at the 12th, pitched to six feet on the 14th and finished with a 10-footer.

"I got my concentration back and I'm still in with a good chance," said the Scot, eighth last year.

"But Olly is very good - we know that - and when he gets in front he is a difficult man to dislodge."

Faldo, who came from six behind to beat Norman by five on the dramatic last day to the 1996 Masters, needed a massive improvement after an opening 80, which represented the second worst round of his Augusta career stretching back 20 years.

But a 73 was never likely to be enough and before he headed out of town the 41-year-old agreed the damage had all been done in the first round.

"I had no chance today," he said after handing a 36-hole total of 153, nine over par. "I was trying to make a couple of birdies, but it's a fine line at the moment.

"But of course there's a way back and I'll be there next week (in South Carolina) battling away again."

Faldo is down to 102nd in the world rankings, but Ballesteros is an horrendous 472nd and two 78s for a 156, 12 over, meant more bitter disappointment not only on his birthday, but also on the 25th anniversary of his first European tour round - an 89 in the qualifying for the Portuguese Open.

The Spanish star has not made a single halfway cut on American soil since the 1996 Masters.

Ulsterman Darren Clarke also missed the cut after crashing to a 78 as well - he finished alongside Faldo on nine over - and Sandy Lyle, one under overnight, managed only a 77 to be four over.

But Ian Woosnam was still very much involved. Also round in 71 yesterday, he turned in 35 with a birdie on the seventh, but bogeyed the 10th and remained one under with four to go.

Lee Westwood improved four strokes on his initial 75 to stand two over, but probably did not expect to find himself 10 adrift.

Nor did Woods, who parred every hole on the front nine, bogeyed the 11th and then had his double bogey. But a birdie on the next brought the 23-year-old, winner two years ago, back to two over as well.