Snedeker uses lob to hop green's knob

AUGUSTA, Ga. - To sum up Brandt Snedeker's second-round performance yesterday that got him within a stroke of the lead at the 72d Masters, here's all you need to know: He hit the green in regulation at the par-3 sixth, made a birdie, and didn't need his putter.

"I used a lob wedge," said the man from Nashville, whose easygoing personality has won rave reviews in his 49-tournament PGA Tour career.

"I was more nervous over that shot than I was all day because I knew if I messed it up, people were going to have a field day on me," he said. "So I had to pull it off."

Having put his tee shot on the top right shelf of the diabolical green, Snedeker looked at a hole location on the other side. To putt the ball, Snedeker thought, would bring a big knob into play. He felt the better option was to pick it clean off the putting surface with a lob wedge and lift it over the knob. Snedeker realized his choice of club produced gasps from some onlookers.

"There were a couple of members worried," he said. "But I figured it would be OK if I didn't take a divot - and I didn't, so the green is no worse for the wear."

It was the grandest escape of a day with a handful of them, because Snedeker had to scramble often. There was a three-putt bogey at the par-3 16th that cost him a share of the lead, but as did the leader, Trevor Immelman (68 -136), Snedeker finished birdie-birdie to earn a spot in today's final pairing. Pretty stout stuff for a guy who is playing in just his fourth major championship as a professional.

"One of the luckiest shots I've ever hit," he said of that lob wedge.

No longer automatic

When he began his streak, Ronald Reagan was president and Seve Ballesteros was in full possession of his magical talents. It was 1983, a Ballesteros green jacket April, when Fred Couples made his Masters debut by shooting 73-68 to make the cut. He hasn't missed a weekend of Masters competition in 22 starts since - until now, that is. The hugely popular 48-year-old missed a 12-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole that would have allowed him to make the cut for a record 24th straight time, but it was not to be for the 1992 Masters winner. "To make cuts, to be quite honest with you, I don't consider that a big deal," he said. "Playing well in this tournament I think is my goal. I think I set my sights a little high [Thursday, when he shot 76] and I went out and struggled." He brought it back with a 72 -148, but it was one stroke too high . . . When the cut fell at 3-over 147, some prominent names joined Couples with an early exit. Most notable were those at 148 - Sergio Garcia (72), Ernie Els (74), Charles Howell (70), Luke Donald (75), and Aaron Baddeley (73). Former champs Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Mark O'Meara, Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal, Ben Crenshaw, and Raymond Floyd all missed the cut, as did all three amateurs - Trip Kuehne (72 -150), Michael Thompson (78 -151), and Drew Weaver (80 -156).

Choice words?

Somewhere, Colin Montgomerie is smirking. Then again, maybe he's seething. One never knows with the Scot, but he'll have fuel for whatever emotion he chooses, because Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng withdrew after playing nine holes in Round 2. Ranked 93d in the world when he received a special exemption from Masters officials, Marksaeng found himself in the middle of controversy without doing a thing. That's because Montgomerie, who was ranked 75th, expressed displeasure that he was passed over for an exemption in favor of three players sitting lower in the rankings. Marksaeng opened with an 82 and shot 42 on his outward nine to sit at 16 over before he said his back was too sore to continue. Of the other two special exemptions, Jeev Milkha Singh (74 -145) easily made the cut, while Liang Wen-Chong of China (78 -154) missed . . . Ben Curtis went 30 holes without a birdie before he made his only one of the tournament at the par-5 13th. He missed the cut at 75 -150 . . . The jinx continues, because Rory Sabbatini (74 -149) missed the cut, two days after winning the par-3 contest. Since the par-3 contest made its debut in 1960, no one has won that and the Masters in the same year.

Faces in the crowd

Former Orioles standout Cal Ripken was on hand for Thursday's opening round, coming as the guest of Augusta mayor Deke Copenhaver. Ripken is the owner of the Augusta Greenjackets, a Single A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Also in attendance was tennis star Venus Williams, though she was not there to watch Poulter, as some media folks suggested. Instead, Williams is dating former PGA Tour player Hank Kuehne, whose brother, Trip, was in the group that featured Poulter . . . Dale Gordineer, a local doctor, attended the final day of practice rounds Wednesday, carrying a golf ball he had hoped to have signed by Garcia. Gordineer caught the ball at last summer's British Open at Carnoustie, when Garcia heaved it into the crowd after missing a putt at the 72d that would have won him the Claret Jug in regulation. Garcia went on to lose in a playoff and apparently wanted no part of signing the ball when Gordineer told him the story. "Can't say I really blame him," Gordineer told an Augusta Chronicle reporter.