Kiawah Island, SC – Joost Luiten birdied his final hole Saturday morning to complete the second round of the PGA Championship.
He was the only player who didn't finish round two on Friday. Luiten got in at even-par at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. The 36-hole cut was made and the third round will begin at 8:50 a.m. ET.
Tiger Woods putted beautifully on Friday en route to a 1-under 71 and share of the second-round lead of the PGA Championship.
Woods finished 36 holes at 4-under 140 and was joined there by two-time champion Vijay Singh, who fired the low round of the day on Friday with a 3- under 69, and first-round leader Carl Pettersson, who had a respectable 2-over 74.
The wind came up at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island on Friday.
One day after 44 players broke par, only five managed to do it in round two.
In fact, the average score for the second round was around 78 strokes. That represents the highest single-round scoring average in PGA Championship history.
"It's a tough day," said Woods. "I mean, your start lines, Holy Cow, we are starting balls so far off line, to have it comeback in. There's so much drift to this wind. It was just a tough day."
Woods and Singh turned the trick, as did Ian Poulter, who 3-putted the last green to shoot a 1-under 71 and fall out of a share for first. The Englishman, who is on the outside of the European Ryder Cup team points list, is in at 3- under par.
Another of those under-par rounds belonged to Phil Mickelson. The 2005 winner managed a 1-under 71 on Friday and is tied for 11th at even-par 144.
The final sub-par round belonged to Michael Hoey of Northern Ireland. He shot a 2-under 70 and vaulted up a staggering 90 positions to 47th at 4-over par.
Rory McIlroy had a 3-over 75, but is tied for fifth with Jamie Donaldson, who shot a 73, at 2-under par.
For Woods, the first two rounds have been all about the putter. He's made 48 putts through 36 holes.
He opened with a 12-foot par save at No. 1, then followed with a 4-foot birdie putt at two. Woods made another spectacular par save, this time from 18 feet at the third.
Woods capped off an epic putting start with a 35-footer for birdie at No. 4. He bogeyed the eighth and nearly chipped in for a birdie at No. 9 before he settled for a tap-in par.
At the 12th, Woods drained a 6-foot birdie putt and reached 5-under par. He had been alone in the lead, but Pettersson flew by him. After some miscues from Pettersson, Woods was back in first, but it was a shaky finish.
Woods came up just short of the green in two at the par-5 16th. He hammered his putt from off the green all the way through the putting surface and nearly into a bunker. He chipped inside a foot to save par.
Still with the lead to himself. Woods hit a tent left of the fairway at 18. He hit a good approach to 25 feet, but ran his birdie try six feet by the cup. Woods missed the par putt and fell into share of first.
"I'm very pleased to be able to shoot under par today," said Woods. "That was the goal, anything par or better today was going to be a great score, and I was able to accomplish that."
Woods is in familiar territory. At this year's U.S. Open, Woods shared the second-round lead, but went 75-73 and shared 21st.
He was in the mix at The Open Championship, but a final-round 73 put him in a tie for third.
In fact, Woods hasn't broken par in his six weekend rounds at the majors. But, he has 14 major titles, so he has excelled in this position.
"I've been here before," said Woods. "I've been in this position many times over my career, and again, we are just at the halfway point. We have a long way to go."
Singh has been in this position, too.
He has three major titles, including the Wanamaker Trophy in both 1998 and 2004, but he hasn't won an event anywhere since 2008.
"I finally started to believe that I could do what I'm doing on the driving range," said Singh, who has top 10s in his last two starts. "A little tweak to my golf swing during the British Open kind of helped, as well."
Singh mixed five birdies and two bogeys in his round on Friday.
"I'm happy I shot 69 for sure," said Singh. "I would have taken 72 when I started off. And I'm happy I'm done, too."
Pettersson began on the 10th and bogeyed two of his first three. He reclaimed the lead with birdies at the 16th, first, which was a hole-out from a bunker, and third.
He got to 7-under par, but things fell apart at six. Pettersson's drive found trouble right and he had to take a drop. He made bogey, bogeyed seven when he missed a 7-footer and dropped a shot at eight when his 9-foot par save lipped out.
"It was a difficult day," said Pettersson. "I thought 2-over today was probably like shooting 2-under yesterday. I played well."
Adam Scott, who bogeyed the last four at the Open Championship to hand the Claret Jug to Ernie Els, shot a 3-over 75 and is tied for seventh with Aaron Baddeley (75), Blake Adams (72) and Trevor Immelman (72). The group finished at 1-under par.
NOTES: John Daly shot a 5-over 77 and fell into a tie for 15th at 1-over par, with, among others, defending champion Keegan Bradley...Els had a 75 and is 3-over...Masters winner Bubba Watson is plus-4...The 36-hole will fall at 6-over par and world No. 1 Luke Donald made it on the number...U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Hunter Mahan, Matt Kuchar and Rickie Fowler all missed the cut.
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