Franklin Langham, a Masters rookie from Augusta, is compiling a daily diary this week.

I shot a 1-over-par 73 Friday, but made the cut. I'm at 1-over-par 145, which is where the cut fell.

It means a lot to me to make the cut. Even if I don't finish in the top 10, it may mean something to me five years from now when I'm playing on the weekend and coming down the stretch. I think you learn something every time you play this course. I'm looking forward to the experience of playing on the weekend.

The highlight of my round Friday came on the par-3 16th hole, where I almost made a hole-in-one. I hit a great shot in there. It's as close a shot as I've ever seen there since I worked the scoreboard there from 1984-86. I've never seen a hole-in-one there. It sure would have been nice to see it go in. We had 163 yards to the hole and I hit a smooth 8-iron.

It turned out to be the birdie that helped me get to the weekend.

I got off to a bad start Friday. I three-putted the first hole for a bogey and then caught one on the chin on the second hole. I tried to hit a big drive and I turned it over and it went down in the hazard to the left. I had to take a drop and a penalty shot. I realized, `That's what Augusta does to you.' You make a bogey and then you stand on No. 2, a par-5 that you can get to in two shots and you get too overzealous and it just bites you.

Maybe it's good it happened early because I was real patient the rest of the round. After No. 2, I parred the next eight holes, then bogeyed No. 11. I birdied Nos. 13 and 16 to finish one over for the day.

This golf course is one of those where if you get started well and ahead of the game, you can afford to take some chances. When you're behind the 8-ball, so to speak, you really have to be careful because you can shoot yourself in the foot real easy. This course is so tempting to pull off golf shots, but it's so penalizing if you don't pull them off.

I've been behind the 8-ball the last two days and had to muddle through it.

I came here to have a great tournament and I'm not saying I still can't. It's just a hard course to catch up on.

I had a 20-foot putt for birdie on the 18th hole that I missed. I wasn't thinking about the cut, I just wanted to make it. A birdie is still a birdie. I'll sleep fine; I hit a good putt, it just didn't get there.

I haven't made the putts I needed to make to play well this week. I had 31 putts on Friday and 28 on Thursday.

Considering the way I started, I played really well Friday. I didn't hit the ball well, but I was very patient. I took my opportunities when they came and just hung in there. Some days are easier than others and this was a hard day.

It really fooled me because I warmed up a lot better than I did Thursday. I hit some really great golf shots and some really yucky ones.

Today, I just want to go out and play some good golf. I want to make some putts early and get some momentum. My goal today is to par or birdie the first hole. I've bogeyed it the first two rounds.