84 Lumber Classic Round Two: Never mind Micheel's last stand, what about DiMarco's resurrection?

I wonder if Shaun Micheel feels anything like General Custer, the last American left standing at the matchplay in Wentworth, surrounded by those pesky Europeans. But even though other members of America’s Ryder Cup squad were also falling like flies at Farmington this week, don’t raise the surrender flag just yet. At least two of your number have valiantly risen from the dead.

I had great hopes for Chris DiMarco and Brett Wetterich at the start of the 84 Lumber and, while those hopes lie mostly in shreds, at least the pair stand shoulder-to-shoulder above the cut line - just.

Not that you’d know that from all the media coverage of this event, because apparently the really BIG story of the 84 Lumber is that a 16-year-old girl is last by a country mile and hasn’t made it through to the weekend. You Yanks don’t get out much, do you? (Heave a frustrated sigh and move on.)

The tale of Friday, not that you can easily read about it through the Wiemania this morning, is of a struggle to break through the mark set in the first round. There’s a few new faces at the top, but we’re only a shot further forward than Thursday.

With good weather forecast, scoring will likely get tighter, but expect a few other faces to join a Sunday scramble. I’m even thinking of backing Vijay Singh to put on a spurt now his price is out in the 30s.

Ryan Moore and Charles Howell look like lays to me at 9 and 11 - they are up against proven winners and hardly set the fairways alight when they did come second in single events this season. I hardly noticed they were there.

Ben Curtis, Rory Sabbatini and Sean O’Hair look the business so far, with Steve Stricker the dark but consistent horse.

Now, what’s that white thing waving over there?