The Barclays: Round 2 notebook

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Note: Due to the weather forecast for rain overnight and early Saturday morning, tee times for The Barclays round three have been changed. While gates will still open at 7 a.m. as originally posted, the first tee time is not until 10:48 a.m. Players will tee off on No. 1 and No. 10 in threesomes.

Weather: Showers throughout the day. A total of 2 inches of rain fell on Liberty National. Cold and blustery conditions with temperatures struggling to reach 70 degrees. Easterly winds at 6-12 mph in the morning and 10-20 mph in the afternoon.

Webb Simpson, currently No. 85 in FedExCup points
Webb Simpson's 68 (-3) in the second round matched Ernie Els for the best of the day and helped move the rookie into his first PGA TOUR lead at 134 (-8). His previous best position after 36 holes in his PGA TOUR career is T5 -- 2009 Sony Open in Hawaii (eventually finished T9) and 2009 FBR Open (eventually finished 65th).

• The second-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win 15 of 36 times this season.

• There has not been a rookie winner yet this year on the PGA TOUR. Of course, there are still plenty of tournaments left in 2009, but the last time no rookie won in an entire season was 1998.

• Simpson is making his first-career start at The Barclays. In the 42-year history of the event, only two players have won in their first starts: Jack Renner (1979) and Vijay Singh (1993). For both of those players, it was also their first PGA TOUR win. Singh was a rookie.

Best finishes by players in their first start at The Barclays (not including 1967):

Paul Goydos, currently No. 49 in FedExCup points
Paul Goydos, co-leader after Round 1, followed his 65 (-7) with an even-par 71 on Friday and stands just two shots back of Simpson's lead. At T2 heading into the weekend, Goydos is in the best position after 36 holes since he led after Round 2 of the 2009 Valero Texas Open (he eventually finished T3).

• Goydos has two PGA TOUR wins: 1996 Bay Hill Invitational and 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii.

• Goydos is contesting The Barclays for the 13th time in his career, making six cuts with three top-20 finishes (T11/1996, T13/1993, T16/2000).

• A 28th-or-better finish this week would move Goydos into the top 30 in FedExCup points. A second-place or better would move him into the top five.

Steve Marino, currently No. 30 in FedExCup points
Like fellow first-round co-leader Paul Goydos, Marino backed up his first round 65 (-6) with an even-par 71 today and is T2 after 36 holes.

In his third year as a PGA TOUR member, Marino is looking for his first win. In The Barclays' 42-year history, eight players have made the event their first PGA TOUR win.

• At The Barclays, Marino missed the cut in 2007 and T69 in 2008.

• This season, Marino has recorded four top-10 finishes, including a T2 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational after losing a sudden-death playoff to Steve Stricker and a T10 last week at the Wyndham Championship. Of Marino's 14 career top-10 finishes over the past three seasons, he's never had back-to-back top 10s.

• Marino could move into the coveted top five in FedExCup standings with a third-place or better finish this week.

Heath Slocum, currently No. 124 in FedExCup points
Heath Slocum could go from almost-worst to almost-first in the FedExCup standings if he keeps playing the way he has over the first two rounds of The Barclays. Slocum was the second-to-last player to qualify for the Playoffs at No. 124, just one point ahead of No. 125 Troy Matteson. But after a first-round 66 and a second-round 72, Slocum is T4.

• Slocum needs to finish at least 53rd or better to move into the top 100 and on to the Deutsche Bank Championship. He could move into the top five of the FedExCup points with a win or second-place finish.

• Slocum, a two-time PGA TOUR winner, is looking for his first win since the 2005 Southern Farm Bureau Classic (Nov. 6, 2005). This season he has two top-10 finishes -- T3 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun and a T10 at the St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx.

Ian Poulter, currently No. 34 in FedExCup points
Following the morning wave of players at The Barclays on Friday, Ian Poulter posted the clubhouse lead at 67-72=139 (-3) and is T6 entering the weekend. He has two top-10 finishes in three previous starts at The Barclays (T9 in 2006, 2007). Poulter, currently No. 34 in the FedExCup standings, could move into the top five by finishing third or better this week.

• Poulter is aiming to make it to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, the PGA TOUR Playoffs finale, for the first time. He has finished No. 57 and No. 112 in the FedExCup in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

• Poulter is looking for his first PGA TOUR win. No Englishman has ever won The Barclays.

Sergio Garcia, currently No. 89 in FedExCup points
Sergio Garcia, co-leader after Round 1 with a 65 (-6), struggled on Friday and posted a 76 (+5). Of the eight times he's been the first-round leader or co-leader of a PGA TOUR event (including this week), Garcia has managed to maintain that lead after the second round only two times: at the 2005 Wachovia Championship (he eventually finished T2); and the 2007 British Open (he eventually finished second). He's only won once before when leading after the first round (2008 PLAYERS Championship).

• This is the second-worst score, in relation to par, Garcia has shot as a follow-up to a Round 1 lead. He posted a 76 (+6) in Round 2 after leading the 2003 World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational.

• On Thursday, 1 of 7 players who went for the green on No. 16 reached the green. On Friday (when the tees were moved up), 4 of 48 who went for the green made it. Scoring average for No. 16 for players who went for the green in two versus those who laid up:

• Dustin Johnson became the first player this week to eagle the par-4 16th hole on Friday. Johnson, who was the only player to reach the green on Thursday when it played to 331 yards, birdied the hole during the first round. PGA TOUR Rules Officials moved the tees up on Friday, making the hole play at 286 yards. Johnson's drive did not reach the green on Friday, but he was able to chip in for eagle.

• Ernie Els also eagled No. 16, hitting his approach to 7 feet and holing the putt.

• Els was 4-over par through four holes in round one after going bogey-par-bogey-double-bogey on holes 10-13, an inauspicious start at best. But the two-time winner of this event has certainly turned things around. Despite another double-bogey on Friday -- on the par-4 fifth -- Els shot a second-round low 69 (-3) and is now T9 at 140 (-2).

• Playing through consistent rain during the morning and early afternoon, there were only two players who broke par in the morning wave of tee times on Friday: Charles Howell III, 70 (-1); and Bill Haas (70 (-1). The scoring average for the morning wave was 75.55 (compared to 71.50 for Thursday's morning wave).

• In the afternoon, eight players broke par. The scoring average for the afternoon wave of tee times was 73.23 (compared to 72.42 for Thursday's afternoon wave).

• Teeing off at 8:21 am, Lucas Glover played his first 11 holes on Friday after starting at No. 10 without a driver. Glover cracked his driver on the driving range Thursday evening following his round. FedEx delivered a replacement driver to Liberty National and the club made it in Glover's bag by the time he reached the third hole, his 12th hole of the day. He drove the ball 326 yards, his longest drive of the day. Without a driver for his first 11 holes, Glover's driving average for Round 2 was 267.0 yards, compared to 277.2 yards during round one. Glover shot 81 (+10) today and missed the cut.

• Vijay Singh shot rounds of 75-75 to miss the cut. The 2009 event marks the fourth time Singh has returned to The Barclays as defending champion. Here is a look at how he has performed in his title defenses:

• In addition to winning the FedExCup, players have other reasons to hope to reach THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. Another motivating factor is the tournaments in 2010 that a player who makes THE TOUR Championship field gains access to.

Players who make THE TOUR Championship field gain entry to the following events in 2010:

1. All full-field, open tournaments.
2. All Invitationals, except the SBS Championship.
3. World Golf Championships-CA Championship
4. Masters Tournament
5. U.S. Open
6. British Open

• The cut came at 147 (+5) and included 77 players, matching the highest 36-hole cut so far this season (Arnold Palmer Invitational) and the highest cut in The Barclays history (1983 and 1993).

• As the first tournament of the four-event PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, this week's field will be cut to 100 players for next week's Deutsche Bank Championship. Players starting the week between 101 and 125 needed to at least make the cut this week in order to advance. Thirteen of the 25 were eliminated from the PGA TOUR Playoffs by missing the 36-hole cut at The Barclays.

• Any player ranked 42nd or better in FedExCup points cannot mathematically fall below 100th this week and is certain to advance to next week's Deutsche Bank Championship.

• There were no bogey-free rounds on Friday.

Withdrawals
Camilo Villegas withdrew during the second round due to a left wrist injury (the first time Villegas has withdrawn during a PGA TOUR event in his career), as did Michael Letzig (wrist). Mathew Goggin withdrew citing a bad back. Steve Flesch was disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard (he signed for a birdie on No. 6 rather than a par). He shot a 76 on Friday and likely would have missed the cut regardless. Chris Stroud withdrew following the first round to be home with his wife who is seven months pregnant. Flesch and Stroud are eliminated from the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.