The Masters turned from the upstarts to the old folks on Friday.
Ray Floyd had the lead after two rounds and a pleased Jack Nicklaus, only four back, said, "I'm right there."The 47-year-old Floyd supplanted the first-timers with a 4-under-par 68, using a mastery of the par-5 holes as the centerpiece - just as he did when he set a Masters scoring record in 1976.
Fourteen years ago, Floyd set the 72-hole Masters record at 271, 17 under par, that still stands; he was 15 under on the par-5 holes.
Floyd birdied them all on this cloudy, sometimes rainy day as golf's golden oldies made their moves on the hills of the Augusta National Golf Club.
And as they did, first-timers like Mike Donald and John Huston, who set the first-round pace, drifted back into the pack.
Nicklaus, seeking his seventh Masters title, extracted a 2-under-par 70 from gusty, swirling winds.
"Four back with 36 holes to go," he mused after a look at the leaderboard.
"I think I have a very good chance," said the 50-year-old Nicklaus, who found a revival of confidence and enthusiasm last week in a victory in his first start on the Senior's Tour.
"It's amazing what playing well for one week does to you," he said, after rallying from a back-nine double bogey.
"A couple of good rounds . . ." he said, letting his sentence trail off.
Floyd, four strokes back at the start of play, made his big move with a string of three birdies, two on par-5 holes, beginning on the 13th. He finished with a 138 total, a 1-shot lead and the attention of his juniors.
"He's like Nicklaus. When they get in it, they get bug-eyed," said Scott Hoch, who put himself in position to grab the title he left on the 10th green in a sudden-death playoff a year ago.
Hoch, who missed a 2-foot putt that would have won the 1989 Masters, moved within a stroke of the second-round lead with a 68 that put him at 139.
Hoch, who called a press conference Tuesday to answer all the questions about his year-old failure, said his high standing came as something of a surprise.
"Tuesday, I thought it would be the last time I would see you guys and gals," he said to the again-assembled media.
Huston was next at 140 after a 74.
Jumbo Ozaki, Japan's leading player for the past two seasons, followed at 141. He shot a 71.
Then came the group at 142: Nicklaus, Peter Jacobsen, former Masters winner Craig Stadler, Bill Britton and Mike Hulbert.
Britton shot 74, some of it in a late-afternoon shower. Stadler had a 70 and Hulbert a 71.
Jacobsen, once tied for the lead, was sandbagged by a pair of back-nine double bogeys and finished with a 75.
But his problems were as nothing compared with those of Donald, that 34-year-old journeyman who set the pace with a 64 Thursday in his first competitive round at Augusta National.
He went a stroke-a-hole higher on this trip over the old course Bobby Jones built, found all the trouble he avoided Thursday and finished with an embarassing 82.
"I'm not ashamed," Donald said. "There's 30 million people who wish they could play in the Masters."
And, Floyd said, there's nothing to be ashamed of.
"I can empathize with Mike," Floyd said. "There's something about the Masters mystique that does it to you. It happens to all of us. It happened to me.
"In 1965, in my first Masters, I shot 68. The next day I was paired with Arnold (Palmer) and I shot 82 or 83 - I don't remember - and missed the cut."
Donald didn't. But Palmer, now 60, did.
The four-time Masters winner struggled to an 80 and missed the cut for the seventh consecutive year, this time with a 156 total.
Greg Norman, the muscular Australian who has come so close so often, also failed to make the field that will play this weekend. He matched par 72 and was down the road at 151.
His tee shot on the ninth hole told it all.
It was an ugly, duck-hook that sent spectators diving behind trees for cover among Augusta National Golf Club's stately pines.
"I almost killed a couple of people," said Norman, shaking his head. "It was a screaming hook."
Fortunately, the ball hit a tree, not a person.
He missed the cut for the first time in the Masters.
Rookie Robert Gamez, a two-time winner this season, also missed at 76-149.
Floyd was still well back of the leaders when he made the turn in 35, but but went in front, principally on his pet par-5s, on the back.
The husky Floyd, twice a winner of the PGA and a former U.S. Open champ as well, got down in two from the left fringe for a birdie on the 13th.
He got a bonus with a curling 18-foot putt that found the cup on the 14th and drew a pumping-fist salute from Floyd.
On the 15th, another par-5, he reached with a 2-iron second shot and just missed on an eagle putt, then tapped in for the lead alone.
Nicklaus made his move on the same holes. Like Floyd, he birdied the 13th through the 15th.
After chopping up the 12th with a double bogey, he was 1 over for the round and the tournament.
But the 13th was birdied with two putts, and a 15-footer found the cup on the next hole.
On the 15th, Nicklaus hit a 4-iron through the green, and pitched back short. But he secured a place among the leaders with a sharp-breaking 20-foot putt from the fringe.