When the pain in his feet made it so that he could no longer walk, Jose Maria Olazabal sat in front of the television to watch the 1996 Masters Tournament and vowed he would one day make it back.

Olazabal is indeed back with a vengeance and, with his best round ever at the Augusta National Golf Club, the 1994 Masters champion enters the weekend with a chance to add a second green jacket to his collection.

``I try not to think too much about what happened in the past,'' said the 33-year-old Spaniard, who fired a 6-under-par 66 on Friday to take a one-shot lead into today's third round of the 63rd Masters. ``We kind of live in the past and, obviously, it makes me appreciate what I've done. But when I go out there, I don't think about that too much.''

In his 12th Masters start, Olazabal was in vintage form Friday. He posted six birdies and no bogeys, moving him to 8-under-par 136 for the tournament, to lead Scott McCarron by one stroke.

``We've always said that experience on this golf course is very important,'' Olazabal said. ``And because I won here in '94, obviously that makes me feel maybe a little better than the players who haven't won. It's a very special place for me.''

In 1995, when he began an 18-month absence from golf due to a painful foot condition that was initially misdiagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis, Olazabal was unsure if he could make it back to Augusta. But once his foot problems were relieved after undergoing therapy from a German doctor, he returned to the European Tour in 1997 and has been fighting to rediscover the magic since.

``As far as whether I could get back to practicing and playing golf again, there was no reason why I couldn't be capable of playing on the level that I played before,'' Olazabal said. ``In '94, I won three or four weeks before coming here, but I never had a great round this season so far. So, it was really nice to have two good rounds in a row here, to somehow, you know, believe in what you can do.''

Despite his valiant, pain-free return, his limited success the past three years on the European and PGA tours made Olazabal wonder.

He won just once in 1997 and once in 1998, both in Europe. In February, he tied for third at the Andersen Consulting Match Play championship, but in his three other PGA Tour starts this year, he missed the cut last week in Atlanta and finished no higher than a tie for 35th, at the Nissan Open.

In two European Tour starts, his best finish was 25th, at the Dubai Desert Classic.

Olazabal admitted he lacked confidence in his game earlier this week following a practice round, but suddenly has a new outlook after blistering a course that caused problems for so many on Friday.

``Somehow, I managed to make it two rounds in a row, and I think that makes it look completely different for me,'' Olazabal said. ``The game is not much different from how it was on Tuesday. When I said I was so-so on Tuesday, I was trying to say it was not great, it was not too bad. I managed to score well, and that makes it look different.''