Quail Hollow Championship: Second-round notebook

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Tiger Woods knocked his opening tee shots deep into the pine straw on Friday en route to a second-round 72.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bubba Watson (65) and Retief Goosen (68) moved to the top of the leaderboard at 8-under 136 at the midway point of the Quail Hollow Championship, one stroke ahead of Tiger Woods (72), Zach Johnson (67), Jim Furyk (66) and George McNeill (68).

• Watson's 65 equaled the round of the week (Woods, Round 1) and fell just one shy of the tournament-record 8-under 64 posted by Kirk Triplett (2004, Round 1), Bo Van Pelt (2006, Round 2) and Rory Sabbatini (2007, Round 2).

• The front-nine 6-under-par 30 for Watson (his final nine) matched the 9-hole front-nine record (Triplett, 2004, Round 1; Trevor Immelman, 2006, Round 1; Bill Haas, 2006, Round 1; Pat Perez, 2008, Round 3; Woods, 2009, Round 1).

• Watson is making his fourth career start at the Quail Hollow Championship, with missed cuts in 2006 and 2008 and a withdrawal after the third round in 2007. Prior to his 65 on Friday, his previous best round at Quail Hollow was a 3-under 69 during the third round in 2007.

• Watson has now held the second-round lead/co-lead twice in his career, with the first taking place at the 2007 Shell Houston Open, where he was deadlocked in a six-way tie for the lead after two rounds He eventually finished tied for second and three shots behind Adam Scott.

• Goosen, who posted a second-consecutive 4-under 68, is 2 for 8 when holding at least a share of the 36-hole lead, with victories coming at the 2001 U.S. Open and the 2003 Chrysler Championship. This is the second time this season he has been ahead after two rounds, having held a two-stroke lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, an event that was shortened to 54 holes. Goosen finished tied for 10th at the 2008 Quail Hollow Championship.

• The top 10 players on the leaderboard account for 133 career TOUR victories, with Watson and Jason Dufner the only winless players. The list includes Woods (66), Phil Mickelson (36), Furyk (13), Goosen (7), Zach Johnson (5), Jeff Maggert (3), Camilo Villegas (2) and McNeill (1).

• Johnson, playing in the morning wave, posted a 5-under 66 on Friday to move to 7-under 237. The 2007 Masters champion did this despite bogeys on his final three holes, coming on the heels of an eight-hole stretch highlighted by seven birdies (Nos. 8-15, with his only par coming on No. 12).

• This is Johnson's sixth start at the Quail Hollow Championship. After missing the cut in his first three appearances, he has since finished 84th (2007) and tied for 25th (2008). Friday's 67 is just his second sub-70 round in 16 attempts (69, Round 1, 2008).

• McNeill, currently tied for third, is making his third start at the Quail Hollow Championship (missed cut in 2007, tied for 22nd in 2008). Friday's 68 was just one shy of the 5-under 67 he posted in the second round a year ago (his personal best at Quail Hollow). McNeill finished tied for seventh in his first start of the year at the Sony Open in Hawaii, but has failed to crack the top 10 since.

• Thee second-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win eight of 17 stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR this season, most recently by Jerry Kelly at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

• The only second-round leader/co-leader to go on to win the Quail Hollow Championship was Woods in 2007, when a 36-hole total of 138 was good for a three-way tie with Vijay Singh and Arron Oberholser.

• Singh has played every Quail Hollow Championship, with a win and four top-10 finishes on his resume. He entered the week as the only player with made cuts in all six Quail Hollow Championships, but that streak ended this week. Singh has yet to post a top-10 in nine starts this year and has not finished in the top-10 since winning back-to-back PGA TOUR Playoff events in 2009 (The Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship), a span of 11 events without a top-10.

• Defending champion Anthony Kim carded a 3-under 69 to move to 5 under through 36 holes and within shouting distance of the leaders. Kim made his jump despite a double bogey on his scorecard for the second straight day (No. 18 in Round and No. 12 in Round 2). One hole that doesn't give Kim trouble is the par-5 seventh hole. He has now birdied or eagled the 532-yard hole seven consecutive times, dating back to the final round in 2007.

• Ross Fisher, who recently accepted Special Temporary Membership status on the PGA TOUR, posted a 5-under 67 on Friday to move to tied for 17th. Fisher's best finish this season was a fourth-place effort at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. Most recently he finished tied for 30th at the Masters Tournament.

• Jonathan Kaye, making his 300th career start on TOUR this week, stands at 2-under 142 through 36 holes.

• Brad Faxon, who is playing his first full season since having ACL and microfracture surgery on his right leg in December of 2007, is at 1-under 143 and notches his second made cut of the season (12 starts). He finished tied for 52nd earlier this year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

• Brendon Todd, at 4-under 140 (tied for 17th), has now made the cut in four of eight events. In seven previous starts, the TOUR rookie has posted a career-best tie for 32nd at The Honda Classic. Earlier this month, Todd became the first player in Nationwide Tour history to make an ace on the same hole in the same event, doing so at the par-3 17th hole during the first two rounds of the Athens Regional Foundation Classic.

• The cut came at even-par 144, with 74 players advancing to the weekend. Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy and Kevin Sutherland all posted their sixth consecutive cut at the Quail Hollow Championship, the best current streak at the seven-year event.

• Robert Allenby, at 3-under 141, is back on track after seeing his 33-tournament consecutive cuts made streak snapped at the Verizon Heritage.

• After five bogey-free rounds on Thursday, there were just two on Day 2 (Martin Kaymer, 70; Immelman, 70). Kaymer has just one bogey through the first two rounds (No. 9, Round 1).

• Among the past Quail Hollow Championship winners in the field this week, 2008 winner Kim is tied for 11th, 2007 winner Woods and 2006 winner Jim are both tied for third, 2005 winner Singh missed the cut and 2004 winner Toms is tied for 36th.

• The final three holes at Quail Hollow Club played the most difficult on Friday, with the par-3 17th playing the hardest at 3.503, the par-4 18th the second toughest (4.404) and the par-4 16th ranking third hardest (4.291).

• David Berganio Jr. withdrew during the second round with a back injury.