When you tune in this weekend to this very tough Atlanta Athletic Club hosting the PGA Championship, remember par is good ! birdie is a bonus and bogey is often as good as par..
All of that makes Steve Stricker's 63 on Friday when the stroke average on this par 70 was 73.6, even more remarkable..
Sure the story lines on Thursday and Friday were Tiger as always, by the way he is where he belongs, home with the kids after 77, 73 more on him in a moment, and Rory with his sore wrist after his ill advised tree root shot on Thursday at #3, has made the cut which fell at +4 with his 70,73 +3..
I listened to Tiger afterward talking about his increased length, reduced shape to his draws and fades etc etc.. Simply put, he can't trust his driver at all anymore, and has gone from being #1 in scrambling to 156th, his short game is shoddy and he is putting poorly.
His season is done until he goes down to Australia in November for their Open then the Presidents Cup, and he clearly needs to do a lot of work at home with Sean Foley, who by the way as you would expect, is now under the gun from the likes of Brandel Chamblee for example, who says is giving Tiger the wrong advice and should be fired..
But the real story is the course, long, narrow, tight, tree lined and covered in water, it is a real test for the field in this final major of 2011..
Tiger is not the only one missing the cut on it.. Els, Kaymer, McDowell, Kim, Ogilvy, Johnson, Day, Rose, Cink, Clarke, all stars in their own right are gone..
By the way I was thinking this yesterday.. This is the type of event that Weirsy in his prime starred in... fairways, lay ups, great wedges and make a few putts. grind it out, make pars, steal a few birdies, avoid a big number. That is what wins here..
Now look who's in and you are not alone if you say "who".. Only 16 players of the top 70 and ties who made the cut at +4 are under par.. Here they are.
T1 22 Jason Dufner -5 F -5 70 65 - - 135
T1 35 Keegan Bradley -5 F -6 71 64 - - 135
T3 10 D.A. Points -4 F -3 69 67 - - 136
T3 2 John Senden -4 F -2 68 68 - - 136
T3 33 Jim Furyk -4 F -5 71 65 - - 136
T3 1 Scott Verplank -4 F -1 67 69 - - 136
T7 2 Anders Hansen -3 F -1 68 69 - - 137
T7 6 Brendan Steele -3 F -2 69 68 - - 137
T7 6 Steve Stricker -3 F +4 63 74 - - 137
T7 2 Brandt Jobe -3 F -1 68 69 - - 137
T11 12 Jhonattan Vegas -2 F -2 70 68 - - 138
T11 2 Adam Scott -2 F -1 69 69 - - 138
T11 9 Jerry Kelly -2 F +3 65 73 - - 138
T14 22 Lee Westwood -1 F -2 71 68 - - 139
T14 22 Scott Piercy -1 F -2 71 68 - - 139
T14 9 Davis Love III -1 F +1 68 71 - - 139
Jason Dufner (65) -5 T1, and Keegan Bradley are in your final pairing ! I could have won a lot of money picking this pair.. However, Dufner who plays lot in Asia, leads the PGA tour in total driving, has only made 3 mistakes in 2 rounds and like DA Points (67) -4 T3 is hitting all the fairways then all the greens..
Keegan Bradley (64)-5 T1 we talked about last week, continues his fine play with that belly putter which by the way Jim Furyk (65)-4 T3 has switched to this week, and speaking of the long putter Adam Scott (69) -2, T11 doubled 18 like so many others, but is still right in it and looking very solid.. Furyk incidently, thanked Bradley after the round for giving him a putting tip with his new long putter..
As a matter of fact imagine if Scott and Furyk are in the final pairing tomorrow we would have a Tiger connection... Stevie Williams and Fluff Cowan would be the caddies, both of course had Woods as their boss..
My pick, Luke Donald is T26 at +1 along with Phil Mickelson and they are far from out of it..
Like I said off the top 'It is wide open going into this weekend'
For today's tee times click... http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2011/scoring/tee_times.cfm
Bryan Angus also on twitter@mummmbles
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