MASTERS Campbell leads by three at Augusta National

There are 15 golfers within five shots of the lead, including Tiger Woods.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- There's no mistaking this place for Augusta National.
Azaleas are bursting with pink, white and purple blooms. The wind swirls down at Amen Corner, turning good shots into bogeys or worse, and Rae's Creek is as scary as ever.
Everything else about this Masters, however, is starting to resemble the U.S. Open.
Chad Campbell kept his mistakes to a minimum in Friday's second round, turning three straight birdies into a 5-under 67 and taking a three-shot lead over Vijay Singh, Fred Couples and Rocco Mediate.
"I don't think there's anything to celebrate yet," said Campbell, who was at 6-under 138. "I haven't really accomplished much yet. We're only halfway through."
Everyone else was hanging on
Campbell's birdie run through the back nine was about the only thing resembling a charge that typically defines this major. Everyone else was hanging on, happy with par, trying to survive what is shaping up as the toughest test in golf.
Just like so many U.S. Opens, the goal was to keep the ball in play off the tee and go from there.
"You play away from flags here like you do at U.S. Opens," Ernie Els, who has won the Open twice, said after his second straight 71. "The only difference is the rough is not as high. Give that some time."
And as Els looked ahead to a weekend in which 15 players were within five shots of the lead -- including defending champion Tiger Woods -- he expected something else that reminds him of that other major held in June.
"You don't want to get too aggressive here at the moment, the way the golf course is playing," he said. "I can see a lot of backtracking over the weekend at some stages in this tournament."
For now, much depends on Campbell.
He is a khakis-and-a-white-shirt player in an arena of dogwoods and magnolias, a prototype U.S. Open golfer who digs shots out of the dirt. The firm, crusty conditions over two days has shortened this beefy course and helped medium-length hitters like Campbell, who once described his driving distance in relation to a steak -- medium, left on the grill two extra minutes.
Surge through Amen Corner
Campbell began his surge at Amen Corner, holing a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th. He laid up on the par-5 13th and made a 10-foot birdie, then hit a 9-iron to a back pin on the 14th that stopped 6 feet away. His final birdie, a 15-foot putt that swirled into the hole, gave him a comfortable margin.
But as so many others learned, no lead is safe.
Singh birdied two of his first three holes and appeared to be in command until hitting two shots he thought were perfect. A 6-iron went over the fourth green and into the bushes, and a 7-iron went over the fifth green into a bunker. Singh made double bogey on both holes.
For good measure, Singh found Rae's Creek on the 13th for another double bogey. He wound up with a 74, bruised but not out of it.
"I don't think I've ever had back-to-back doubles for a long, long time," Singh said. "I'm happy that I hung in there. I didn't give up. I cannot win the tournament today. I just made sure I wasn't going to lose too many shots."
Couples challenged for while
Fred Couples, who has never missed a cut at the Masters, was poised to join Campbell in the lead until his second shot in the par-5 15th came up short and rolled back into the water. He managed a 70, while Mediate ground out a 73.
Woods made short work of the par 5s on the back nine, two-putting for birdie on both of them, but was disgusted by missing birdie putts of 8 feet on the 16th and 18th holes that could have brought him closer to the lead.
Instead, he was at 1-under 143 and in a group that included two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen (73) and Ben Crenshaw, the two-time Masters champion who shot 72.