It’s Sure Not Lonely at the Top for Haas : Golf: Eight-under-par 64 gives Goalby’s nephew a one-shot lead over a bunched leader board.

Ben Crenshaw took a look around, peeked at the Masters scoreboard and saw more golfers than he could shake a graphite-shafted, perimeter-weighted, cavity-backed stick at.

“Pretty crowded isn’t it?” Crenshaw said.

Not if you like bus stations. Jay Haas shot a 64 Friday at user-friendly Augusta National to snatch the 36-hole lead, but he has a lot of company, and they’re all trying to blaze that azalea trail ahead of him.

Haas birdied the last four holes to get the lead, but he couldn’t put any daylight between himself the pack.

By nightfall, no fewer than nine players were within three shots of Haas, whose 135 total was nine under par.

Closest are Scott Hoch and John Huston at 136.

Huston shot a 66 and couldn’t believe his good fortune, mainly because he couldn’t remember coming into a tournament with less confidence.

Talking with reporters afterward, Huston started coughing. “I’m gonna choke,” he said as he reached for some water. “I know you guys love that word.”

Crenshaw, Phil Mickelson and David Frost are at 137, and Corey Pavin, Davis Love III, Lee Janzen and Brian Henninger are at 138.

The cut was lower than the rocks at the bottom of Rae’s Creek. There were 47 players who made it at one-over 145, matching the lowest cut in Masters history.

Ernie Els didn’t make it, but one of those who barely did was Jack Nicklaus, who shot a 78 after opening with a 67.

Twenty golfers shot in the 60s in near-perfect conditions that probably invited even better scoring, except for the probability that the players simply couldn’t believe it.

There wasn’t a breath of wind, the greens were still semi-soft after Thursday’s rain and Haas scored better than anybody else.

His 64 was the lowest Masters round in five years, and Haas didn’t realize he had birdied the last four holes until he signed his scorecard.

It was just one of those days, he said.

“Each time I stepped up to the tee, most of the holes appealed to my eye,” Haas said. “When I’m looking down a fairway, I can see the shot.

“I’ve played countless practice rounds here with Uncle Bob (Goalby), and he’s told me where not to go many times.”

Goalby has something his nephew does not. That would be a major title.

Goalby won the 1968 Masters, the one that deserves an asterisk because it’s when Roberto DeVicenzo should have been playing Goalby in a playoff, but signed an incorrect scorecard and was finished second.

Haas might already own a major title, but when he was among the leaders in the PGA Championship last year at Southern Hills, he shot a 75 in the fourth round, and Nick Price won.

At least, there was a lesson to be learned, Haas said.

“I learned that I am capable,” he said. “I shouldn’t be afraid of that position.”

Haas said Goalby told him at lunch that he is capable of pulling off a victory here, even at 41.

“We’ll see what happens,” Haas said.

Nothing has been happening for Huston, who has missed his last three cuts. But Huston said his concentration level is up and his score has gone down.

He also has been watching the scoreboard.

“They’ve got big scoreboards out here,” he said. “You can’t hardly miss them.”

Crenshaw, the 1984 champion, had five birdies and one bogey on the last 12 holes and felt much more confident standing over putts. He also admitted he doesn’t know how long it’s going to last.

“Who knows what’s going to happen the next two days?” Crenshaw said.

A lot has happened to Crenshaw since Sunday night, when he learned that his golfing mentor, Harvey Penick, had died at 90.

Crenshaw and Tom Kite flew back to Austin, Tex., for the funeral. Crenshaw remembered the last lesson he got from Penick two weeks ago. It was a putting session on the rug of Penick’s home. Penick was too ill to leave his bed.

“He said, ‘Can you please get a putter and show me how you’re stroking that ball?’ And he said, ‘Now, I want you to take two good practice strokes and then trust yourself and don’t let that club head get past your hands in the stroke.’

“I’m trying like the dickens to do that,” Crenshaw said. “I’ve had some good putts this week.”

Maybe he’ll have some more. Somebody is going to need a few more by Sunday.

Crenshaw said Penick was the one who got him started playing when he was 6 or 7. Penick had a blade putter and cut down a mashie and gave them both to Crenshaw.

“He put my hands on that club and my grip hasn’t changed,” said Crenshaw, who remembered Penick’s first lesson as well as his last.

“He said, ‘You go off to the side of the green and you chip this ball up on the green and you putt it in the hole. That’s golf.’ ”

It hasn’t changed, even at the Masters.

Masters Notes

Tiger Woods shot his second 72 and continued to attract a large gallery. He said he likes the attention, adding: “But I don’t pay attention to it. If you watch me walk, I usually have my head down. I’m usually trying to focus on what I have to do. I don’t know how many people I’ve had out there because I don’t look around that much.” Woods made his first cut in a pro event. He said he would celebrate with a drink. “Sprite, no caffeine,” he said.

Corey Pavin said it best: “This golf course can come out and bite you anywhere.” So it took a big bite out of Billy Casper, 63, the 1970 Masters champion, who triple-bogeyed No. 15, triple-bogeyed No. 16 and double-bogeyed No. 17 on his way to an 89. Casper’s 36-hole score of 168 was 24 over par, which meant he missed the cut for the 13th time in the last 15 years.

Ian Baker-Finch, who won the 1991 British Open, shot an 81 and missed the cut. He finished with a quadruple-bogey eight on the 18th. Baker-Finch had a two-shot penalty on that hole when he accidentally knocked down a branch with a practice swing and was penalized for improving his lie. . . . Arnold Palmer said he was hoping that Jack Nicklaus would play well. “I’ve got him in the pool,” Palmer said. . . . Nicklaus is playing in the PGA Seniors Championship next week, his fifth consecutive week in a tournament. He hasn’t done that since 1970.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Masters Scores Through 36 holes LEADERS

Player: Score

Jay Haas: 71-64--135 John Huston: 70-66--136 Scott Hoch: 69-67--136 Ben Crenshaw: 70-67--137 David Frost: 66-71--137 Phil Mickelson: 66-71--137 Brian Henninger: 70-68--138 Davis Love III: 69-69--138 Lee Janzen: 69-69--138 Corey Pavin: 67-71--138

OTHERS

Player: Score

Bernhard Langer: 71-69--140 Fred Couples: 71-69--140 Nick Faldo: 70-70--140 Jose Maria Olazabal: 66-74--140 Steve Elkington: 73-67--140 Colin Montgomerie: 71-69--140 Greg Norman: 73-68--141 Seve Ballesteros: 75-68--143 Tom Watson: 73-70--143 John Daly: 75-69--144 Tiger Woods: 72-72--144 Peter Jacobsen: 72-73--145 Jack Nicklaus: 67-78--145