2011 USPGA - The story of round 2

A look back at the stories from the second round of the 93rd USPGA Championship

Tiger Woods USPGA
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Tiger Woods missed only his third cut in a Major as a professional with a disappointing second-round 73 to add to his opening 77 to see him finish on 10 over par in 119th place at Atlanta Athletic Club in the USPGA.

American duo of Jason Dufner (65) and Keegan Bradley (64) share the halfway lead in the season's final Major on five under par, one ahead of Jim Furyk, DA Points, Scott Verplank, John Senden and Brandt Jobe.

Rory McIlroy battled through to a 73 but looked in pain with the wrist injury he sustained in the first round

England's Lee Westwood is the leading British player at one under with Simon Dyson and Ross Fisher level.

75 players made the cut at 4-over-par, matching the second-highest cut on the PGA Tour this year with only the Honda Classic (+6) recording a higher cut.

Leaderboard at the end of day 2

Pos Player Total Scores

1 Jason Dufner -5 70-65-135

2 Keegan Bradley -5 71-64-135

T3 John Senden -4 68-68-136 T3 D.A. Points -4 69-67-136 T3 Jim Furyk -4 71-65-136 T3 Scott Verplank -4 67-69-13

Player notes...Jason Dufner Auburn's Jason Dufner arrived in Atlanta one week before his second round and the additional practice appeared to pay off as he was able to shoot a 5-under-par 65, his lowest round in a major championship of his career.

Dufner is making his 11th start in a major, having made the cut now six times with his best finish (T5) coming at last year's PGA Championship. Dufner's round included five birdies, two bogeys and his first career eagle in a major championship on the par-5 fifth hole.

Jason Dufner has five top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR in 2011, including a playoff-loss to Mark Wilson at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. In the 13 events leading up to the U.S. Open, Jason Dufner made 11 cuts and had five top-10 finishes.

Since then he had missed four consecutive cuts leading up to this week's PGA Championship. Dufner's previous best standing following 36 holes at a major championship was T5 after two rounds at last year's PGA Championship. He finished T5.

Player notes...Keegan Bradley In the first major championship of his career, PGA TOUR rookie Keegan Bradley shot the round of the day with a bogey-free 6-under-par 64 to move from T36 following the opening round into a tie for the lead with Jason Dufner.

The last player to win the PGA Championship in their first-ever start was Shaun Micheel in 2003. The last player to win a major championship in their first-ever start at a major was the Ben Curtis, also in 2003.

Bradley is one of six rookies to win (HP Byron Nelson Classic) on the PGA TOUR this year. The last rookie to win multiple events in a season on TOUR was Todd Hamilton in 2004.

Other than his victory, Bradley's only previous lead following any round of a PGA TOUR event was last week when he was part of a four-way tie for the second-round lead at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.

Player notes...D.A. Points D.A. Points moved up the leaderboard Friday with a 3-under-par 67 and sits at 4-under for the tournament. Points and Heath Slocum shot the low rounds of the morning wave. Points ranks first in the field in both fairways hit (24 of 28) and greens in regulation (30-36) thru 36 holes.

Through two rounds, Points has hit 24 or 28 fairways. Since 1992, 10 players have tied for the most fairways hit at the PGA Championship through two rounds (26).

Points won earlier this year at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am where his amateur playing partner was long-time tournament favorite comedian Bill Murray, wining the professional and the amateur portions of the event.

Player notes...Jim Furyk Jim Furyk shot one of three bogey-free rounds on Friday with a 5-under-par 65 and sits at one off the lead. Furyk is looking for his second major championship victory and his first top-10 in a major since the 2008 British Open.

One year after winning three PGA TOUR events, the FedExCup and the PGA TOUR player of the year award, Jim Furyk has two top-10 finishes in 2011. In order for Furyk to attempt to defend on his victory at the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola and his FedExCup title, he will need to improve on his 79th ranking in the FedExCup standings.

Jim Furyk has been a model of consistency in his PGA TOUR career with 16 victories and 144 top-10 finishes. Furyk, however, has only two top-10 finishes this season and is currently on a streak of 13 consecutive events without a top-10 finish. The streak is the longest Furyk has played without a top-10 since his second year on TOUR in 1995.

The 65 shot by Furyk is his lowest round in his last 36 major championships, dating back to the second round of the 2001 PGA Championship, held at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Player notes...Scott Verplank Playing in his 63rd major championship, at 47 years, 1 month, 5 days Scott Verplank is trying to become the second-oldest player to win a major championship behind Julius Boros, who won the 1968 PGA Championship at 48 years, 4 months and 18 days.

Scott Verplank opened the PGA Championship with back-to-back rounds in the 60s with scores of 67-69. It is just the second time that Verplank has opened a major with rounds in the 60s, the other being the 2001 PGA Championship, also held at Atlanta Athletic Club (69-68). Verplank finished T7 that year.

Scott Verplank has played the front nine in 6-under-par and the back nine at 2-over-par. Verplank missed the cut in his other two appearances at major championships this year (Masters/British Open).

Verplank has long battled a wrist injury, which flared up again early this season limiting his starts. In 2011, Verplank has made 13 starts, making the cut 9 times, missing the cut twice and withdrawing twice. He played only three events from the start of the year through the end of March. He has two top-10 finishes, including a runner-up at the Shell Houston Open and is No. 93 in the FedExCup standings.

Player notes...Tiger Woods Tiger Woods missed the cut for just the fourth time in 62 Major Championships, the third time as a professional. He also withdrew from the 1995 U.S. Open as an amateur. It is his first missed the cut at the PGA Championship

Tiger Woods had two double bogeys in the second round. Combined with his three double bogeys in round 1, it was the first time in his career that Woods has posted more than four double bogeys in a single tournament.

Mike Harris
Content Director

Mike has been a journalist all his working life, starting out as a football writer with Goal magazine in the 1990s before moving into men’s and women’s lifestyle magazines including Men's Health, In 2003 he joined Golf Monthly and in 2006 he became only the eighth editor in Golf Monthly’s 100-plus year history leading the brand until July 2023. He is now Content Director overseeing Golf Monthly and two other iconic sports brands, FourFourTwo and Rugby World.

His three main passions in golf are courses (he's played over 500 courses worldwide), equipment (he's always in search of something shinny to give him an edge) and shoes (he owns more pairs than he cares to mention!).  

Mike’s handicap index hovers at around 10 and he is a member of four golf clubs: Hartley Wintney, Royal Liverpool, Royal North Devon and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.


Mike's current What's In The Bag? 

Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus+ 9° - Fujikura Ventus Blue 5S

Fairway woods: TaylorMade Sim Max 3/15° - Fujikura Ventus Blue 6S & TaylorMade Stealth 7/20° - Fujikura Ventus Red 6S

Utility Iron: TaylorMade Stealth UDI 3/21° - Aldila Ascent 90HY

Irons: TaylorMade P790 (5-PW)  - Nippon Tour NSPro 950S

Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 50°, 54° and 58° - KBS Tour Hi-Rev s2.0 hafts

Putter: Evnroll ER2B (Gravity Grip) 

Ball: TaylorMade Tour Response (Yellow)