Yang's rise reversed on back nine

Y.E. Yang climbed to the top of the leaderboard at the Masters Tournament early Friday with a furry of birdies, but back-nine bogeys ended his day right where he started it.

The 2009 PGA Championship winner shot even-par 72 to finish the first two days at 5-under, tied for seventh. He attacked pins with his approach shots all day, but the putts quit falling after he made the turn.

"I thought I was on a roll. I felt good," Yang said of his first nine holes. "I don't know why, but my putter started failing me on the back nine."

After bogeying the first hole, Yang birdied the next three, hitting close shots into greens and making a string of short putts.

On the par-5 eighth, he spun his approach shot from the back fringe to within a few feet of the cup. He made the putt and moved to 8-under, taking the outright lead.

His lead was short-lived, however. A misfired bunker shot led to a bogey on the ninth hole. A three-putt gave him another bogey on the 10th.

"I think after that, my confidence was a bit dwindling," he said. "I couldn't judge my distance and my putts started to shake a bit. The 10-hole green cost me a lot today."

Yang missed birdie putts on Nos. 12, 13, 14 and 15. On the par-3 16th, Yang hit his tee shot to within a few feet of the pin but missed his short birdie putt and even shorter putt for par.

On the following hole, Yang yanked his drive into the left-side gallery. He blamed his ailing shoulder, not lingering disappointment from his bogey on No. 16, for the drive, which ended up in the neighboring fairway.

"I don't think that putt affected me psychologically," he said.

Yang hit a towering approach over the trees to the front of the green and saved par. He converted a 50-foot two-putt on the 18th green to close out his round with another par.

After going out in 34, he came home in 38.

"It's been a rolling up-and-down day for me," Yang said.

"I'm a little disappointed considering how I played (Thursday), but there's still a lot of golf to play."