McIlroy on the charge

Rory McIlroy is now just two shots behind the leaders after holing two birdies in his opening five holes in The Masters at Augusta today.

The Irish golfer, who started the tournament with a double bogey, was only two behind when he birdied the short fourth, the fourth birdies in his last six holes.

It increased the mouth-watering possibility of a weekend clash between him and joint leader Lee Westwood - former stablemates and, by common consent, fierce rivals.

After shooting five straight pars, Westwood has been caught at the top by Sweden's Peter Hanson on five-under-par.

The English golfer missed only two fairways in his opening five-under-par 67, but he was off-line on the first and second holes on his return in cooler and windier conditions.

Westwood's opening drive narrowly avoided the fairway bunker on the right and he took advantage by hitting his approach to seven feet, but missed the putt.

On the long second he went left this time - into the trees and not far from a creek which South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen, joint second overnight, had found earlier in the day.

The 2010 Open champion took a double bogey seven, but Westwood ended up having an 18-foot birdie chance.

He failed to hole that, though, and a 15-foot opportunity on the third went begging too.

Hanson had matched Oosthuizen's first-day 68 but he set off again with a double-bogey six and that left Dufner and Ben Crane sharing second place on four under.

Ian Poulter's birdies at the second and fifth lifted him to two under and joint 10th, while Rory McIlroy became part of that group as well when he birdied the 350-yard third.

Poulter lost ground, though, when his approach to the 10th rolled off the front and he missed a nine-foot par putt. He was four back as a result.