The defending Masters Tournament champion lost his magic on Friday.
Mark O'Meara bogeyed the last two holes on the front and back nines en route to a 4-over-par 76 to put him at 2-over for the tournament and 10 strokes off the lead.
``I bogeyed the last two holes, which really hurt,'' O'Meara said. ``I didn't have the speed on the greens today. I could have played better. But the key is that you have to putt well around here. And I didn't do that.''
O'Meara three-putted Nos. 8 and 9 for bogeys, which gave him a front-nine 38 and put him back to even-par for the tournament.
After a birdie on No. 12, O'Meara had an opportunity for birdies on Nos. 15 and 16, but missed a pair of putts within 10 feet.
``I really never put a good stroke on 'em,'' he said. ``You need to do that. You need to feel comfortable over them. And today I didn't feel quite as comfortable.''
O'Meara's troubles continued as he bogeyed the par-4 Nos. 17 and 18. On 18, his approach shot found the left greenside bunker. After blasting out to within 12 feet, O'Meara's par putt slid by left of the hole.
``I'll work on a few things on the putting green and hopefully I'll go out there (Saturday) and play a little better,'' he said.
O'Meara wasn't putting well on Friday, but just getting there was problem enough for him as well.
``(Friday) the winds were blowing a little bit, and the greens are concrete-hard,'' O'Meara said. ``It's hard to stop a ball on that, whether you have a sand wedge in your hand or a 3-iron or a 4-wood. If you hit it on the green it goes long and then you're looking at a pitch back up the hill that's kind of sticky.''
Last year, O'Meara was at even-par and five strokes behind the leaders after two rounds. He fired rounds of 68-67 on the weekend for his dramatic comeback win. And he doesn't want to be counted out just yet.
``I'm the defending champion,'' he said. ``I'm proud of the fact that at least I was there for awhile. You never know what's going to happen. There's still two rounds to go. I'm (10) shots back, and that's a lot. But the weather could change around here, and a good score can move you up the leaderboard quickly.
``(Saturday) I have to go out there and make some birdies and eliminate the bogeys,'' he said. ``Hopefully, I'll turn it around a little bit.''
O'Meara betrayed by putter 