The Barclays: Second-round notebook

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PARAMUS, N.J. -- Defending champion Steve Stricker carded a 7-under 64 in the second round at The Barclays on Friday and will take a three-shot lead over first-round leader Hunter Mahan into Saturday's third round

Former PGA Champion David Toms is one of the first players out of the Playoffs. (Feldman/Getty Images)

Status of Those

Needing to Move Up

Player 36-Hole Standing 121. David Toms MC 122. Richard S. Johnson T61 123. James Driscoll MC 124. Bob Estes DNP 125. Tom Lehman MC 126. Tim Petrovic T61 127. Jason Day T44 128. Martin Laird T14 129. Joe Durant MC 130. Jason Gore MC 131. Angel Cabrera T3 132. Ryan Palmer T10 133. Tim Herron T21 134. Michael Allen T21 135. J.J. Henry T44 136. Frank Lickliter II T44 137. Jon Mills MC 138. Chris DiMarco MC 139. Jesper Parnevik T21 140. Roland Thatcher DNP 141. Justin Bolli T44 142. Jeff Overton T36 143. Glen Day T36 144. Lee Janzen T21

Note: The top 120 in points on Sunday will advance to next week's Deutsche Bank Championship.

• The 36-hole cut fell at 1-over 143 with 72 players making it to the weekend. This is the 19th over-par cut in 37 stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR this year.

• The following players, who began the week seeded between Nos. 121-144 on the FedExCup points list, have been eliminated from the PGA TOUR's Playoffs for the FedExCup after missing the 36-hole cut: David Toms (No. 121), James Driscoll (No. 123), Tom Lehman (No. 125), Joe Durant (No. 129), Jason Gore (No. 130), Jon Mills (No. 137) and Chris DiMarco (No. 138).

• Angel Cabrera and Ryan Palmer are currently the only players outside the top 120 in the FedExCup standings who are in the top 10 through two rounds at The Barclays.

• Steve Stricker's three-shot lead is one of the largest 36-hole leads on the 2008 PGA TOUR. Tiger Woods led the Buick Invitational by four, as did Phil Mickelson at the Northern Trust Open and Parker McLachlin at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.

• Other players to lead by three after 36 holes this year are Johnson Wagner at the Shell Houston Open, Jonathan Byrd at the AT&T Classic, Chez Reavie at the RBC Canadian Open and Carl Pettersson at the Wyndham Championship.

• Stricker began his 2008 season with a playoff loss at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and through seven tournaments had four top-10s to his name. Since then, he has missed five out of 11 cuts and only recorded one top-10, a tie for seventh at the British Open.

• Through two rounds this week, Stricker is tied for 27th in Driving Accuracy, tied for sixth in Greens in Regulation, and third in Putting Average.

• The only player in the 41-year history of The Barclays to successfully defend his title is Ernie Els in 1996 and 1997.

• Three players in 2008 have successfully defended a title they won in 2007: Tiger Woods (Buick Invitational), Boo Weekley (Verizon Heritage) and Padraig Harrington (British Open).

• Stricker entered the 2007 PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup at No. 12 on the points list and vaulted to No. 1 with his win at The Barclays. Stricker entered this week at No. 21 on the FedExCup points list.

• The last player to successfully defend a non-major championship PGA TOUR title at a different course than the one he won on the year prior was Jim Furyk in 2007 at the RBC Canadian Open. Furyk won the 2007 title at Angus Glen Golf Club after capturing it in 2006 at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.

• The last time Stricker held a 36-hole lead on the PGA TOUR was at the 2006 U.S. Open, when he held a one-stroke lead at the halfway point en route to a tie for sixth. This is the seventh time in his career in which he has held at least a share of the 36-hole lead on TOUR.

• Hunter Mahan's 62 on Thursday marked the fifth time in his PGA TOUR career in which he has shot 62. The only time that Mahan has followed up one of those rounds with another round in the 60s came at the 2004 Valero Texas Open, where he followed a third-round 62 with a final-round 69. Mahan's other four follow-up rounds are as follows: 73 (08 The Barclays), 76 (07 The Barclays), 74 (07 RBC Canadian Open) and 71 (07 Travelers Championship).

• Through two rounds at The Barclays, players in the morning wave seem to have an advantage over those in the afternoon wave in regards to scoring. Through 36 holes, 39 rounds in the 60s were recorded in the morning waves, while only 14 were recorded in the afternoon waves.

• The 36-hole leader/co-leader at The Barclays has gone on to win the tournament 12 times in the tournament's 41-year history. Vijay Singh (2006) is the only leader at the halfway point of The Barclays to win since 2001.

• Of the 16 players who have held at least a share of the 36-hole lead at The Barclays dating back to 1996, only four of them have failed to finish in the top five on the week: David Howell (2006), Briny Baird (2003), Jeff Maggert (1999) and Jim Furyk (1998).

• Dudley Hart (67-69--136) has made a habit out of fast starts in 2008. Four times this year, Hart has been inside the top six through 36 holes of a PGA TOUR event: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (tied for sixth), The Honda Classic (tied for third), Wachovia Championship (tied for third) and the Buick Open (tied for second).

• 2007 U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera recorded a bogey-free 67 on Friday at The Barclays to finish at 6-under 136. Cabrera has only one top-10 finish on the PGA TOUR since winning the U.S. Open last year, a tie for fifth at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. This marks the first time that Cabrera has opened a TOUR event with back-to-back rounds in the 60s (69-67--136) since the 2005 CA Championship.

• 2001 and 2004 Barclays champion Sergio Garcia is back in the hunt after rounds of 70-67--137. In eight starts at The Barclays, Garcia has an impressive four top-5 finishes. He has not finished in the top 10 at this event in three starts since his win in 2004.

• Garcia enters the weekend trailing Stricker by five shots, which is a deficit identical to the one he faced when he won in 2004 at The Barclays. Garcia then trailed 36-hole leader Fred Couples by five shots before carding weekend rounds of 68-67 en route to his win.

• Bill Haas, who entered the week at No. 107 on the FedExCup points list, carded a second-round 68 on Friday to finish 36 holes at 3-under 139. Haas' father Jay played in The Barclays 27 times with only four top-10s to his name; however, three of those four were near misses as he finished tied for fourth in 2003, tied for third in 1994 and tied for second in 1984.

• Eric Axley rebounded nicely from a first-round 78 on Friday with a second-round 65. The 2006 Valero Texas Open winner has played well lately with ties for fourth in two of his last five starts on the PGA TOUR (John Deere Classic, Legends Reno-Tahoe Open). Friday's round of 65 marks the 10th time in his last 22 rounds on TOUR that he has shot 67 or lower.

• Bogey-free rounds on Friday: Steve Stricker (64), Angel Cabrera (67) and Eric Axley (65).