By Eddie Pells, The Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Lee Westwood played the first 12 holes at even par to hold onto his lead at the Masters on Friday, though a big group of familiar names was beginning to crowd him near the top of the leaderboard.
During a blustery second round at Augusta National, Peter Hanson made three straight birdies to tie Westwood at 5-under par and Jason Dufner, bundled up and wearing a stocking cap, birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to join them.
Louis Oosthuizen was a shot back, then came a group of household names at 3 under, including Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and 52-year-old Fred Couples, who birdied Nos. 7, 8 and 9 get into the mix on this, the 20th anniversary of his crowd-pleasing win at Augusta.
The players were greeted by cloudy, windy weather more reminiscent of the British Open than the Masters. As morning turned to afternoon, however, the wind died down a bit and the sun started peeking out. Sweater weather, for sure, but a pretty nice day to take a walk around the grounds.
"I don't think anybody's really going to run away with it today," said Sean O'Hair, after an early morning round of 70 left him at 1 over. "I think a good score is going to be 1-, 2-under par."
But those making a move were trying to go lower. Couples, McIlroy and Garcia, playing with an infected middle finger on his left hand, all shot 3-under 33 on the front.
Joining the group at 3 under was Paul Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion. Miguel Angel Jiminez was at 3 under with an afternoon tee time awaiting.
Tiger Woods also had an afternoon tee time and was hoping for a better start than he had Thursday.
Woods knocked his first two tee shots deep into the trees and scrambled for pars there. He was errant on his last two tee shots, as well, and finished bogey-bogey, then headed to the driving range to work out the problems.
Fresh off a win in Orlando two weeks ago, Woods was a favorite to take his first major since 2008, but he wasn't looking quite as solid after his even-par opening round that could have been much worse.
Phil Mickelson also struggled in the opening round and was hanging around early in the second. He made two birdies and got to 1 over, tied for 33rd with more than half the players on the course. .
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Posted: 04/ 6/2012 1:56 pm Updated: 04/ 6/2012 1:56 pm