Snedeker, the PGA Tour rookie of the year in 2007, turned in the craziest birdie of the round when he used his wedge to chip from the upper tier of the par-3 sixth green, a perfect play that rattled into the cup.

“I was more nervous over that shot than I was all day,” Snedeker said. “Because I knew if I messed it up, people were going to have a field day with me on that one. I had to pull it off.”

He wound up with a 68, and will play in the final group Saturday in his first Masters as a pro.

“If I had told you at the beginning of the week that I thought I was going to be in second place, you probably would have thought I was crazy,” Snedeker said. “And I probably would have thought you were right.”

And the odds that Woods would be seven shots behind?

They were even-money he would win the Masters, outrageous odds for golf, and one Las Vegas bookie had 9-to-2 odds against him winning the Grand Slam — all four majors in the same year.

Woods might have disguised his nerves, but not his frustration.

After a birdie from the trees, he again played the par-5 second hole conservatively by laying up, then dumped a wedge into the bunker and wound up with bogey. He was nine shots behind when he made the turn, then promptly three-putted for bogey from 55 feet on the 10th hole, misreading the break on his first putt by 6 feet.

He stood over a slippery 10-footer for par on the 11th, but knocked that in to keep from falling farther behind. He saved his day over the final two holes, particularly the 18th.

Still, he needs some help.

The forecast calls for thunderstorms on Saturday, with a cold front behind it.

“You have to play well. I don’t care who you are in this tournament,” Woods said. “You have to play well under tough conditions here, and that’s kind of how it’s going to end up being. You’ve just got to stay so patient around this golf course.”

The cut was at 3-over 147, leaving a short field of 45 players for the weekend.

Fred Couples won’t be among them for the first time in his career. The ’92 Masters champion missed a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole and shot 72 to miss the cut by one shot, leaving him tied with Player at a record 23 consecutive cuts at Augusta.

Special feature Family time Tiger Woods is blessed both on and off the golf course. NBCSports.com

Even so, Saturday was loaded with possibilities.

Woods has never won any of his 13 majors when trailing after 54 holes, and knew he had to make up ground on the 12 players ahead of him, not to mention major champions Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh who joined him at 1 under.

The group at 4-under 140 included Stephen Ames (70) and Paul Casey (69), with former Masters champion Mike Weir (68) among those another shot back.

“It’s too difficult a golf course to chase anybody,” Casey said, worried more about who was ahead of him than behind him.

Poulter, however, wasn’t ruling out the world’s No. 1 player.

“Who knows with Tiger?” Poulter said. “He can go out there and put two 65s on the board, I know that. We’ve all seen it before. But Augusta National is a difficult golf course.”

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