The top of the leader board was ceded by the 50-year-old Fred Couples and the 60-year-old Tom Watson, who yielded to the years and a couple of tough Britons. Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood have been pounding on the major championship door for the last few years, and on Friday they each stuck a foot inside. Poulter shot his second straight 68. Westwood added a 69 to his opening 67, and they are tied at eight-under-par 136.  Tiger Woods leads a group of five players that includes Phil Mickelson tied for third place, two strokes behind the leaders. Woods, who shot 70, is casting a longer shadow than the tallest pine in Amen Corner. In 10 of his 13 previous appearances as a professional in the Masters, Woods has bettered his 36-hole result over the final two rounds, which ought to give Poulter and Westwood a little something to think about.  Not that either of them are likely to be cowed by the prospect. Three years ago, Poulter told the magazine Golf World U.K. that when he finally reached his potential, it would be just him and Tiger dominating the landscape. After winning the W.G.C.-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson earlier this year, his first win in the United States, he has reached his potential, and if he were to win the Masters, he would be right behind you-know-who.  “Sure, if I win this week, I’ll probably go No. 2, which would be lovely,” Poulter said with a smile. “So I guess it’s a work in progress. I’m working towards that. So, we’ll see.”  Westwood, who finished a stroke behind at the United States Open at Torrey Pines in 2008 and a stroke out of the playoff at the 2009 British Open at Turnberry, now has the confident mien of a player who realizes just how good he is.  “I know my game’s up to the level it has to be,” said the 36-year-old Westwood. “My long game’s always been up to it and now I feel my short game is, as well, not that I had to use it too much today.”  It is not bragging when you can do it, and had Westwood not made one of his few bad swings of the day on the tee at the 14th — setting up a double-bogey six — he would have had the lead alone.  There is still a long way to go, and some noise could certainly be made from anyone in that group of five. Mickelson (71), Anthony Kim (70), K. J. Choi (71) and Ricky Barnes (70) are all capable of going low if the conditions are right.  On Friday, the conditions were not conducive to low scoring. Only 17 rounds were completed under par, 14 fewer than Thursday. None among the top 11 players improved on their first-round score. Couples shot 75, owing in equal parts to a balky back and an uncooperative putter. After that bogeyless 67 on Thursday, Watson shot 74 on Friday.  All the warm and fuzzy stories about elderly players having their way with the place had to be tossed aside, along with the other two players in their 50s — the 52-year-old Sandy Lyle, who added an 86 to his opening 69, and Bernhard Langer, also 52, who shot 78 after a 71. Both missed the cut.  Youth, however, was served. The Italian amateur Matteo Manassero, 16, became the youngest player in the history of the tournament to make the cut. Demonstrating his mettle, Manassero made a 4-foot downhill slider at the 18th hole to close out his 76.  “I’m very proud of this,” Manassero said, “because I’ve always been a player that played very straight and regular and miss some important putts.”  For his part, Woods chuckled ominously when he was asked if he likes his position after two rounds.  “Yeah, I do,” he said. “Yes.”  Mickelson said he felt the same way. He said he thought the course was made more difficult by some of the nasty hole positions that greeted the players, along with a cool breeze out of the northeast and a high, bright sky.  “I thought the pin placements were as lot more difficult and I knew it was going to be a lot harder to shoot in the 60s because it was going to be tough to get to them,” Mickelson said, adding that he — like most strong players — likes the conditions hard and fast.  “I’m two back and feel I’m right on the cusp of having a good round,” Mickelson said. “I really feel like I’m putting the ball the way I want to. As soon as some of those 12-15 footers start dropping, I feel like I can have a round in the mid-60s.”  Westwood and Poulter are not likely to back down, so it might take something low to either shake them up or catch them. Saturday is normally moving day in professional golf, but the likelihood is that survival in this tournament will depend on some very selective aggression combined with some very good course management.  Poulter said he believed he was ready to make this the kind of weekend he had been dreaming about since he made his remark two years ago about dominating the tour with Woods. Many players and fans chuckled at his audacity then, but now Poulter gets a chance to live his dream.  “I mean, yeah, to be to be playing Augusta was in my dreams, and to be sitting at the top of the leader boards was in my dreams, as well,” he said. “So, hopefully, we can have a good weekend and be in a similar situation come Sunday night.”  Larry Dorman contributed reporting from Augusta, Ga.
Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter surged up the leader board while Tiger Woods finished the day at 6 under.