Birdie putts save Ogilvy

A major winner in Friday's 10:30 a.m. group made a charge up the leaderboard in the second round, but it wasn't Phil Mickelson.

Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open winner, shot his second 3-under 69 to move to 6-under for the tournament and a tie for fifth place. After a double bogey on the second hole, the Aussie rolled in six birdie putts while Mickelson spun his wheels.

"It's really nice to play two good rounds here and be in contention," Ogilvy said.

He opened with par and was thinking birdie on the par-5 second hole. Instead, a four-putt on the green earned him a seven.

"Walking up the third fairway, I was less than pleased," he said. "But I just tried to tell myself that no one goes 72 holes around here without doing something silly like that.

"I started to roll a few putts in, and it was a distant memory after that."

Ogilvy got a shot back with a birdie on the third hole and also birdied Nos. 6 and 7. A bogey on No. 8 gave him even-par 36 on the front nine.

Ogilvy kept rolling at Amen Corner. After pars at Nos. 10 and 11, he knocked his 8-iron right at the pin on the par-3 12th.

"I was trying to go a little left of the pin and I pushed it straight at the pin," he said. "I was about eight foot short of the hole, and I made that."

Ogilvy laid up on both of the back-nine par-5s, but he got up and down on both to make birdies. He finished with three pars, which gave him two rounds in the 60s for the first time in six Masters starts.

Ogilvy has made the cut in all six appearances but has never finished in the top 10. That could change this weekend, he said, and the result would not surprise him.

"This is the first time I've come here really happy with how I was playing," he said. "It's nice to play well."

For the first time in his career, Augusta National Golf Club doesn't seem so hard. The warm weather and calm winds have helped a lot, but so did his preparation, he said.

After struggling last year, Ogilvy reassessed his game and his life and made adjustments in hopes of finding the right balance between family and practice.

"Just working out that golf and life balance and working out what's best," he said. "I feel like I've got a better handle on it now than I used to."