Halfway through the PGA Championship / La jumătatea Campionatului PGA

Oakland Hills is playing as a par 72 or more, that's for sure. Out of the 18 holes, 16 are playing over par, with only the two par 5's helping the players score some birdies or eagles.

The cut was made at 8-over-par (lowest 70 scores and ties) while the leader was at 1-under-par.

Let's talk a little about who finished under the cut-line on Friday:

• Kenny Perry - number two in the FedEx Cup standings (after Tiger) who withdrew after an eye injury (an infection caused by his Lasik lenses). He will be OK but he needs to rest his eyes for a bit, as the doctor recommended him.
• Hunter Mahan, Ryuji Imada - were some of the younglings who could not handle the tough course.
• Vijay Singh, Woody Austin, Lee Westwood, Trevor Immelman, Stephen Ames, Stewart Cink, K.J. Choi - all thought of as having a chance at winning it.
• Adam Scott, Zach Johnson, Jeff Quinney - among those who are still searching for a good form these past few weeks.

Now let's see the players who still have a chance of lifting the Wanamaker Trophy, if they can survive another two rounds in Michigan:

• J.B. Holmes - the winner at the FBR Open earlier this season is leading the proceedings at -1. The big-hitter (he averages 311 yards through 64 rounds this season, being second only to Bubba Watson) carded a 68 on Friday after an opening round of 71. His driving accuracy along with the distance is helping him negotiate this monster at Oakland Hills.
• Ben Curtis and Justin Rose - the two players are just one shot behind the leader, at even par (73-67 in the first two rounds)
• Charlie Wi - the South-Korean-born player shot two even par rounds, joining Curtis and Rose in tied for 2nd. He had double-bogeys on both days, but managed to erase them with some excellent birdies.
• Sergio Garcia - he led the championship for most of the second round, until bogeys on the back nine pushed him to +2.
• the American Brandt Snedeker, the Australian Aaron Baddeley, the Argentine Angel Cabrera and the Indian Jeev Milkha Singh are also at 2-over-par, looking forward to moving-day.
• Phil Mickelson is at +3, still in contention, still one of my favorites to win it. Lefty's driving was great on Friday, but his approach shots didn't give him much chances for birdies. If he can post a low score on Saturday, he will be in the driving seat for the last major of the season. He would climb into second place in the FedEx Cup standings with a win here, less than 400 points behind Woods and into a top spot before the reset.

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