Brilliant Bubba looks in the mood in Georgia

Bubba Golf returned to Augusta National last night as 2012 Masters winner Watson, unburdened by the pressures of being defending champion, jumped out into a clear lead at the halfway stage as Rory McIlroy struggled to stay in touch.

It was left-hander Watson who two years ago gave golf a jolt in the arm with his spirited and creative approach to this most traditional of places, winning his first major courtesy of a miraculous, right-angled hook out of the pine straw at the 11th hole to land a green jacket and win a play-off at the second hole from Louis Oosthuizen.

A year on, the responsibilities that fall on a Masters champion took their toll with three over-par rounds including a closing 77 in a title defence that finish in a tie for 50th place.

It would not be until this February that Watson experienced victory again, at the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles and with two top-10s having followed since, another victory is in the American’s sights back at the Masters.

“The emotions are different because I’m trying to get the green jacket again,” Watson had said late on Thursday night following an opening 69. “I had it, there’s so much you’re doing when you’re defending champ, and my mind can’t handle it.

“Adam (Scott) seems to be doing pretty well with it but for me it was just overwhelming, the Champions Dinner, everybody still congratulating you, so I just never got the focus. I played really bad on Sunday last year.

“I’m coming back with the take that I want the jacket again. I’m coming back with a different mindset, full of energy.”

Yesterday, Watson played the type of golf to back those words up, carding a second-round 68 that featured a run of five consecutive birdies on the back nine, only a bogey on 18 pegging him back to seven under par at the midway point and with a three-shot clubhouse lead with more than half the field done for the day with him.

After benign weather during the first round, there were more difficult conditions on day two, with the breeze picking up, making the Amen Corner complex of holes at 11, 12, 13 particularly difficult to negotiate as the wind swirled above the azaleas.

It was precisely there, however, that Watson’s round came to life. He had started the day in a tie for second at three under with defending champion Scott and Oosthuizen, a shot behind overnight leader Bill Haas, and had turned for home even for the day, despite dropping his first shot of the week at the par-four ninth.

It was at the par-three 12th that the Watson fireworks began, a great iron shot off the tee to within two feet of the pin setting up a birdie that put him into a share of the lead with Haas and a fast-starting Kevin Stadler, who had started the day at two under.

Pumped up by the birdie, Watson will have approached the dogleg left par-five 13th with a glint in his eye and he launched a massive drive over the trees on the corner and across the fairway en route to a birdie four.

They kept coming, Watson completing his run at the 16th with a wonderful nine-iron tee shot over the water for the one-putt birdie that took him to eight under.

Watson had put some daylight between himself and the field as the Masters got its first clear leader but trouble struck at the 18th when he sliced his second shot into the left gallery. He pitched up nicely but then had to watch his par-save putt dribble past the cup, to fall back to seven under, three clear of Australian John Senden, with Scandinavian duo Thomas Bjorn of Denmark (68) and Sweden’s Jonas Blixt (71) in the clubhouse on three under alongside 1992 champion Fred Couples and Masters debutant Jimmy Walker, still out on the back nine.

Oosthuizen should have been in the mix and the South African got to four under with an eagle three at the 13th, only to hand it back with interest and a rueful smile at the next par-five, the 15th where he took an eight on the way to a three-over 75 that left him on level par.

Ireland’s leading light McIlroy was having difficulties of his own, starting his second round at one under in the final group of the day and with the breeze continuing to pick up. He bogeyed the par-five second, birdied the par-four third and had an eventful negotiation of the par-three fourth hole.

His tee-shot wood carried on the wind, overshooting the 240-yard hole as well as the fifth tee box behind it, McIlroy’s ball just missing Adam Scott as he eyed up his tee shot in the group ahead, before hitting the perimeter fence, going out of bounds.

A referee by his side, the Down man considered taking an unplayable lie but rather than playing out of the bushes, went back to the fourth tee for his third shot, deploying a four iron. Too late to repair the damage, he took double bogey.

The topsy-turvy nature of McIlroy’s round continued, though, with a birdie at the fifth before consistency returned for the two-time major winner to par his way to the turn, albeit with a birdie chance going begging with a missed putt at the eighth. McIlroy went out in 37, one over for the day, level for the tournament and trailing Watson by seven.

There were mixed fortunes for the other Irish major winners in the field with Darren Clarke posting his second two-over 74 yesterday and at four over looking like sneaking into the weekend with the course and conditions toughening later in the day, outside the 10-shot rule but hanging on to a top-50 position.

The downside of that was that Graeme McDowell was falling out of the tournament, his solid opening-round of level par unravelling last night as early as the opening hole, which he double-bogeyed. With 15 holes played, McDowell was six over and facing his second consecutive missed cut at Augusta National.