Day in Review: Toms' perspective, beard talk and a disaster at 17

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Bearded golfers are starting to fill the leaderboard. Could facial hair be the key at TPC Sawgrass?

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- David Toms is playing small ball and giving big advice. The beards are also multiplying and climbing the leaderboard through 36 holes of THE PLAYERS Championship.

Luke Donald is in contention with a spotless (as in no bogeys) record. No surprise there. Meanwhile, one threesome played the 17th hole in a collective 11 over, sending five balls into the water. No surprise there, either (albeit a bit extreme, even by the island hole's standards).

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COLUMNS

Ross: Toms' bold play pays
Wacker: McDowell returning
Round 2: Day in Review

PLAYER REPORTS

McDowell's repaired game
New-look Mahan contending
Scrambling 67 for Stricker
Manassero, 18, makes cut
Garrigus parks his driver
Fowler finishes with flurry
O'Meara's putter balky in 74
Karlsson hits strike Friday
Final nine disappoints Phil

It's the halfway point at TPC Sawgrass and, as usual, more difficult conditions and quickened heartbeats await on the weekend as the 30th winner at the Stadium Course will be crowned on Sunday night.

LEADING MAN: David Toms is 44, a lifelong Louisianan, a family man, a past major winner and a well-respected guy on the PGA TOUR who raised more than $1.5 million through his foundation for Hurricane Katrina. He has things in perspective, and he knows whether or not he maintains THE PLAYERS lead for 36 more holes this weekend is not a life-or-death situation.

Even so ...

Not having won a TOUR event in five years, he welcomes the opportunity -- and the pressure -- he'll face this weekend as he takes a one-shot lead over third-round playing partner Nick Watney.

"I love having a chance," Toms said. "I mean, that's what I've always played for. You know, you work hard, you stay on the road away from your wife and kids, and you want to have the opportunity to get in the hunt, and certainly that's why I play.

"Whenever it happens again, if it happens again for me, it'll be a great day."

Maybe that day is Sunday.

HAIRY STORIES: In the midst of all this golf, did a hockey playoff game break out?

Much in the tradition of hockey players growing beards when the Stanley Cup playoffs begin, the top of the leaderboard after two rounds has a resounding display of facial hair. Yes, Lucas Glover has made the full, thick beard popular. But now there's Hunter Mahan with his longer locks and red beard and Graeme McDowell with his scruffy growth.

"(Glover) is another category of wooly mammoth," said Mahan, who is 7 under. "I don't like a smooth face, I guess. I want to see something on there. Just something different. Everybody has a shaved face and short hair and a hat on and rolls around here.

"As long as you guys notice, I think it's a good thing."

MCDOWELL'S RECOVERY: Speaking of McDowell, his game was one of the best for approximately 10 months -- U.S. Open victory, Ryder Cup-clinching putt and a victory over Tiger Woods at Tiger's tournament last winter. But for the past two months, McDowell said he had been playing "to make a 15-handicapper proud" and "swinging the golf club like an idiot."

After working with his coach, Pete Cowan, last weekend in Orlando, he is back on track, standing just four shots off the pace.

"When things are going bad, you forget what it's like when things are going well," McDowell said.

THE BOGEY MAN: Maybe Brian Gay should have a conversation with Luke Donald. Gay, the Florida Gator, has made 10 birdies and an eagle on a par 4 this week but has also made a quadruple bogey on the final hole of his first round and then came back with a double bogey on the next-to-last hole of his second round. He stands 4-under after a second round he termed a "rollercoaster."

Meanwhile, Donald stands at 8 under. The Englishman has made eight birdies and no bogeys. This includes streaks of eight and six consecutive pars during his first 36 holes.

"Yesterday was pretty impressive," Donald said of his first-round 69. "I made a couple of putts of 20 feet or more for pars and another couple great up and downs. So yesterday was a lot more impressive that today."

Water Log: 17th hole

How many tee shots found the water at the famous 17th island green? Check out Friday's numbers here.

17TH IN 20 STROKES: The final grouping of the morning wave on Friday wishes that the 17th hole didn't exist. Alex Cejka (7), Paul Goydos (5) and Edoardo Molinari (8) combined to hit five balls in the water and total a score of 20.

All three hit their tee shots long into the hazard (click for video). Molinari had the worst of it with two wet balls and a three-putt.

Goydos was the only one to survive the calamity. He made six birdies, two bogeys and the double on 17 to shoot 70 and is at 5 under entering the weekend. He received a round of applause when his third shot found the green.

THE BIG EVENTS: Davis Love III is the Ryder Cup Captain for the 2012 event, but he hasn't given up on trying to be a player and captain in Chicago at Medinah. At 7 under, the 47-year-old Love is contending for a third PLAYERS title.

"There would probably be less pressure playing than captaining," Love said. "It would throw a lot on my wife and assistant captains, but I'd love to be talking to you about that this time next year."

Love's other goal is to make Captain Fred Couples' Presidents Cup Team for the event later this year in Australia.

Another player who has become focused on big events is Watney, the first-round leader who stands one behind Toms. Watney has been working on the higher profile events since shooting a final-round 81 after holding the lead in the 2010 PGA Championship. He won the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship earlier this year and now has THE PLAYERS in full view.

"The PGA left a horrible taste in my mouth," Watney said. "In the off-season, I really made it a goal to try to get in contention as much as I could and get that feeling back again and do better."

THE REAL THING: Steve Stricker uses the par-5 16th hole as an example of how intimidation on THE PLAYERS Stadium Course ratchets up when the tournament begins.

"I had a 5-iron in my hand and the pin is down there on the right," said Stricker, who is 8 under after a second-round 67, including a back-nine 31. "If I was playing a practice round, I'd be firing right at that thing, and I aimed it right over there at the left side of the green (on Friday). I didn't even care if it went in the rough. Sometimes it's hard to pull the trigger and actually aim at the pin because it's up tight against the water."

CALLING CHARLOTTE HOME: The Queen City, Charlotte, N.C., is quickly becoming a home spot for PGA TOUR players. Johnson Wagner, Brendon de Jonge, Matthew Goggin, Fred Couples and Bubba Watson moved there. Robert Karlsson of Sweden made the big move at the end of 2010, along with his wife and two children, from Monaco.

"If you do this kind of move across the Atlantic, you don't do it for six months," said Karlsson, who is 6 under after a second-round 67. "You've got to take the decision to do it and go for it."

SCALING BACK: There are many ways to attack THE PLAYERS Stadium Course. Take Robert Garrigus, the longest driver on the PGA TOUR the last two years.

After failing to break 74 in two previous PLAYERS appearances and in Thursday's first round, Garrigus found the correct medicine on Friday, shooting a 69 to make the cut. He used driver just twice on Friday and promises to use his biggest weapon only once on Saturday.

He has resorted to even using a 7-wood off the tee to score lower and not dazzle the galleries with big drives, as he did in 2007 and 2008.

"I went for everything then, it didn't matter," Garrigus said. "I learned my lesson."

O'MEARA'S ADVICE FOR TIGER: Mark O'Meara cooled off on Friday with a 2-over 74. However he safely made the cut at 4-under par. That allows him to answer more questions about his injured friend Tiger Woods.

"My advice would be to come and hang out with me for a while," said O'Meara, who lives in Houston. "We go way back. We've spent a lot of quality time together. I believe when you're struggling, it's good to be around your friends and people who really care about you. Not just his golf game and what he's accomplished on the course, but a true friend."

O'Meara, 54, may have a bit of competition on the weekend for the "senior division" title as Corey Pavin, 51, shot a 69 on Friday to finish at 3 under and Kenny Perry, 50, is 1 under after birdieing two of the last three holes on Friday.