Defending Masters Tournament champion Trevor Immelman will stick around for the weekend. Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion won't.

Justin Rose is in. Ernie Els is out.

The number of players on the bubble fluctuated as the projected cut went as low as 1-under par when Chad Campbell birdied No. 10 to move to 11-under. But he bogeyed three holes coming in before making birdie at No. 18 to finish at 9-under par. He's tied for the lead with Kenny Perry.

The cut is the top 44 golfers and ties, plus anyone within 10 shots of the lead. This year's cut came at 1-over.

Fifty players will play; 46 will not, including two-time winners Jose Maria Olazabal and Bernhard Langer, 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples, two-time British Open champion Greg Norman, two-time Masters runner-up Retief Goosen and Stewart Cink.

Els, who missed the cut for a third consecutive year, had a birdie chance on No. 18 and had help from Vijay Singh and Geoff Ogilvy, who both putted near Els' line and gave him a good read. But Els' putt lipped out and he finished at 2-over 146.

Couples made a late run with birdies at 15, 17 and 18, but those only erased an earlier double bogey on 11 and bogey on 12.

Johnson started at 2-under par, but seven bogeys through the first 14 holes and a double bogey on 17 left him 6-over par.

Immelman, teenager Rory McIlroy and Masters first-timer Ryuki Imada were among the nine players who made the cut at 1-over.

"Everyone was saying how easy it was yesterday. Today, it was difficult," Immelman said just before hitting the putting green after a 2-over par 74.

D.J. Trahan also posted a 1-over 145. He double-bogeyed the seventh Friday, but rebounded with back-to-back birdies. He made bogey at 11 and 15 but parred the final three holes.

The 28-year-old from Charleston, S.C., made the cut for the first time at the Masters but said it wasn't his ultimate goal.

"I don't think you can come to a golf tournament and think man, I hope I make the cut," he said. "If you settle for making the cut, you're not going to do well."

Reach Billy Byler at (706) 823-3216 or billy.byler@augustachronicle.com.