The only thing clear after two days of fog-induced havoc at the PGA Championship is that Matt Kuchar is playing very, very well. Kuchar ran off three straight birdies on the back nine to get to 8-under Friday. That gave him a two-stroke lead, though half the field hadn't even made it onto the course by mid-afternoon after fog delayed resumption of the first round by almost three hours. Bryce Molder and 19-year-old Noh Seung-yul were doing their part to hold up the season's tradition of unknowns making big runs at the majors, both getting to 6-under. Dustin Johnson, best known for his meltdown at Pebble Beach, was also at 6-under. The big names were either holding steady (Ernie Els) or spraying their way around the course (Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker). Despite the wacky weather, Kuchar was proof that decent scores were available on the 7,514-yard, links-style monster. Maybe that was a good sign for Tiger Woods, who finished his first round at an encouraging 1-under 71 and had to wait until dinnertime to begin a second round he certainly wouldn't complete by sundown. Bubba Watson and Francesco Molinari, whose 68s gave them the clubhouse lead before the first round was suspended for darkness Thursday night, also had late tee times Friday. “It's testing us for sure, you're playing a very big golf course and you know you're going to have delays,” said Els, who got as low as 5-under on his first nine. “You've just got to try to stay in the present and play every shot as it comes. Not try to get to ahead of yourself, I guess.” Kuchar often plays a game with himself, looking through a book of golf courses and trying to guess where they might be. Though he always guesses – wrongly – that it's somewhere in Europe, Whistling Straits always catches his eye. “I really just like the look of it and the feel of it,” Kuchar said Thursday night. It shows. Though he got only 5½ hours of sleep, less than his preferred eight, the second fog delay in as many days gave him precious extra time on the driving range. “I never wake up in the best of spirits,” Kuchar said. “So (the delay) was just some extra time to kind of get my body back in sync again.” Picking up on the par-4 No. 6, Kuchar birdied it to take the lead and played the last three holes at par to preserve the first-round lead. “I was very impressed. Very impressed,” playing partner and European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie said. “He handled himself very well.” He ran into trouble on No. 6 in his second round, when his ball bounced on a path trampled down by spectators and rolled down a hill before finally coming to a stop on a service road. Kuchar took relief – if you can call it that. His ball was on slope so steep he couldn't even see the green. The back nine has been more forgiving than the front, playing about a stroke easier, and Kuchar took full advantage. He birdied No. 11, at 618 yards the longest par-5 on the course, and followed with birdies on the next two holes. That kind of steadiness should make a good impression on US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin. Kuchar is in seventh place in the Ryder Cup standings. After finishing his first round at 1 over, Mickelson was headed back in the right direction. Despite a double-bogey on 18 when his tee shot got tangled up in thick grass and bushes, he was at 3 under for the day with six holes still to play. And he left one fan with a prized souvenir. Mickelson plunked the man with his tee shot. Pulling a glove out of his bad, Lefty wrote “Sorry” on it, putting a frowning face inside the “o,” and signed it. Stricker, who is enjoying rock-star treatment, was starting to build some momentum until he got to 17, the eighth hole of his round. His tee shot on the par 3 landed below the elevated green, and he banged not one, but two shots off the side of it. He made a triple-bogey, though a birdie on his 14th hole got him back to par.
