Friday at The Masters

A threat of rain did not materialize and warm but windy conditions persisted all day, with a bit of cloud cover. Chad Campbell finished at 2 under par for the day, giving him a two-day total of 9 under par and a share of the lead going into the weekend. Kenny Perry, who discusses his shots a great deal with his caddy, also finished at 9 under par, and will join Campbell in the last pairing to tee off on Saturday (moving day) at 2:45 p.m. The field of competitors was halved at the end of the day with the "cut line" being one over par (or plus one), and many of the older golfers that played so well on Thursday found their 2009 Masters experience coming to a close. Two golfing greats announced that this would be their final competitive rounds at Augusta National, as Gary Player and Fuzzy Zoeller were remembered as past Masters Champions. Since Tiger Woods is running in the middle of the pack at this point, somehow it seems like it is still his tournament to lose - and he certainly is the fan and media favorite. Saturday's round will sort out some of the competition, before the tournament really begins - which at Augusta National is traditionally "the back nine holes on Sunday."

To view a blog entry about Thursday at the 2009 Masters click here.

Photo by Jeff Dennis: Red berries of the Maganolia tree. Hole number 5 at Augusta National is known as Magnolia, and the members of the club get to enter the course down famed Magnolia Lane.