The days of players successfully playing catch-up after two rounds of the Masters Tournament might be just about over.

Don't expect anyone who barely made Friday's 36-hole cut to rally today and Sunday and win the tournament.

It's just too hard to come back since major changes were made to toughen up Augusta National Golf Club starting in 1999.

Among the group well off the pace are Vijay Singh (Stats | Bio) (75-73-148), Retief Goosen (Stats | Bio) (75-73-148), Padraig Harrington (Stats | Bio) (74-74-148) and Brad Faxon (Stats | Bio) (72-76-148).

They trail leader Justin Rose (Stats | Bio) by 10 shots. The last time a player rallied from as many as five shots after 36 holes to win was Mark O'Meara (Stats | Bio) in 1998.

"There's only 40-something guys that make the cut (44 made it Friday), and I don't foresee too many guys getting back in the tournament that are out of it," said Fred Couples (Stats | Bio) , who shot 73-69-142 and extended his active record for consecutive cuts to 20. Couples is tied for sixth place, four behind Rose.

"Meaning, years past, you might get a 65 or 66 ... on a Saturday," Couples said. "Some guys will come out of nowhere and work himself right back in there. I don't see that happening too many times, which is kind of sad because we're used to huge roars on Nos. 13 and 15 and even Nos. 2 and 8, and they have lengthened them."

"You don't hear the roars all over the golf course like you used to," Kenny Perry (Stats | Bio) said. "That would give me goose bumps. I'd always have the hair stand up on my arms. Or if Arnie (Palmer) or Jack (Nicklaus) was going really good, the roars were incredible. It's changing. You hear a few roars, but not like it used to be."

The roars Couples and Perry mentioned were in response to eagles on those back nine, par-5 holes. They are an endangered species now that it's "a different Augusta National," Faxon said.

"Now you hear a roar when a guy birdies a hole," Perry said.

Of the back nine par-5s, the 13th hole is tougher because it was lengthened by 25 yards in 1999.

On No. 15, it wasn't yardage that made it tougher; it was the grove of pine trees that was added to the right side of the fairway in 1999.

"There are maybe a 10th of the eagles that there used to be," Couples said. "I used to love that. You'd be on the 12th hole over there and you would hear a roar on No. 15 that would knock your socks off."

"There's not as much excitement," Davis Love III (Stats | Bio) said. "There's a lot of people putting for pars."

The second shot of choice on the back-nine par-5s is the layup short of the water on the holes. Mike Weir (Stats | Bio) followed that game plan to victory last year. Those used to be classic risk-reward holes.

"I don't know that gone is the right word, but it has certainly changed," Faxon said. "I always thought the back nine there, a guy could 41 or 31. He could make three or seven on a couple holes. I don't know if I layup, layup isn't the best play now on Nos. 13 and 15."

Through 36 holes, there have been 13 eagles in the tournament.

Their number has decreased each year since 2001, when 285 yards were added to the course. There were 21 that year, 14 in 2002 and 13 in 2003. The record for number of eagles in a Masters is 37, in 1991 and 1997. "It's become a long and demanding golf course," Perry said. "Used to you could shoot 75 or 80 there, but you could also shoot 66."

"It's a lot like a U.S. Open; you're playing defense a lot," Love said. "You're trying not to shoot a bad score rather than being aggressive and trying to shoot a bunch of low scores. Because it's long, because it's still the difficult greens, they're making pars a good score. If you get out of the rhythm of making pars and start making bogeys, it's hard to play aggressively and make it up."

Reach David Westin at 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.