Rory shows no sign of slowing down. On a day when lots of players were going low, McIlroy increased his lead. He’s playing like a seasoned pro. I predict he’ll have the Green Jacket in the end.

Where did Angel Cabrera come from? He was totally off the radar screen. The guy walks like a duck, but flies like an eagle.

Adam Scott’s 67 was very impressive. Too bad most of the round wasn’t on television. But what’s with that old man’s putter he’s playing with?

Barring bouts of food poisoning with all the leaders, Tiger isn’t going to win this Masters. I know for sure that he’s not come from behind after 54 at the Masters, and I’m fairly sure he hasn’t done so in any major. The analyst consensus has been that Tiger’s putting has let him down. But what I see are a lot of approach shots that aren’t in a position to let him get that one putt.

Another thought on Tiger. What’s with all the slipping on his swings? He’s off balance, and out of rhythm, and that’s another thing that tells me that his swing is not working.

More: Is Stevie looking a little rough these days? I thought he seemed worn out.

Charl Schwartzel was one of my league picks. I feel good about that one. I don’t think many envisioned him in a position to win.

I wouldn’t mind seeing KJ Choi win, either.

Sunday should be a terrific day. There are seven players within six shots of the lead. There are 23 within five shots of the current second place. And if McIlroy falters ...

Nine shots is the biggest comeback in the final round, a feat accomplished by Jack Burke in 1956. Gary Player picked up eight shots in 1978. So four is not at all safe for McIlroy.

An interesting factoid—and one that may have result in a chaotic, up and down final round: Nine of the top 13 players on the board, McIlroy included, have never won a major.

Of course, we’ll all be watching the last two groups (Woods, Choi; and McIlroy, Day), but there are some other fun ones. The Mickelson-Woodland should be a fun. So too should the Autumn-Spring group of Fred Couples and Rickie Fowler. That group also will pit one of the most stylish on the tour (Couples) with a guy who looks like he belongs in the hall of the high school where I teach—goofy hair, goofy hat and all. The rest of the groups are below:

McIlroy didn’t implode on the second round, and Tiger made a move. And that’s just the big headlines for what I thought was a fun second round of the 2011 Masters.

I wrote yesterday that Tiger was still in it, but I didn’t think he was going to make a showing. Boy was I wrong. On Friday, he showed flashes of the old Tiger, clawing his way back into contention. I still don’t think his putting is in back in form, but he was sticking it close enough that it didn’t make a difference. I still don’t think he’ll win, though. At several points during the broadcast, the analysts noted that the pins were in relatively accessible positions today.

Nice to see Fred Couples—one of my all time favorites—hanging around the front runners. He’s 51 this year, and well past the age when we expect players to contend. The guy’s on the Champion’s tour, for heaven’s sake. Go Freddie!

But the one old guy aside, I think the real story continues to be the new generation. Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Alvaro Quiros, Ricky Barnes, Ricky Fowler and Charl Schwatzel all look like the winners of the next eight or ten majors.

Martin Kaymer embarrassed himself this week.

My picks are largely intact: Tiger Woods, YE Yang, Fred Couples, Charl Schwartzel, Steve Stricker and Phil Mickelson all have a chance to finish in the top ten, if not win. Bubba Watson is ten out in a T37, but I have hopes that he gets inside 20. As for Hunter Mahan, Tom Watson, Martin Kaymer ... thanks for nothing. I dropped Mahan for Rory McIlroy.

What has happened to Davis Love?

Here’s a dark horse name for you: Geoff Ogilvy.

Can’t wait until tomorrow. It’ll be interesting to see how McIlroy and Day handle the pressure.

ircumstance conspired to prevent an earlier posting on this, and you no doubt have read too many summaries on other sites. Still, I wanted to add my own noise to the cacophony:

Congratulations to Rory McIlroy for his Masterful round, shooting a 7 under 65 for a share of the lead. He shot in the first round of the Open Championship last year at St. Andrews. He shot 80 the next day, then recovered to shoot 69 and 68. Maybe he’ll be over the second round jitters.

Alvaro Quiros? He supposed to be one of the longest hitters in the game, but he’s never threatened to win a Major, and has never shot better than 75 at Augusta. Still, there has to be a first time for every one.

Tiger: “I’m right there in the ball game. I’m only six back, and as I’ve said, we’ve got a lot of golf ahead of us.” ... It’s said that you never win a Major on a Thursday, but you can lose one. Tiger didn’t lose Thursday, so he’s still in it. But I think he’s delusional about his game. I caught this quote on television: “I hit a lot of beautiful putts.” Really? I caught more a couple that, five years ago, would have fallen in. When the mojo abandons you ...

Speaking of losing it on Thursday, that’s exactly what World Number 1 Martin Kaymer did. His six-over 78 places him ahead of only Tom Watson, Arjun Atwal, Craig Stadler and Henrik Stenson. Kaymer needed to do a lot better, because any of the top six players could come out of this weekend in the number one spot: Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson, Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell and Woods.  Interestingly, Paul Casey is in the top 7, but the math works against him based on the number of tournaments played. In Casey’s case, less would have been more.

YE Yang was a wild card for me in my picks, and I’m glad I got him. Now, if he can just show that cool he displayed in going head to head with Tiger at the PGA. I like his chances.

The University of Michigan’s Lion Kim shot a 76 in the first round. That was two shots better than soon-to-be-former World Number 1 Martin Kaymer.

I like Matt Kuchar’s chances to win. He’s posted 17 top ten finishes in the last 34 starts. That kind of consistency, round to round, can get you a Major victory.

The “new wave” of golfers are showing their chops. Going through all the ties for 14, you have Rory McIlroy, Alvaro Quiros, Ricky Barnes, Matt Kuchar (older, but not part of the previous wave), Gary Woodland, Brandt Snedeker, Charl Schwartzel, Ryan Moore, Sean O’Hair, Camilo Villegas and Rickie Fowler. So too for the internationals: nine of the top 13 (through ties for 7) are non-US players.

He only finished at -2 (only!?), but Phil showed a lot of shotmaking brilliance. Time and again, he chipped, pitched and flopped his way to a par after putting himself in awkward positions after his tee shots. If he can get his driver under control while maintaining his short game, there’s another green jacket for his closet.

If you want to follow the Masters, but don’t have an iPhone for the live app, Augusta.Com has a text alert service. In addition to signing up for updates, you can text them for info:

Text these keywords to 96362 for up-to-the-minute tournament data:

MASTERS for top-10 leaderboard
CARD golfer’s name for that golfer’s latest results. For example: CARD WOODS
WEATHER for conditions and forecast
NEWS for latest tournament news
MENU for all options

There’s also a Masters’ Mobile site for those with internet enabled smartphones: m.masters.org

Here are the pairings and tee times for this year’s Masters:

A Masters’ tradition is for the reigning champion to pick the menu for the annual Champions Dinner. This year, Phil Mickelson chose to honor Seve Ballesteros with a spanish themed menu: gazpacho starter, paella, beef tenderloin with manchego cheese and tortilla, and Spanish apple pie with ice cream.

Seve, who has had a recent bout with a brain tumor can’t make the dinner, but Phil noted that “All of the past champions are really thinking about Seve. Honoring Seve is easy and no big deal, but I just want him to know that we all wish he was here and we are thinking about him so we are just having a little Spanish cuisine tonight.”

Nice touch, Phil.