English duo battle for the lead
Two months after providing the finalists at the World Match Play in Tucson, two Englishmen were setting the pace in The Masters at Augusta on Friday.
On a day made much more difficult by some of the pin placings - 50-year-old overnight leader Fred Couples could add only a 75 to his opening 66 and 60-year-old Tom Watson fell back too - Poulter shot his second successive 68.
But while his clubhouse target of eight under par was five better than anybody else at that point, he had not shaken off Lee Westwood or Tiger Woods. Westwood, who thoroughly enjoyed taking money off Poulter when they practised together on Tuesday, was nine under after a dazzling front nine of 32 which included only the third eagle of the week on the 575-yard second.
Woods, though, had moved menacingly into a tie for third by holing from just outside 20 feet at the 13th and 15th, the two par fives on the back nine. As a result he remained a firm favourite for the title, and this of course in his first tournament since mid-November after his sex scandal kept him in hiding and away from even the practice range for much of that time.
Woods, whose Thursday 68 was his best opening round at Augusta, was six under with fellow American Anthony Kim, winner of the Houston Open on Sunday, and Korean KJ Choi.
World number three Phil Mickelson, meanwhile, was in the group just one further back and was still on the outward half.
If Poulter and Westwood leading the first major of the season was the ecstasy, then the biggest agony belonged to Sandy Lyle.
There were only three shots separating Lyle and Couples when the 52-year-old Scot set off again in the third group of the day. But the 1988 champion, who has had nothing better than his opening 69 since he won the title, shot a nightmare 86. His previous worst was 82.
Debutants Simon Dyson and Chris Wood finished six over and 10 over respectively after rounds of 73 and 76, while 20-year-old Rory McIlroy talked of taking at least a month off after a 77 dropped him to seven over and Padraig Harrington (five over) disappointed too.
With Ross Fisher heading out as well on nine over after a 76 and Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Oliver Wilson struggling, England's eight-strong field looked like dwindling to two for the weekend.
