The Starter, Round 2: BMW Championship

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Sep. 10, 2010

The second round of the BMW Championship is set to begin Friday. Here's a preview:

Groups we're watching:

Tee time	Players
9:10 a.m. ET No. 1		Ian Poulter, Stuart Appleby Poulter erased some bad memories and put himself into position to advance to East Lake with a strong first round.
10:10 a.m. ET, No. 10		Tiger Woods, K.J. Choi A combined 2-over performance Thursday won't do the trick for players outside the top 30. Will either make a move today?
1:50 a.m. ET, No. 1		Matt Kuchar, Charley Hoffman Why would the top two in the FedExCup standings stop now? Kuchar leads and Hoffman is tied for 12th. A win for either gives them a No. 1 seed at East Lake.

MORE ROUND 2: Tee times | Inside the field | Inside the course | Transcripts

EXPERT PREVIEW: PGA TOUR NETWORK on-site correspondent Bob Stevens previews Friday's action:

Friday's forecast

Partly Cloudy
Temp: 71 high/53 low
Chance of precipitation 10 percent. Winds from NE around 10 mph.

Tiger Woods warned us that the greens were "spotty", which also described his putting from short range in the opening round. Three missed putts inside 4 feet derailed a pretty decent shot-making round. He didn't hit balls after his round, so we'll all be interested in what he finds before he tees off with K.J. Choi at 9:10 a.m. local time.

We'll also be watching Matt Kuchar's health. The first round leader, and FedExCup points leader is one of the most accomodating players on TOUR, apologized, but didn't want to talk about his opening 64 because of a very sore throat. By playing early-late, Kuchar won't have to show up till 12:50 p.m. local time for his second round with Charley Hoffman. He's actually guaranteed being in the top-5 headed home to the TOUR Championship at East Lake in Atlanta no matter what happens this week, so his health may be more important to him than how he plays with that early lead.

Having seen the two 59s on TOUR this year, I get asked all the time if the TOUR has made the courses play easier this summer and the response has always been that its not the set-ups, its the conditions. Many TOUR courses this summer took on significant rains just before the tournaments started, and there was almost no wind at many of the venues either, particularly those that gave up the 59s. Firm up the fairways and greens like we've seen so far at Cog Hill and scores will rise. The players actually love these conditions, it just takes a little while to get used to them, leading me to believe scoring might be a little lower in round two than on Thursday, when the average score of the Top 70 players on TOUR was a half-shot OVER par.

The Film Room

	PGA TOUR Today: September 10, 2010 Casey Black takes a look back at the first round of the BMW Championship and discusses what to expect Friday at Cog Hill. Watch it
	BMW Championship: Round 1 Highlights Matt Kuchar continues his hot play with an opening-round 64 in the first round of the BMW Championship. Watch it
	Shot of the Day: Tiger Woods Tiger Woods hits an improbable approach shot out of trees and makes birdie at the par-4 10th hole. Watch it