Rose Must Play the Field

Justin Rose maintained a two-shot lead after 36 holes at the 68th Masters, but the 23-year-old Englishman may not want to look down the leaderboard.

It doesn’t show Arnold Palmer, who played his final round at the Masters after 50 straight appearances, but it is a frightening and fast-charging group. It even includes one left-for-tread player who fancies fluffy-stuffed tigers for his golf-club head covers.

Rose, who officially claimed the Day 1 crown after weather-suspended first-round play was completed Friday morning, shot one-under 71 in the second round at Augusta National to hold the 36-hole lead at six-under 138.

Alex Cejka and two-time Masters winner Jose Maria Olazabal are two shots back at 140, while K.J. Choi and Phil Mickelson are at three-under 141.

The brief Brit breakdown: Rose did a solid job of keeping his composure yet didn’t clear much space between first place and the field.

Twenty players are within seven shots of the lead.

Rose’s weekend mind-set?

“This is fun,” he said. “You know, playing under pressure for the right reasons is fun. Playing under pressure for the wrong reasons, that’s awful.”

Tiger Woods, tied for 44th when second-round play began, moved into a tie for 14th, six shots back at even-par 144, after his freaky Friday three-under 69.

When someone asked Rose if it was nice knowing Woods was six shots behind and not in range, Rose shot back, “Not in range?”

Choi got to seven under after making six front-side birdies and going out in a record-tying 30, he but faded badly with a back-nine 40.

Instead of counting sheep to sleep, Rose may keep tally of his stiff competition:

* Olazabal. The Spaniard, who shot 69, was sort of poking around unnoticed until his eagle on the par-five 13th hole put him in the thick of contention. He followed with birdies on Nos. 14 and 15 to get to five under overall before dropping a shot at the 18th.

Still ...

“It must be something with this place,” said the 38-year-old Olazabal, who has sort of made Augusta National his second home. He has seven top-10 finishes here and won the tournament in 1994 and 1999. He finished fourth as recently as 2002 and tied for eighth last year.

* Mickelson. He followed his ho-hum 72 in the first round with a streaky-hot Friday back nine. Mickelson made consecutive birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 and another on No. 17. He finished with a 69 and is three shots behind Rose.

Three is also the position Mickelson finished each of the last three years.

“I’m in good position heading into the weekend,” Mickelson said, not for the first time.

* Ernie Els. He shot 72 and is two shots behind Rose. Els has won three majors, but never this one.

You think he wants to? Els was second in 2000 and in the last three Masters has finished tied for sixth, tied for fifth and tied for sixth.

“Just been plugging away,” Els said of his work here so far.

* Davis Love III. He started the day three over after his first-round 75 but rebounded with 67, the low round of the day.

Love said he gleaned momentum from Olazabal, his playing partner.

“I think something about this place fires him up,” Love said of Olazabal. “He knows he has a chance here as soon he as pulls through the gates.”

Love has thought that too, finishing second to Ben Crenshaw in 1995 and Olazabal in 1999.

“I’ve got a lot of great memories here,” Love said. “I’ve shot scores that can win, so I’ve just got to keep after it.”

* Fred Couples. The 1992 Masters champion overcame his opening-day 73 with a 69. He stands at 142 overall and is four shots back.

Is he comfortable here? Consider that Couples has never missed a cut in 20 starts.

Woods’ day started not-so-nice and early.

He was four over with four holes left to play in his first round, tied for 55th place, when he finally kick-started his game.

Woods finished his first round at 75 before following with his 69.

Not that it was all pretty. Woods hit only eight of 14 fairways but just kept chugging.

After he blocked a putt and made bogey on No. 11 to go to three over, Woods made an angry swing with his putter and then chucked his ball into Rae’s Creek.

At this point, Woods’ future in this tournament was in doubt, given that the cut would end up at four over.

After a tap-in par at No. 12, though, Woods hit his second shot to the center of the green on the par-five 13th hole and two-putted for birdie.

After another par on No. 14, Woods hooked his tee shot left on the par-five 15th but scrambled to make birdie.

On No. 16, the gorgeous par-three over water, Woods rolled in a 40-foot, uphill putt for the birdie that got him to even par for the tournament.

“You’ve got to take baby steps,” Woods said of his advance. “It was slow improvement. I got back to even and that’s viable.”

Woods found himself in more trouble after pushing his drive right of the fairway on the par-four 18th.

But again, Woods showed his creativity in circumventing the trees and landed his third shot about 12 feet from the pin.

Woods missed his birdie try and salvaged par.

“I’m still here,” Woods said.

And Justin Rose knows it.