Cheesehead Kendall Stands Alone With 65

So, how tough is this Monster Medinah thing?

So tough that the competitive course record of 66 was tied Thursday and broken Friday when Skip Kendall posted a seven-under-par 65.

Yes, that Skip Kendall . . . the 34-year-old Milwaukee-born Orlando resident who worked part time as a waiter while playing the mini-tours in Florida and hasn’t won in four years on the PGA Tour.

None of this somewhat inconsistent pedigree mattered at Medinah, made a lot easier by Thursday’s rain that has transformed the greens into golf ball magnets.

“It was one of those rounds you dream about,” Kendall said.

And so it was. He birdied three of the first four holes and his last three going out, shooting six-under 30 on the front, birdied the first hole after the turn and played the last eight in even par for his 65.

Kendall, whose wife, Beth, caddies for him, is one of several Wisconsin players who played at Medinah. That group included Jerry Kelly, J.P. Hayes and Steve Stricker.

“Maybe it’s a little motivator,” Kendall said.

After two rounds, Kendall is low cheesehead.

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Hale Irwin was asked if he won on Sunday, would he then be chosen by Ben Crenshaw as a captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup.

Irwin paused for a moment.

“Are we going to get paid?” Irwin asked.

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Going south with a bullet: That would be John Huston, who began the PGA No. 13 on the Ryder Cup points list and wound up missing the cut when he shot a second-round 80.

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The Worst Decision of the Week award goes to Steve Elkington, who decided to get rid of his golf bag Thursday when he withdrew from the tournament after his caddie was hospitalized because of chest pains.

Elkington gave it to a kid who asked for it, which was fine, except that Elkington had left his wedding ring and sinus medication in the bag.

When he heard Elkington’s appeal for his medicine and ring on television Friday, Ryan Kent, 4, of Winfield, Ill., and his dad, Scott, returned them.

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It’s a standard of golf to identify the best players who haven’t won a major, a list that once included Corey Pavin, Elkington and Davis Love III, to name a few.

Colin Montgomerie, Phil Mickelson and David Duval head the new list, but Lee Westwood is a semi-recent addition. Westwood, a 26-year-old Briton, has won eight times on the European PGA Tour and once on the PGA Tour.

Westwood, whose six-under 138 total is only three shots off the lead at the PGA, tied for sixth at the Masters, missed the cut at the U.S. Open and tied for 18th at the British Open.

But Westwood doesn’t feel any sense of urgency to remove his name from the major-less list. In fact, he’s not even sure he’s on it.

“Fortunately, I haven’t been pushed in that category yet,” he said. “I suppose because I’m only 26 years old. I’ve got a few more years on those guys. And I suppose because I haven’t come close to winning one yet, so nobody’s mentioned me in that group.

“But it hasn’t really bothered me what anybody else thinks.”

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There were 25 club pros in the field at the start and one made the cut--Bruce Zabriski from Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Zabriski is the first club pro to make the cut at the PGA since Wayne Defrancesco in 1995 at Riviera.