Augusta demons derail Lyle and Dyson

A very different Augusta National was lying in wait for the Masters field today - and Sandy Lyle and Simon Dyson were instant victims.

Lyle, the 1988 champion and one of the golden oldies to shine on the opening day, resumed in much colder conditions only three behind Fred Couples, but undid much of his good work by starting out again with a double bogey six.

Everybody was expecting much tougher pin placings for the second round and the very first one was just over the guarding bunker on the left of the green.

The 52-year-old Scot, “chuffed” with his 69 yesterday, pulled his approach so badly it finished in front of the ninth tee and from there his chip-and-run up the steep bank ran 30 feet past the hole.

To make matters worse he then three-putted to drop back to one under par.

Lyle was obviously hoping things would improve, but they didn't. He had another six at the long second and then a third in a row.

Two more dropped shots there saw him crash from three under to two over in under an hour.

Dyson, setting off again on five over, also three-putted and, having come up just short of the green, that meant a six as well.

On seven over his debut looked like ending tonight rather than on Sunday as he had hoped.

Dyson, on the other hand, birdied the second, fourth and fifth, but at four over there was still a lot of ground to be made up just to survive the halfway cut.

Couples was out at 9.40am local time and Tiger Woods, joint seventh and only two behind in his first tournament for almost five months, just under an hour later.