LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Rain is in the forecast all day Friday during the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open as a low pressure system moves through the area.

Isolated thunderstorms are possible in the afternoon with highs in the low 60s. There is a 40 percent chance of rain, particularly in the morning, on Saturday and a 30 percent chance on Sunday.

Two players withdrew prior to their second rounds on Friday. Troy Kelly cited the flu while Blake Adams had a hip injury.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. -- Not all was bad for Troy Kelly, who lost on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff Sunday at The Greenbrier Classic.

By finishing second, the 33-year-old journeyman earned a spot in the field at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in two weeks.

Kelly will be joined by Marc Leishman and the player Kelly lost to, Ted Potter Jr. Leishman and Potter punched their tickets via a six-tournament min-money list that ended this week. Kelly earned his spot by being the top finisher here not otherwise eligible.

Similarly, the top finisher in next week’s John Deere Classic not otherwise eligible will also earn a spot in the British Open.

Not that Kelly wouldn’t have minded trading places with Potter.

He almost did, too.

Kelly’s second shot to the par-5 17th ran through the green and down an embankment, but he chipped to 10 feet. He missed the birdie putt, however, and would par the 18th as well.

“I had a good look at it, actually just pushed it a little bit,” Kelly said of the putt. “I needed that, it just wasn't a great stroke. But I made a lot of good strokes. It's an improvement from what I've been doing, so it’s something to build off.”

Indeed.

Kelly, who got his PGA TOUR card after finishing 11th on the Web.com Tour money list last year, will play in his first British Open in two weeks. He’ll also likely get into some other tournaments.

“Just believe in myself,” Kelly said when asked what he learned from being in contention for the first time. “I think that's a huge thing in golf, is to really believe in yourself, and I think that's one thing that Tiger and those guys, Phil and all these great players, they really believe in themselves. When you're coming down the stretch, you've got to look back on things that you've had success in and just believe in yourself to hit those shots again.”

Ted Potter Jr. finished eagle-birdie to force a playoff with Troy Kelly at The Greenbrier Classic. The 28-year-old Potter, a rookie on TOUR this year, tied for 13th at the Sony Open in Hawaii for his only top 25 finish of the season. Kelly, in his second stint on the PGA TOUR, had a chance on the par-5 17th to take a one-shot lead, but missed his 10-foot birdie bid. He holed a par putt from just inside four feet on the par-3 18th to earn his spot in the playoff. A year ago, it was rookie Scott Stallings making a birdie on the 18th (the first playoff hole) to earn his first PGA TOUR victory. Both Potter and Kelly will be hoping to do the same in just a few moments. Stay with the TOUR Report or follow @PGATOUR for live playoff updates.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. -- Troy Kelly has just one more career start on the PGA TOUR, 33, than years he’s been alive.

Usually, that’s a bad combination. In Kelly’s case, however, his career was nearly derailed by a hip injury that required the former University of Washington who once finished second to Luke Donald in the NCAA Championships to have hip replacement surgery in the fall of 2010.

“I didn’t know if I could ever get back to a high level,” Kelly said.

Saturday at The Old White TPC, he certainly was at one.

Kelly shot an 8-under 62 to get to 12 under and the early lead at The Greenbrier Classic.  He hit 16 greens and made eight birdies on a hot, humid day in the West Virginia mountains.

The fact that Kelly is even here is something of a minor miracle.

He was playing the Gateway Tour in Arizona after a successful collegiate career when he noticed his hip was bothering him. But because players ride in carts on that tour, Kelly was able to play through what he thought was just muscle pain.

In fact it was bone-on-bone contact in his hip joint.

“It was tough to play and walk,” said Kelly, who finally underwent surgery to replace the arthritic left hip.

Kelly, who also played basketball growing up, didn’t touch a club for three months before he began chipping and putting again. Five months after the procedure, he began to play again.

Slowly, he started to find his old form, too.

Kelly eventually worked his way to the Web.com Tour, eventually tying for 11th on that Tour’s money list in 2011 to earn his PGA TOUR card.

“It took probably about a year to where all the muscle was actually strength end back up where I could feel normal again,” Kelly admitted.

This season hasn’t gone as well, however. Kelly has missed more cuts (eight) than he made (six) and entered this week 187th in the FedExCup standings.

“I was just kind of thrown into the sharks out here,” Kelly said of his first stint on the TOUR, which came in 2009 when he made 17 starts. “I was not very comfortable obviously. But my time the last couple years [on the Web.com Tour] has been good, and last year I got into contention sometimes and had some success.”

Four times on the Web.com Tour, Kelly finished in the top 10. Two of those were top-3 finishes with Kelly finishing second at the Stadion Classic at UGA and third at the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open.

“It will be a different stage tomorrow,” Kelly admitted. “But I can kind of learn off those, and I think tomorrow will be a good learning experience for me.”

And perhaps a very profitable one, too.