Low-shooting young guns partners again

The bad news for the field in the 75th Masters Tournament is that Northern Ireland's 21-year-old Rory McIlroy and Australia's 23-year-old Jason Day will be playing together today for the third consecutive round.

If they continue to bring out the best in each other, one of them might be hard to catch during the weekend, even by a resurgent Tiger Woods.

McIlroy, the tournament leader, and Day, who have combined for 24 birdies in two rounds, will start at 2:45 p.m.

A day after watching McIlroy blister Augusta National Golf Club with 7-under 65, Day did him one better with his own bogey-free 64.

It was one shot off the course record shared by Nick Price and Greg Norman and matched the lowest round by a first-year player in the Masters.

McIlroy, who went 29 consecutive holes without a bogey until making one Friday on No. 12, shot 69 to move to 10-under-par 134. He is two shots up on Day, who opened with 72.

"I got off to a bit of a slow start yesterday, but I came home strong today and I'm just looking forward to the next two days," said Day, who is playing in just his third major.

Said McIlroy: "It was a great round by Jason. I didn't realize he was going that low until I saw the board on No. 15 (when Day was 6-under for the round)."

A grizzled veteran -- the 35-year-old Woods -- might put an end to the youngsters' fun.

Woods, a four-time Masters champion, shot 31 on the second nine for 66 to move into a tie for third place. It was his best round at Augusta National since a third-round 65 in 2005, the last time he won the tournament.

"Well, I'm three back. So I played myself back in the championship. We have still got 36 more holes. We have a long way to go," Woods said. His nine birdies Friday topped the field.

The former No. 1-ranked player in the world is tied with a familiar face -- Korea's K.J. Choi (70), who will be his playing partner today. Woods and Choi played all four rounds together in last year's Masters, where both tied for fourth place.

Spain's Alvaro Quiros, the first-round co-leader with McIlroy, is tied for fifth place, four shots back, with Australia's Geoff Ogilvy. Quiros shot 73. Ogilvy turned in a 69.

Rickie Fowler, 22, the other member of McIlroy and Day's "youth group," shot 69 and is five shots off the lead, along with 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples (68 on Friday), Ricky Barnes (71), Y.E. Yang (72) and 2010 runner-up Lee Westwood (67).

Phil Mickelson's chances of becoming the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters is growing dimmer. Lefty has produced rounds of 70-72 and is eight shots back.

After Thursday's round, Day said he hoped some day to walk up to 18th green and hear the applause that greeted McIlroy that day.

A day later, he did.

"I said to the boys as we walked to the first tee that I was going to have to start paying people to yell out my name because everybody is yelling their name out," Day said.

Day, at age 23, is the old man in the threesome that is a combined 23 under par with 34 birdies (13 by Day, 11 by McIlroy and 10 by Fowler).

"We fed off each other, and the crowd was behind us," McIlroy said.

"We're good buddies, but we're trying to beat each other," Fowler said.

McIlroy is right where he wants to be, thanks in part to his length off the tee (he led the field in driving distance for Friday's round).

"I've gotten myself in a good position: I'm two ahead at a major championship," McIlroy said. "If I continue to play like I have, I feel like I have a good chance."

His 10-under is the lowest 36-hole total since Chris DiMarco in 2005.

"I can't complain: I've got the lead going into the weekend," said McIlroy.

"That's what you have to do in major championships," McIlroy said of staying away from bogeys.

Woods, who hasn't won since November 2009, is the unknown factor going into the weekend.

"I'm just trying to put myself in the mix come Sunday," said Woods, who has gone through a divorce and is in the midst of a swing change. "It's irrelevant who is there. My whole job is to get myself there with a chance with nine holes to go. That's what we have always done.

"I've been successful at it in the past by doing it that way."

Choi continued his consistent play at Augusta National on Friday. His 70 was his seventh consecutive round of par or better here.

On Friday, Choi got off to a strong start with birdies on Nos. 2, 4 and 6 for 33 on the front nine. He had only one birdie on the second nine (No. 13) to go with two bogeys for 37. One of those bogeys came when he three-putted No. 18 from inside 20 feet.

Brandt Snedeker, who had 71 and is six shots off the lead, said he thinks McIlroy "has a great chance (to win), but there is a lot of golf to play, a lot of disasters out there."

"He's got two chances of winning this tournament," fellow Irishman Padraig Harrington said of McIlroy. "He could go on and shoot the numbers on the weekend that nobody has a chance of catching him. But the likelihood is he'll have a chance no matter what coming down the stretch on Sunday."

Before Day caught fire late in the day, Couples, 51, created the biggest stir by bolting into contention.

He's seeking to break Jack Nicklaus' record as the oldest Masters champion, set 25 years ago when he was 46.

"Can I win?" Couples asked. "Maybe six years ago."

What would it mean to him if he did?

"Retirement is what it would be," Couples said. "I would be gone. It would be the greatest upset in golf history; are you kidding?"

"I mean, could I win? Of course. Am I looking forward to playing tomorrow? Yeah, you'd better believe it. "

Two-time Masters champion Tom Watson said, "It's not out of the realm of possibilities. It can work. It's just, Freddie knows the golf course very well."

His friend, Davis Love III, said: "His back's bad, but he always plays good. He laid around for two days. He couldn't play a practice round with us on Wednesday. It's just amazing. This place does something to him. It energizes him or fires him up or something."

Friday was another prime day for scoring. The field's stroke average was 72.677. The cut fell at 1-over 145.

"It was a little breezier than normal, but it was as good as you're going to get here," McIlroy said.

Reach David Westin at (706) 823-3224 ordavid.westin@augustachronicle.com.