Poulter and Westwood share Masters' halfway

lead but Tiger is on their tail in joint third place

FROM THE EUROSPORT GOLF NEWS SERVICE
England's Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood share the lead at the half-way stage of The Masters at Augusta - but world number one Tiger Woods is just two shots back in a tie for third place.
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Poulter shot his second successive 68 to record the best round of the day and post an eight-under-par total of 136, but looked likely to be in second place as Westwood reached 10 under par with some stunning golf.
Yet bad drives on the 14th and 18th cost Westwood three shots, and despite birdies on 13 and 15 he finished tied with his Ryder Cup team-mate.
Woods was among the early starters on a blustery day at Augusta, with difficult pin positions and tee locations making the course a far sterner challenge than it had been on the opening day.
But the world number one played a round as steady as his first round was dramatic, with one bogey and three birdies for a 70 to end up tied for third alongside world number two Phil Mickelson, Korea's KJ Choi, last week's winner Anthony Kim and 2009 US Open nearly-man Ricky Barnes.
In his superb round Poulter picked up birdies on the 2nd, 8th, 12th, 13th and 16th to climb to nine under par before his only bogey of the day on the last hole set him back to eight under par.
Westwood's round, meanwhile, got off to an astonishing start with an eagle at the second hole and huge birdie putts rolled in on the sixth and seventh. Birdies at 13 and 15 helped offset his double bogey on the 14th, but a bogey on the last after a drive into the trees left him alongside Poulter.
After yesterday's superb 68 Woods had a poor start, pulling his opening drive into the trees on the first before a good recovery shot helped him save par.
A bogey on the 4th pegged him back to four under par, but a pair of birdies on the par-5 13th and 15th holes lifted him up to six under par for the championship and in third place.
Choi, playing alongside Woods, added a 71 to his opening 67. Choi's compatriot YE Yang - winner of last year's US PGA Championship - made a dramatic par at the last from out of the trees to finish in eighth place on five under par.
Overnight leader Fred Couples followed his opening 66 with a three-over 75 after complaining of a bad back, while Tom Watson shook off early wobbles to produce a battling 74. The pair are in a tie for ninth place at three under par alongside Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen.
Toby Keel /Eurosport

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)
T1 - Ian Poulter 68 68 - - 136
T1 - Lee Westwood 67 69 - - 136
T3 - Phil Mickelson 67 71 - - 138
T3 - Ricky Barnes 68 70- - 138
T3 - Anthony Kim - 68 70 - - 138
T3 - K.J. Choi 67 71 - - 138
T3 - Tiger Woods - 68 70 - - 138
8 - Y.E. Yang - 67 72 - - 139
T9 - Tom Watson 67 74 - - 141
T9 - Fred Couples - 66 75 - - 141
T9 - Soren Kjeldsen - 70 71 - - 141
T12 - Bill Haas - 72 70 - - 142
T12 - Hunter Mahan - 71 71 - - 142
T12 - Trevor Immelman - 69 73 - - 142
T15 - Robert Karlsson - 71 72 - - 143
T15 - Mike Weir- 71 72 - - 143
T15 - Dustin Johnson - 71 72 - - 143
T15 - Matt Kuchar - 70 73 - - 143
T15 - Sean O'Hair - 72 71 - - 143
T15 - Kenny Perry - 72 71 - - 143
T21 - Ernie Els 71 73 - - 144
T21 - Francesco Molinari - 70 74 - - 144
T21 - Steve Marino E 12:35 pm ET - 71 73 - - 144
T21 - David Toms E 12:35 pm ET - 69 75 - - 144
T21 - Sergio Garcia E 12:55 pm ET - 74 70 - - 144
T21 - Adam Scott E 12:55 pm ET - 69 75 - - 144
T21 - Zach Johnson E 1:05 pm ET - 70 74 - - 144
T21 - Nick Watney E 1:05 pm ET - 68 76 - - 144
T29 - Retief Goosen +1 12:05 pm ET - 74 71 - - 145
T29 - Heath Slocum +1 12:05 pm ET - 72 73 - - 145
T29 - Ryan Moore +1 12:15 pm ET - 72 73 - - 145
T29 - Charl Schwartzel +1 12:15 pm ET - 69 76 - - 145
T33 - Geoff Ogilvy +2 11:25 am ET - 74 72 - - 146
T33 - Jerry Kelly +2 11:35 am ET - 72 74 - - 146
T33 - Scott Verplank +2 11:35 am ET - 73 73 - - 146
T33 - Steve Stricker +2 11:45 am ET - 73 73 - - 146
T33 - Camilo Villegas +2 11:45 am ET - 74 72 - - 146
T33 - Ben Crane +2 11:55 am ET - 71 75 - - 146
T33 - Steve Flesch +2 11:55 am ET - 75 71 - - 146
T40 - Robert Allenby +3 10:45 am ET - 72 75 - - 147
T40 - Angel Cabrera +3 10:45 am ET - 73 74 - - 147
T40 - Chad Campbell +3 10:55 am ET - 79 68 - - 147
T40 - Matteo Manassero(a) +3 10:55 am ET - 71 76 - - 147
T40 - Nathan Green +3 11:05 am ET - 72 75 - - 147
T40 - Yuta Ikeda +3 11:05 am ET - 70 77 - - 147
T40 - Lucas Glover +3 11:15 am ET - 76 71 - - 147
T40 - Miguel Angel Jimenez +3 11:15 am ET - 72 75 - - 147
T40 - Jason Dufner +3 11:25 am ET - 75 72 - - 147
MISSED THE CUT
(lowest 44 36-hole totals plus those within 10 strokes of the leaders)
CUT - Tim Clark +4 - - 75 73 - - 148
CUT - Ben Curtis +4 - - 73 75 - - 148
CUT - Ryo Ishikawa +4 - - 72 76 - - 148
CUT - Larry Mize +4 - - 76 72 - - 148
CUT - John Senden +4 - - 71 77 - - 148
CUT - Luke Donald +5 - - 74 75 - - 149
CUT - Soren Hansen +5 - - 74 75 - - 149
CUT - Padraig Harrington +5 - - 74 75 - - 149
CUT - Martin Kaymer +5 - - 76 73 - - 149
CUT - Bernhard Langer +5 - - 71 78 - - 149
CUT - Graeme McDowell +5 - - 75 74 - - 149
CUT - John Merrick +5 - - 72 77 - - 149
CUT - Mark O'Meara +5 - - 75 74 - - 149
CUT - Ryan Palmer +5 - - 72 77 - - 149
CUT - Nathan Smith(a) +5 - - 74 75 - - 149
CUT - Brad Benjamin(a) +6 - - 73 77 - - 150
CUT - Simon Dyson +6 - - 77 73 - - 150
CUT - Justin Leonard +6 - - 75 75 - - 150
CUT - Edoardo Molinari +6 - - 75 75 - - 150
CUT - Kevin Na +6 - - 74 76 - - 150
CUT - Alvaro Quiros +6 - - 75 75 - - 150
CUT - David Duval +7 - - 76 75 - - 151
CUT - Brian Gay +7 - - 74 77 - - 151
CUT - Todd Hamilton +7 - - 74 77 - - 151
CUT - Marc Leishman +7 - - 72 79 - - 151
CUT - Rory Mcilroy +7 - - 74 77 - - 151
CUT - John Rollins +7 - - 75 76 - - 151
CUT - Oliver Wilson +7 - - 78 73 - - 151
CUT - Stewart Cink +8 - - 76 76 - - 152
CUT - Shingo Katayama +8 - - 75 77 - - 152
CUT - Louis Oosthuizen +8 - - 75 77 - - 152
CUT - Paul Casey +9 - - 75 78 - - 153
CUT - Ross Fisher +9 - - 77 76 - - 153
CUT - Rory Sabbatini +9 - - 75 78 - - 153
CUT - Vijay Singh +10 - - 76 78 - - 154
CUT - Chris Wood +10 - - 78 76 - - 154
CUT - Byeong-Hun An(a) +11 - - 78 77 - - 155
CUT - Ben Crenshaw +11 - - 77 78 - - 155
CUT - Chang-Won Han(a) +11 - - 79 76 - - 155
CUT - Sandy Lyle +11 - - 69 86 - - 155
CUT - Ben Martin(a) +11 - - 75 80 - - 155
CUT - Henrik Stenson +11 - - 80 75 - - 155
CUT - Jim Furyk +12 - - 80 76 - - 156
CUT - Anders Hansen +13 - - 80 77 - - 157
CUT - Craig Stadler +13 - - 79 78 - - 157
CUT - Michael Campbell +20 - - 83 81 - - 164
CUT - Ian Woosnam +20 - - 81 83 - - 164
WD - Thongchai Jaidee - - - - - - - -