COUPLA GOOD ROUNDS; BUT AUGUSTA HAS THE UPPER HAND.

Byline: Karen Crouse Daily News Staff Writer

Forget what the scoreboard says. Second-round leaders Fred Couples and David Duval are not the ones to beat during the final two days of the Masters, golf's first major of the year.

Augusta National Golf Club is.

``The course is winning and I'm leading with David Duval,'' Couples said Friday after following his first-round-leading 69 with a 70 to reach the halfway point at 5-under-par 139. Duval got to the same place by tacking a terrific 68 onto his opening round of 71.

Couples is a former Masters champion. Duval is looking for his first major title, as are the two players directly behind them. Scott Hoch is at 141 and Phil Mickelson is at 143. The 6-over-par cut's casualties included such erstwhile Masters champions as Tom Watson, Gay Brewer and Nick Faldo, as well as habitual contenders Nick Price and Greg Norman.

Duval, 26, might not shed the ``major missing'' label this week. But he's not going to keep himself awake at night worrying about it. He'll get his requisite seven hours of sleep and let the chip shots fall where they may.

``I try not to get too caught up in it,'' said Duval, who has one win this year, in Tucson in February. ``A lot of things have to go your way to win a golf tournament, especially a major. So I try to take the attitude that I'm going to prepare myself and, when I get to the event, just kind of relax and enjoy it and see what I can do.''

If it's true what all the players say, that Augusta National puts a premium on patience, Duval enjoys as much of an advantage in the clubhouse as Woods does off the tee.

It took him three years to notch his first PGA Tour win, which he got in Williamsburg, Va., this past October. By the end of that month the titles had fallen like dominoes, with Duval prevailing in his next two starts, at the Walt Disney World Classic in Orlando and the Tour Championship in Houston.

His challengers in Houston included seven of the 10 golfers who are directly behind him here.

Chief among them is defending Masters champion Tiger Woods, whom Duval beat by eight strokes.

``These guys are good,'' said Woods, referring to ``the field,'' as his fellow competitors collectively are known in most tournaments the 22-year-old graces.

When Woods set the tournament record here last year at 18-under-par, he was 8-under after two rounds. The big difference then and now is not his putting - his 55 putts are only one more than Duval has stroked. It's not his driving - he has hit 24 of 28 fairways.

It's his approach shots. He hit eight greens in regulation Thursday and 10 on Friday.

Blame the weather, said Woods.

``People fail to realize that last year (the conditions) were dead calm until the last round,'' he said. `There was no wind. The greens were a little firm and rolling so true.''

Never mind Amen Corner, the blustery conditions have turned the entire back nine into a rosary. Woods is 3-over par on the back nine this week. Last year he didn't make a bogey on the finishing side and played those holes in 16-under par.

The cold winds that have swept the course the past two days have hardened the greens and many a golfer's heart. Just ask Couples, who three-putted (something Woods hasn't done in his past six competitive rounds here) on No. 10 from some 35 feet for a bogey 5.

``The winds are hard, the greens are fast, the pin placements are tough. There's not one easy shot,'' said Couples, whose task was made more difficult on No. 18 when he had to chase a ball he barely could see.

Darkness was closing in fast as Couples, Jose Maria Olazabal and Oxnard native Paul Stankowski, the final threesome of the day, negotiated the 405-yard par-4.

Hey, fair's fair. Duval began his day in darkness. He awakened at 5 a.m., after four hours of fitful sleep, and arrived at Augusta National before sunrise to complete his first round. He was one of 10 players on the course when play was suspended Thursday because of nightfall.

``It didn't get light until 10 of 7, maybe, so I didn't hit balls for too long,'' said Duval, who parred his last three holes, anyway, to put himself in a six-way tie for fifth at 1-under-par.

He left the course, caught a two-hour nap and then started the routine all over, though with even better results. He birdied four of his final six holes to tie Craig Stadler for the best round of the day and week.

``You know, it's my third Masters now, and I've certainly never seen the golf course play like this,'' Duval said. ``I don't know if you'll ever lose the awe of being at this place, but you certainly learn to put it on the back burners and play golf.''

So it seems true. The 46 golfers left will be chasing Augusta National this weekend as much as one another.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

PHOTO (1--Color) Co-leader David Duval lines up a putt on 18 with caddy Mitch Knox.

Elise Amendola/Associated Press

(2) Co-leader Fred Couples reacts after sinking a birdie putt on the 16th green.

Dave Martin/Associated Press

BOX: SECOND-ROUND LEADERS