He could ride onto Cup team

Holmes in position to secure coveted spot

The Ryder Cup will be staged in Kentucky, home state of J.B. Holmes. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - While there are greater rewards - such as $1.35 million and five-year exemptions to the PGA Tour, Masters, US Open, and British Open - what would also come J.B. Holmes's way if he were to win the 90th PGA Championship is a spot on the United States Ryder Cup team.

To captain Paul Azinger, that would be ideal.

"You can only hope - it would be out of control," said Azinger, making reference to the fact that the competition will be held in Holmes's home state of Kentucky. There's already one native son on the team, Kenny Perry, and Azinger seems to think twice the fun would be great for the Americans.

"I'm confident that the Kentucky crowd is going to be well-behaved and extremely raucous and supportive of the team. I'm relying on them to be our 13th man."

Holmes, whose only two PGA Tour wins have come at the FBR Open in Phoenix, was at 1 under par and leading by one when dangerous weather halted play in yesterday's third round at Oakland Hills Country Club. Six players had yet to tee off, including Holmes, but Azinger had completed his round at 76 -224. It was hardly an impressive tour of duty - it featured a bogey, bogey, bogey finish - but then again, Azinger had made a cut for the first time since January, and he was asked if his future Ryder Cup players could be inspired by that.

"If they need to be inspired by me, then they are hurting," said Azinger, laughing. Then, he turned serious. The US team has lost five of the last six Ryder Cups, and Azinger insists that is enough to fuel his players.

"I think that they are going to be really motivated and they are going to be inspired to play well," he said. "It's not really the captain's responsibility to do that."

Too rough
Kerry Haigh, the PGA of America's managing director of championships, confirmed yesterday that the rough was cut after Friday's second round and that fairways were watered, measures that could be taken as a concession that Oakland Hills was getting more difficult than officials wanted. Player complaints grew louder after a second-round field average of 74.845 that was owed to drives that ran through firm fairways into unplayable rough and crispy brown greens that wouldn't hold approaches. "We did make some adjustments today to obviously compensate for [Friday]," said Haigh, who didn't need to explain that the measures worked. The scores yesterday said it for him - a 5-under 65 to tie the competitive course record by Andres Romero, and Camilo Villegas at 4 under through 14 holes, while Prayad Marksaeng, Graeme McDowell, and Fredrik Jacobson were all 3 under before being chased from the course by thunderstorms . . . Phil Mickelson was his perplexing self right out of the gate. He blistered a 3-wood some 340 yards down the heart of the first fairway and appeared poised to knock a wedge tight to an inviting hole location. Instead, he hit a 90-yard shot about 50 yards, into a bunker, fluffed his next one short of the green, and had to get it up-and-down for a bogey. A birdie at the par-5 second and three straight pars had him at 3 over when the rain came . . . Haigh said officials never considered pushing up starting times yesterday and going off of two tees. "We saw the forecast," he said, "but no." Why? Because storms had been predicted Wednesday and Thursday, but never materialized . . . When play resumes this morning, 27 players will sit within five of Holmes's lead.

Quite a reach
If there's a statistic that speaks to the extreme difficulty of Oakland Hills, it might be the number of times players have reached the green in regulation at the 498-yard, par-4 18th - a mere 19.9 percent over the first two days, and just 12 percent in the early stages yesterday. "I don't know how you're supposed to hit that fairway, or even how you're supposed to play that hole," said Jay Haas, who bogeyed the closing hole in both rounds, and missed the cut. Apparently, most players would agree, because it played to a field average of 4.716 through two rounds . . . When the US Amateur was held at Oakland Hills in 2002, the field average during the two days of stroke-play qualifying was 71.5. Six years later, after extensive changes, including lengthening the course and other ways to make it tougher, the field average, with better players competing, through two days was 74.850 . . . Before play was halted, McDowell made the 11th eagle of the tournament and the fifth at the 593-yard, par-5 12th.

It cuts so deep
The chase to make the cut offered up stories of heartache. To wit:

Frank Esposito was the only club pro in good position to make the cut, having opened with a 71 and sitting just 1 over through 26 holes. But he played his last 10 holes in 8 over, and when he double bogeyed the 18th, he missed by one.

John Daly didn't birdie either par 5 in his second round, and with a bogey, bogey, birdie finish, he also missed by one. Daly made the cut in this championship his first three times, but has missed 11 of the last 14.

Rich Beem was just 2 over early on Friday, but played his last 16 holes in 7 over to miss by one.

Another former PGA Championship winner, Bob Tway, bogeyed the 18th hole to finish one stroke too high.

Fred Couples bogeyed three of his last five holes to miss by a shot.

Johnson Wagner and Simon Dyson made double bogeys at their 18th hole, the par-3 ninth, to miss by one.

Zach Johnson finished Round 2 double bogey, par, bogey to fall one short, and is now 0 for 3 in making the cut in this championship.

Ryan Moore followed an opening 70 with a birdie-less 79 to miss by one.

On the leaderboard at various points in Round 1, Heath Slocum in Round 2 made a double bogey at the par-4 15th and a quadruple bogey at the par-4 16th to miss the cut by three.

There were, however, great turnarounds, such as New Zealander Mark Brown. Having opened with a 77, he came back with a 69 to pass 74 players and get into a share of 35th. Also bouncing back from 77s were Charl Schwartzel (70) and Hiroyuki Fujita (70), while Chez Reavie backed up a 78 with a 70 to make the cut.

Vijay Singh missed the cut for a third straight year. Mark Brooks can commiserate; he has missed nine consecutive PGA Championship cuts. Englishman Nick Dougherty has missed the cut in all four tries, while Woody Austin (eighth trip) and Trevor Immelman (sixth) missed for the first time.

Hit or miss
Steve Elkington is 6 over at the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes, 2 under on the other 15 . . . Billy Mayfair has made bogey or worse on a third of his holes (18 of 54) . . . Ben Curtis played the first two rounds without making a bogey on the back nine . . . It would be hard to pinpoint where Austin had his biggest troubles. After all, he made bogeys both days at the third, fourth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and 11th holes . . . Bart Bryant also missed the cut, thanks in large part to playing the par-4 18th in 5 over.