Thoughts on the leader board halfway through the PGA Championship:
Top 10: Only Jim Furyk, D.A. Points and Steve Stricker will be factors on Sunday.
Lurking close: If Stricker can't close the deal, the Wanamaker Trophy likely will go to Adam Scott, Lee Westwood, or maybe even a resurgent Davis Love III. My money's on Westwood.
Middle of pack: Watch out for Spencer Levin, who's having a terrific season (four top 10s, including a playoff loss at Mayakoba, and three top 15s in his last six starts). He begins Round Three six shots back. Yuta Ikeda, who quietly seethes in the shadow of countryman Ryo Ishikawa, is dangerous, too. Another Asian player to watch is Korea's Seung-yul Noh, who recently began working with swing guru Butch Harmon. Also in the pack at 1-over through 36 holes are Phil Mickelson, Luke Donald and the whiner, Sergio Garcia. Of that threesome, Lefty has the best shot. He'd like nothing better than to make amends after gagging at Royal St. George's.
Long shots: One of the Molinari brothers, Francesco (3-over) and Edoardo (4-over), will score a top 10. The realities of his mystifying decision to play a full shot off a tree root on Thursday caught up with Rory McIlroy in Round Two. Under the circumstances, he has too much ground to make up to be a factor Sunday.
As for a seemingly disinterested Tiger Woods, who shot 77-73 and missed the cut by six shots, spare me the apologists. That ship has sailed. It's foundering in golf's Bermuda Triangle of injury, paralysis by analysis and off-course distractions, not likely to be seen again.
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