Rory McIlroy said he is “very excited” after shooting a second round 71 to go into the weekend three under par at Augusta.
The Northern Irishman made a good start to his round with back-to-back birdies at two and three but followed that up with a double bogey at four and a bogey at the fifth.
After bogey at 11, McIlroy birdied three of his final eight holes to put himself in a strong position going into the weekend, five years on from surrendering a commanding lead in the final round at the Masters.
"I'm very excited, it's my best position going into the weekend at Augusta for a long time and hopefully I can go out there tomorrow and battle again," he told Sky Sports.
"I think the conditions are going to be very similar again so hopefully I can play another good round of golf and give myself a great chance on Sunday."
McIlroy admitted that he likes to be aware of his position on the leaderboard when he is out on course.
"I knew what was going on, I'm a bit of a leaderboard watcher and I like to know where I stand, at least going into the weekend," he added.
"I think three under is the best in the clubhouse right now and if no one does anything on the back nine, I want to try and get into that final group.
"That's the position I'm in at the minute, we'll see where that finishes at the end of the day but that was my objective over the last few holes and thankfully I played them well.
"I came off the golf course last night disappointed with the way I finished, I'm feeling a lot better after that finish today.
"I'm in a great position going into the weekend, obviously Jordan still has a few holes to play so we'll see where he finishes up but I like where I'm at going into the weekend."
Meanwhile, Shane Lowry blamed mental errors for a second round of 76 which dropped him down the leaderboard on a testing second day of the Masters.
"It was tough," said Lowry, who was joint second overnight after an opening 68.
"I didn't do myself any favours with the start I got off to, which was just purely a mental error on the first and second and all of a sudden I have two bogeys on the card.
"I felt like I fought really hard today and I was really disappointed to bogey the last because if I had been standing here one under I would have been really happy. I am still in a decent spot for the weekend depending on what the leaders do.
"You have to be mentally strong and tough and I managed to keep my head on quite well today and play some golf."