AUGUSTA, Ga. (CP) _ With roars reverberating all over the grounds of Augusta National on another beautiful day, Stephen Ames gave the patrons in his Masters gallery plenty to cheer about.
And almost as much to groan about.
But after dropping shots early in his round, Ames blew through breezy Amen Corner and emerged as a contender at the midway point of the year's first major.
His scorecard told the story of an up and down round Friday _ nine pars, six birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey.
It added up to a 2-under 70 and kept him within view of the leaders heading to the weekend.
``I felt comfortable with (my swing) today,'' the Calgary resident said. ``As the round wore on, I was better and better.''
Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, Ont., who shot a 1-under 71 on Thursday, teed off in the afternoon.
Ames started in the early morning and struggled. He made a great birdie on the first hole, before bogeying the easy par-5 second and making a double bogey on the short par-4 third.
It looked like he was going to completely unravel.
But he turned things around with a nice approach to the par-3 sixth hole, where he made the first of two straight birdies.
``It's just nice to come back after the third hole _ after I started birdie, bogey, double,'' Ames said with a laugh. ``I think I did well to do what I did today.''
He made his real move at Augusta National's signature holes.
Ames managed a par at the long par-4 11th before making birdies at Nos. 12 and 13. It helped him to a 2-under 34 on the back nine.
``The back nine is the scoring nine on this golf course,'' he said. ``You just have to hit the ball in the right spots, which I did and capitalized on some of them.''
Perhaps the best news of all was the gusting wind as Ames tapped in his final putt of the day. The late starters were going to face a more difficult test.
Ames left the course feeling like he was in the mix.
``It's there for scoring, but then again the wind's coming up so it's going to be tougher,'' he said.
Ames, who won The Players Championship two weeks ago, looks like a player who could make some noise over the weekend.
Six birdies in any round at Augusta National is no small feat.
The first step for Ames was rescuing his second round when it looked like he might be on the way to a missed cut.
``I was just trying to get my head out of my you know where, basically,'' Ames said. ``I was just moaning and groaning like I normally do.
``I just put it beside me and just started focusing ... and got back into it.''
