Ian Poulter remained upbeat about his Masters Tournament prospects despite a frustrating late double bogey at Augusta National.
The Englishman was right in the hunt at two under par with three to play, but pulled his tee shot to the short 16th and found water.
A second successive 72 left him level par, five behind clubhouse leaders Fred Couples and Jason Dufner.
"I’m a little bit disappointed,” he said. “The front left pin location on 16 is accessible, but the wind changed a little and I pulled it - a poor shot, simple as that.
"It obviously leaves a little sour taste, but level par is ok.
"That was just one example of many shots that can hurt you out there and over the weekend.
"You make a mental error or a bad swing and you are going to get punished on this golf course.
"He much preferred to remember his birdie on the 13th, where his second shot went into the bushes, but he was able to get at it and produced a magnificent chip to four feet.
"I had to take a little bow after that one. It was very cheeky, I must say.
"It just came out so perfectly and ran down like a little helter-skelter."
Another player to suffer the double bogey blues was Sweden’s Peter Hanson.
Poulter’s Ryder Cup teammate doubled the first, but birdied the third, fourth and fifth to claim a share of the lead.
However, a back nine 39 - which featured another double bogey at the difficult 11th - saw Hanson sign for a 74 and two under halfway total, three off the pace.
“It was playing tough,” he said. “I thought I played pretty good but I made a few mistakes and ended up with a couple of double bogeys which were quite costly.
“I just don’t have a lot of experience playing this course in the wind. It’s pretty much the first time.”
