In search of his fifth green jacket and third straight major, Woods opened his second round with a bogey and added three more on the front nine. He made the turn at 4 over par and fell seven strokes behind leader Brett Wetterich.

Nothing ever seems impossible when the world's best player is involved, but he was testing the limits of Augusta. Nobody has come from behind from more than eight strokes down heading into the weekend, and that margin was made up more than 50 years ago, by Jackie Burke in 1956.

Midway through the second round, Augusta was not shaping up as comeback territory. Cool temperatures, sunshine and light breezes were make the course even firmer and faster than in the opening round, when there were more than twice as many bogeys as birdies.

Wetterich was even for the day, 3 under for the tournament through 15 holes, yet nobody else was making a serious run at him. His first-round co-leader, Justin Rose, had a 2:14 p.m. tee time. After his 69, Rose said he expected to be knocked from the top of the leaderboard by the time he started, but that was hardly a sure thing.

''You're not going to go low,'' Woods said Thursday, commenting on the conditions after finishing with two bogeys to post a disappointing 73. ''Low is only 69 today. That's some pretty good playing.''

Zach Johnson, one of only nine players to finish the first round below par, had a birdie on No. 2 to move to 2 under. Vijay Singh and David Toms were among a group on the course at 1 under.

Scores were so unimpressive that the projected cut looked like it would include everyone within 10 strokes of the lead _ a whopping 63 of the 96-player field as of midday. Without the 10-stroke rule, the cut would have included only the top 44 players and ties.

Still waiting to tee off was defending champion Phil Mickelson, who shot 76 but didn't seem too discouraged about his chances even though nobody who has shot over 75 in the first round has ever won the Masters.

''If I can shoot a 68 or better, I could get myself back to par and get back in it,'' Mickelson said.

He may not even need to do that.

Quite simply, nobody was taking control of this tournament, or even making a nice run.

The closest thing to that came from Padraig Harrington, who opened with three straight birdies but gave a bunch of that momentum back with a double bogey on the par-4 seventh and another bogey on 10. He was 4 over, counting an opening-round 77 in which he struggled with his short game and made an 8 on No. 15.

''I left a number of shots out there,'' Harrington said. ''It's my short game, really.''

Wetterich made a testy 8-footer to save par on No. 1. On No. 2, he tried to finesse his short third shot onto the top of the green, but it bumped into the hill and rolled down, forcing him to make a tough two-putt to save par. On No. 3, he hit iron off the tee into sand on the left, but scrambled for par from there.

He made birdie on No. 9 to get to 4 under, but found the water on the par-5 15th, one of the best birdie opportunities on the course, and wound up with bogey there.

Others with afternoon tee times included Ernie Els, who shot an opening-round 78 but still thought he had a chance.

Jim Furyk finished his second round 1 under for the day, 2 over for the tournament.

''Plus-3 isn't out of it,'' Furyk said after his opening round. ''I didn't do anything well today.''

Dean Wilson shot a 75 Thursday that didn't include a birdie.

''But when you look up and no one else is doing it, it gives me a boost,'' he said. ''I didn't hear the roars Augusta National is famous for.''