Late on Thursday evening, as the sun set and the mosquitoes wondered who was ripe for biting, three players stood in the middle of the 13th fairway, part of Amen Corner, that most famous stretch of golfing terrain, writes Philip Reid at Augusta National

As an almost spiritual mist descended, two of them - Retief Goosen and Davis Love III - proceeded to put their approach shots into Rae's Creek, in front of the green; the other player, Jose Maria Olazabal, did what he does best. He pitched to 10 feet, and sank the birdie putt.

To anyone watching, it was the old Ollie, and it hinted of times past.

Simple, effective and brilliant, a short-game maestro. But that act didn't suggest any real charge from the Spaniard. All it did was put him back to level-par and, when eventually the light faded and the siren sounded, he still had two holes of his first round to complete.

Yesterday morning he did so, finishing with a birdie on the 18th to sign for a 71. Ah, shades of the past again.

Later, he relived that past. In shooting a second round 68 for four-under-par 140, Olazabal - winner of the Masters in 1994 and again in 1999 - moved from being a player on the fringes to put himself into contention for another green jacket.

There is something about Augusta that inspires the best in Olazabal, and he has finished 15th or better in no less than 12 of his last 14 appearances here.

Yet, this act of defiance, one reserved for this magical place, has materialised from nowhere.

A simple look at his performances on the US Tour so far this year would leave the most hardened pundit wondering how on earth he finds such inspiration when required to manoeuvre his way through the cathedral pines, the magnolias and the azaleas. In eight previous appearances on tour this season, he either missed the cut or withdrew in four of them and, of those where he did get to play over the weekend, Olazabal's best finish was tied-32nd in the Nissan Open.

"It must be something about this place, I just don't know," remarked Olazabal, after playing his way into contention with a round highlighted by an eagle on the 13th, where he holed from 40 feet.

To listen to him, you'd wonder how on earth he could have compiled such a score. "My putting has not been all that great . . . my driving, you know, has been average . . . but, you know, every time I come here I try to do my best. I feel in a way a little bit at peace with myself."

Apart from a spiritual sense of belonging, Olazabal's knowledge of Augusta National is something that reaps dividends time after time. "It's a help to know the course well but, at the same time, this course also allows you to chip around the greens or putt around the greens and that is something that suits me," he conceded.

When Olazabal played the 13th on Thursday evening in the fading light, it was with a caution that garnered a birdie. Yesterday, with the heat hitting 80 degrees, he returned with a bolder play that featured a driver off the tee and a fairway wood to 40 feet and, miracles of miracles, an eagle putt on a green that had been redesigned to slope more fiercely towards the infamous Rae's Creek.

That eagle was the catalyst for a storming charge that brought a birdie on the 14th and another on the 15th, to move to five-under. The only drawback on the homeward run was a bogey on the 18th. Yet, the two-time Masters champion was reluctant to read too much into his move to a challenging position.

"It's always nice to have two solid rounds, to have a solid tournament, but it is going to take a longer spell than two rounds to get all my confidence back," he insisted.

Yet, Olazabal rekindled memories of the old days, albeit the not-too-distant past, when European players dominated the Masters in the late 1980s and early 1990s (winning seven of nine tournaments from 1988 to 1996). "It'd be nice to have another European win, that's for sure," he said. "I think that the level of our game has been raised so much that all of the players can play . . . it is just a matter of having the right week.

"When European players were dominating the Masters, I think we were really good around the greens, but the US players have caught up on us in that department. You'll see more Americans using the chip and run around the greens, or using the putter around the greens. I think that has levelled the equation.

"But, yes, it would be good if a European player could win again."