Yang, Barnes and Couples clubhouse leaders

Apr 8, 2011, 19:19 GMT

Augusta, Georgia - YE Yang, Ricky Barnes and Fred Couples were the clubhouse leaders in the second round of the Masters being played at the Augusta National Golf Club on Friday.

The trio had finished their second rounds and were on five under for the tournament, but with overnight leaders Rory McIlroy and Alvaro Quiros still out on the course it seems unlikely that they will top the leaderboard at the end of the day.

Yang carded a 72 on the day and said that he was slightly disappointed.

'After scoring a birdie on the eighth, I was eight- under and was flying, but then my putter started failing me,' the South Korean said. 'So I am still a bit disappointed, but there is still a lot of golf left for the weekend.'

51-year-old Couples, who won the Masters in 1992 - when overnight leader McIlroy was just two years old, played fantastic golf, managing five birdies and giving away just one bogey in his round of 68.

Barnes, meanwhile, carded a one-under par 71 for his 139 total. He said that he enjoyed playing at the Masters.

'I feel very comfortable playing here and I am glad that I managed to do well enough to get an invitation. I would like to have qualified though by winning a tournament.

'It was a bit of a bitter-sweet round for me, I was not happy with the par-fives,' he said.

On the course McIlroy managed to birdie the second and fifth hole to go nine-under after six holes - one shot ahead of KJ Choi, who was lying three-under for the day.

Pre-tournament favourite Phil Mickelson was on two-under for the tournament after 14 holes and seems likely to have his work cut out to catch the leaders, while four-time champion Tiger Woods was a shot behind.

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