Golf: Straits talk

In his mind's eye, Matt Kuchar is still the same fresh-faced kid that graduated from the US college ranks full of promise and eager to learn the ropes on the PGA Tour.

"It is going by so fast," said Kuchar, who shot a three-under-par 69 to seize the clubhouse lead in the second round of the 92nd PGA Championship. "I still find myself feeling almost like a rookie. I still feel like I am the kid from 1997 winning the US Amateur and playing in the Masters in 1998. I feel like a very, very young 32."

He's playing like one too, rolling in three birdies in a row on his back nine en route to reaching 8-under 136 at the weather-hit final major championship of the season. Fellow American Nick Watney shot a 68 and is one shot back.

World No1 Tiger Woods, who shot a 71 in his opening round, teed off in blustery conditions in the second round and did well just to stay even-par for round two through six holes, seven behind Kuchar when darkness fell. High winds, dense fog and rain on Friday made for dreadful conditions. Play was eventually suspended because of darkness with half the field, 78 players, still on the course.

"It was tough out there. Blowing pretty good," Woods said. "You had to be patient."

Kuchar also has a couple of young guns breathing down his neck as South Korean Noh Seung-yul (71) and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy (68) are also in the clubhouse at three shots back. Noh, who won the Malaysian Open earlier this year, is only 19 and McIlroy, who posted his first US PGA victory this year at Quail Hollow with a closing 62, is just 21.

World No2 Phil Mickelson finished his round with a three-under 69 to reach two-under 142. He is six shots behind Kuchar.

Kuchar fired a 5-under par 67 in the first round of his third career PGA Championship. He has eight top-10 finishes in 2010, including a tie for second at the Bob Hope Classic.

"I have had a great season. I am looking forward to the opportunity to do something great this weekend," said Kuchar, who won the 1997 US Amateur championship. He tied for sixth at this year's US Open, tied for 24th at The Masters and tied for 27th at the British Open. In 1998, at age 20, he competed in his first Masters and US Open.

"It feels like that is just a blink of an eye ago. It is hard to believe that I have a wife and two kids and a whole different life and perspective," Kuchar said.

Kuchar made birdie on the sixth hole when he resumed the first round yesterday to finish off a 67. As a half-dozen players jockeyed for the lead in the afternoon, Kuchar took advantage when the wind was at his back and ran off three straight birdies on the back nine. That put him in the lead, and a series of pars into the wind kept him there.

Woods finished six holes, and only the first one was routine. He had to scramble for par off a cart path, out of grass up to his knees and from a grassy knoll that made it tough for him to keep his balance.

After the siren sounded to suspend play, Woods opted to finish the sixth hole. He chipped out of deep grass below the green and left himself a 5-foot birdie putt that spun 270 degrees around the cup and sent him home sombre.

Six holes, six pars. He remained at 1 under. "Had to hang in there, and did a good job with that," Woods told a PGA official.

There was another fog delay, this one lasting just over two hours, and it played havoc on the starting times. Whistling Straits delivered its own share of misery at times, starting with European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie. He played in the same group with Kuchar and was 26 shots worse over two rounds, going 78-83.

Mickelson took some unusual routes from tee-to-green, although some of his misses were so big that he wound up in the gallery, where the grass had been trampled. Mickelson carries extra gloves in his bag for souvenirs when he hits a fan, and he handed one out on the 15th hole, complete with a frown sign inside the "o" where he wrote "Sorry".

No apologies were necessary when he scrambled his way to a 69, putting him at 2-under 142 and still very much alive in his quest to move to world No1 for the first time.

"This is a penalising golf course to not play from the fairway," Mickelson said. "And I certainly explored a lot of areas here. First 27 holes for me to keep it around par was a feat, and I drove it better the last nine holes. I just want to be in a position where if I play like I know I can, I can make up some ground. And I feel like I'm within striking distance."

Join the crowd. Bryce Molder made an impressive debut in his first PGA Championship. He made five birdies in a six-hole stretch and wound up with a 67. That put him in a large group at 5-under 139 that included Noh (71), McIlroy (68), short-hitting Zach Johnson (70) and big-hitting Dustin Johnson (68).

Dustin Johnson, the 54-hole leader in the US Open until a memorable meltdown, made a sensational par save to start his day by blasting out of a bunker - one foot in the sand, one foot on a dune - from 50 yards away to about 10 feet. That was the 15th hole of the first round.