Sauers in Lead, Faldo in Hunt : PGA: Englishman is trying to become first European since 1930 to win event. Daly barely makes the cut.

The profile of so many past PGA Championship winners has included the description “one-event wonder,” and the top of the leaderboard after two rounds of play at Bellerive is filled with players seeking their first major championship.

But Nick Faldo has another idea. Bidding to win his second consecutive major title, and sixth in the last five years, the British Open champion shot a one-under-par 70 out of this stately old course on another unseasonably cool day that reminded him of an English summer back home.

That left Faldo tied for second place, two strokes behind Georgia journeyman Gene Sauers, a first-round co-leader who recovered from two early bogeys and shot 69 for a total of six-under-par 136.

Sauers, who has two tour victories in nine years as a pro, said after his round Friday: “I came in here trying to look at it like another golf tournament, not a major. I’ll look at it like a major on Sunday night.”

Informed of those remarks, Faldo, trying to become the first European since Scotsman Tommy Armour in 1930 to win this event, had another idea. “I can’t imagine it’s that easy,” he said. “Majors are not just another tournament, and this is not just another golf course. It won’t be as easy as that.

“I’ve experienced what the pressure is like, and experience in the majors does give you a little advantage.”

Sauers has had relatively little experience in a major championship, and none as a leader after two rounds, a common bond with many of his nearest pursuers. Of the 13 players within six strokes of him, only Faldo at 138, Craig Stadler (139), Larry Nelson (140) and Fred Couples (142) have won major events.

Said Couples: “I’ve watched Nick Faldo play very well now for two days. He’s going to be very tough to beat.”

Still, Sauers has every intention of trying, as does Jim Gallagher Jr., one of two golfers who shot the day’s low round of 66 (a course record) and is tied in second place with Faldo and left-hander Russ Cochran.

Steve Richardson, Faldo’s countryman and a man many believe could be England’s next great player, also launched himself into contention with the other 66, leaving him three behind at 139, tied with Stadler, the first-round co-leader who shot 72.

But while those players were working their way up the leader board, some of golf’s more prominent names worked themselves out of the tournament.

Among them were Jack Nicklaus (78 for 150), Curtis Strange (78-152) and Ian Woosnam (80-153). All missed the cut for the final two rounds. So did Arnold Palmer, who struggled to an 83 for 162.

Defending champion John Daly rallied for a 72 and matched the cutoff figure of 148.

“I think I was more nervous today than last year when I won the tournament because nobody thought I was going to make the cut,” Daly said. “So maybe I shoved it in somebody’s face that I finally did.

“I may not play good Saturday and Sunday, but the media’s been saying I can’t make the cut in tournaments and stuff and it’s just kind of funny.”

Sauers showed enough grit Friday to indicate he might still be a factor over the weekend. He three-putted from 40 feet--missing an eight-footer for par--at the 165-yard third hole, then missed a nine-footer for another bogey at the fourth, the result of a snap-hooked drive into Bellerive’s four-inch rough.

He came back with four birdies and 10 pars the rest of the way, and said: “The key thing is patience. When I started learning how to play, my brother, Bobby, always said be patient, don’t get ticked off and throw your clubs. So I didn’t get upset about those two holes, I just tried to get going. That’s just my nature.”

Sauers pushed back toward the lead with birdie putts of 12 feet at the eighth hole and 35 feet at the 14th. His best shot of the day was a 220-yard four-iron that landed three feet from the hole at the 223-yard 16th hole, a brutal par-three made even more difficult Friday by swirling breezes.

His last birdie was an eight-footer at the 536-yard 17th, and when he two-putted for par at 18 “it made me feel real good.”

Because this is not merely another tournament, this statistic will not make Sauers feel good: Faldo has more victories in major events (five) than Sauers, Gallagher and Cochran have in regular PGA Tour events combined (four).

PGA Championship

LEADERS Player: Score Gene Sauers: 67-69--136 Russ Cochran: 69-69--138 Nick Faldo: 68-70--138 Jim Gallagher, Jr.: 72-66--138 Steven Richardson: 73-66--139 Craig Stadler: 67-72--139 Nick Price: 70-70--140 Rocco Mediate: 72-68--140 Gil Morgan: 71-69--140 Larry Nelson: 72-68--140 Brad Faxon: 72-69--141 Brian Claar: 68-73--141 Fred Couples: 69-73--142 Bruce Fleisher: 70-72--142

OTHERS Player: Score Lanny Wadkins: 72-71--143 Tom Watson: 72-71--143 Ray Floyd: 69-75--144 Corey Pavin: 71-73--144 Greg Norman: 71-74--145 Payne Stewart: 76-69--145 Paul Azinger: 72-73--145 Tom Kite: 73-73--146 Ben Crenshaw: 75-71--146 Hale Irwin: 71-77--148 Davis Love III: 77-71--148 John Daly: 76-72--148

NONQUALIFIERS Player: Score Chip Beck: 74-75--149 Mark O’Meara: 75-75--150 Jose Maria Olazabal: 73-77--150 Jack Nicklaus: 72-78--150 Curtis Strange: 74-78--152 Ian Woosnam: 73-80--153 Arnold Palmer: 79-83--162