To the outside world, Augusta National's topography is like a piece of heaven on earth. Its holes carry angelic names like Flowering Crab Apple, or Camellia or White Dogwood; and it has that famed stretch from the 11th to the 13th, taken from an old jazz song, called Amen Corner, writes Philip Reid at Augusta National

Yet, while Justin Rose continued playing in the 68th US Masters as if simply following his destiny, others - among them Darren Clarke - discovered that it's also a place of false dawns.

On a day taken from the past, with England's Rose adding a second round 71 to his opening 67 for a six-under-par 138 to assume the midway lead and maintain his front-running role, the European challenge grew ever stronger. Alex Cejka, a Czech by birth but long since a naturalised German, shot a second successive 70 to join Spain's Jose-Maria Olazabal on the 140 mark. If it weren't for the on-course plights of elder statesmen Colin Montgomerie and Clarke, it would have been a grand old day indeed for the Europeans.

As ever, with the thunderstorms of the first round replaced by glorious sunshine and just a gentle breeze, the course gave favours with one hand, and took them away with the other. K J Choi, for instance covered the front nine in 30 shots - a feat previously accomplished only by Johnny Miller in 1975 and Greg Norman in 1988 - but came back in 40, for 70, a score which nevertheless moved him into contention on 141, three behind Rose.

Then there were demonstrations of battling character from two of America's big guns. Davis Love III, staring a missed cut in the face as he walked to the first tee, recovered from an opening round 75 with a second round 67 - for 142 - which re-energised his quest for a first green jacket.

"I was just out of rhythm yesterday, today I just got back to playing golf, took it one shot at a time and set my targets," remarked Love, while Tiger Woods - who had also opened with a 75 - responded with a second round 69 to ensure he would figure going into the weekend.

"I knew I had to get myself into it, to make some birdies," remarked Woods afterwards. "And I'm still here, played really well."

If such figures lurking behind him were to cause him any consternation, Rose - a player who once went 21 tournaments in his fledgling career without making a cut - demonstrated yet again that he has matured enormously. Now 23, Rose, who turned professional as a 17-year-old the day after finishing fourth in the British Open at Birkdale, was extremely solid in his play yesterday, including finishing off with a par save on the last where his tee shot landed in the pine needles on the left of the fairway, his approach found a greenside bunker and he then played out to 18 inches.

"My approach won't change going into the weekend," claimed Rose, who has won four tournaments in his professional career but is appearing in just his second Masters. "I'll carry the same emotion as I did today. I showed I could deal with the pressure, so that's a big advantage to me."

He added: "The way for me to deal with all the hoopla is to focus on each shot and for me to execute my gameplan. If you don't execute your shots, it's only then that the pressure of leading can gets to you. It's nice to be up the leaderboard, at the right end, and I believe that at 23 I have learned enough to take into the weekend with me. There are experiences in my past that I can draw on. Trying to make my first cut was pressure, and winning for the first time was pressure. I can learn from those things and, for me, this is fun. Playing under pressure for the right reasons is fun."

Yet, a look at the afflictions visited on one of his playing partners by the course yesterday could also act as a salutary lesson. Chris DiMarco was co-leader with Rose as the pair turned into the back nine. However, the American endured a run of double bogey, bogey, par, bogey to drop four shots in four holes and eventually finish with a 73.

Meanwhile, the two leading Europeans in the world rankings were both fighting for their survival as they entered the homeward stretch: Padraig Harrington, who had a first round 74, started with a bogey after three-putting the first, and remained on three-over for the tournament after 12 holes of his second round; but Clarke was enduring a miserable old time of it.

Having started out on two-under (after an opening 70), and with great expectations, Clarke suffered back-to-back bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes and then had a disastrous stretch from the ninth, going bogey-double bogey-bogey in successive holes to fall back to five-over, before securing a birdie at the 13th to give himself a chance of surviving into the weekend.