Unlikely duo of Bradley and Dufner lead PGA

Johns Creek, GA – Keegan Bradley and Jason Dufner are the unlikely duo tied atop the leaderboard after a wild, difficult second round Friday at the PGA Championship.

Bradley fired a beautiful six-under 64 on Friday, while Dufner had a 65 to finish 36 holes at five-under 135. The pair is one stroke clear at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Jim Furyk (65), D.A. Points (67), John Senden (68) and Scott Verplank (69) share third place at four-under 136.

It's a jammed leaderboard and perhaps fitting that two relatively unknown players like Bradley and Dufner share the top spot.

"People want to see Tiger Woods, people want to see Phil Mickelson," said Dufner. "But there's other guys that can really, really play golf out here and that are really good that you've never heard of."

Of the top 38 players on the board, only four - Furyk, Mickelson, Davis Love III and Trevor Immelman - are major champions.

Absent from that list is the most prolific major winner of this generation - Woods.

The 14-time major winner and four-time PGA Champion, shot a three-over 73 on Friday and missed the cut at 10-over par.

It was Woods' first missed cut in a major since the 2009 British Open Championship and his first ever in this, his 14th PGA Championship.

"It's a step back in the sense that I didn't make the cut and I'm not contending in the tournament," said Woods, who missed a huge chunk of this season with a leg injury and only returned last week. "It's a giant leap forward in the fact I played two straight weeks healthy."

Health was a major concern for the pre-tournament favorite, U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy.

One day after he strained a tendon in his right wrist, McIlroy taped it up once again, but managed only a three-over 73. He finished two rounds at plus- three.

"I feel as if I can still make birdies out there," said McIlroy. "If I don't think I could contend, I probably wouldn't be playing. So I feel as if there's a decent one out there tomorrow, a 66 or a 65, get myself back into red numbers and maybe shoot something similar on Sunday and see where that leaves me."

It was another tough day at Atlanta Athletic Club.

First-round leader Steve Stricker matched the major scoring record Thursday with a 63, but on Friday, he shot a four-over 74 to fall into a tie for seventh place. Anders Hansen, Brandt Jobe and Brendan Steele joined Stricker two shots back.

Shaun Micheel, the 2003 PGA Champion who was in third after the first round, shot an eight-over 78 and sank to 62nd.

Love, the American Ryder Cup captain, is tied for 14th at one-under par, followed by Immelman, who is tied for 17th and Mickelson, who double-bogeyed the last for an even-par 70 and a share of 38th at plus-one.

MORE TO FOLLOW.