The most common topics brought up at this year's Masters Tournament - other than Arnold Palmer (Stats | Bio) , of course - have been the weather, the speed of the greens and the pin placements. Things were no different during Friday's second round.

The weather was good, with sunny skies pushing the temperature to 80. The speed of the greens varied from hole to hole and hour to hour as the sun dried them. And the pin placements, well, some players said they were easier than Thursday's, but players also said Thursday's pins were as tough as they'd ever seen.

Tiger Woods (Stats | Bio) , who shot 3-under-par 69 to get back to even par for the tournament, said there were pins in places he'd never seen before.

"(There were a) couple of flags out there where it's almost impossible to get it to the hole," said Ernie Els (Stats | Bio) , who finished at even par Friday and is tied for sixth at 2-under par for the tournament.

Players also complained about mud affecting their shots.

"The mud on the ball, both yesterday afternoon and today, was difficult. I hit an 8-iron from the middle of the fairway at 10 that went 15 yards left of the green," said Davis Love III (Stats | Bio) , who is also tied for sixth. "I didn't hit a bad shot."

Love said the moisture on the ground, which evaporated as the day went on, made some shots more difficult and some easier.

Woods said Thursday's rain made the greens as slow as he'd ever seen them, but they dried up quickly.

"It's firm out there and very quick, so it's very tricky, and especially with these pin positions, you've got to be very careful," Alex Cejka (Stats | Bio) said.

Cejka shot his second-straight 70 to move to 4-under par and a share of second place.

The speed of the greens surprised Steve Flesch (Stats | Bio) , who tied Love with the best round of the day at 5-under-par 67. But unlike most players, he thought the greens were even softer than they were after Thursday's rain delay.

"They're not going to want to read that in the papers," Flesch said about Masters officials.

He also had trouble with mud kicking up on the fairways and said he thinks the fairways were too wet to dry out completely this weekend.

Augusta's Charles Howell had to back off a shot at No. 15 three times because the wind kept changing. Howell ended up birdieing the hole and is tied for sixth at 2-under par.

Forecasts call for more sun for today's third round with only a 20 percent chance of rain.

"There's just no easy days out here," Howell said. "There's no easy hole."

Reach Kristy Shonka at (706) 823-3219 or kristy.shonka@augustachronicle.com.