Another great day on the roller coaster that is Augusta National.

Rory McIlroy continues to head the contenders at the US Masters as we head into the most eagerly anticipated weekend of golf so far this season.

There was to be no repeat of Rory’s St.Andrews anguish when he led after round one and then didn’t break 80 the following day before eventually finishing third.

This time Rory shot a solid 69 to finish the first half of the competition on 10 under par – two clear of the field.

Rory’s not the sort to look over his shoulder, but if he did he would see some fairly impressive names waiting to snatch the green jacket from his shoulders.

ISM stablemate Lee Westwood shot an outstanding 67 which included two of the best saves he has made all year to record pars on the last two holes to jump into the top 10.

And the third of our four weekend qualifiers, early starter Charl Schwartzel, signalled his intention to follow Louis Oosthuizen into major championship form by just finishing off the first page of the leaderboard in a tie for 12th place.

Although Louis will not be around this weekend, his mentor Ernie Els definitely will after a very encouraging second round.  Ernie has been struggling on the greens, but yesterday he was much more like the same guy who won three majors and contended in many others.

Ernie made it through on the mark and a good weekend will do him the world of good.

I’ll keep you up to date with how our boys go over the next two days, but I have a very good vibe about our chances.