Of course it's a coincidence, but isn't it kind of spooky that East Lake sits gripped by a relentless heatwave all summer, then as soon as the PGA's band of brothers sets foot on the course the heavens open? Maybe there's a marketing opportunity here that Commissioner Tim Finchem hasn't thought of. Anyway, despite dire predictions of more of the same Friday, it now looks possible they'll get all their golf in even with the additional first round games still to be completed. Let's hope so because yet again this is stacking up to be a great weekend of golf, as you'd expect with a clash between golf's finest.

Those eager to crown Tiger Woods with their wallets got a bit of a rap on the knuckles Thursday after taking the great man to odds-on when he birdied the first three holes. After bottoming out at 1.69 his price is now back over 2. You can understand their enthusiasm though - his putter seems as sharp as it was last weekend (I'm getting a little tired of the expression "draino"!) and the only real concern is his difficulty finding the odd fairway. If he goes on like this permanent odds-on status can't be far off.

That presents an almighty headache for Phil Mickelson, whose recovery from going three shots down produced one of the day's best performances. His misfortune is a caution to everyone about that dangerous fifth hole, which even caught out Tiger.

With the hottest putter in town, it's small wonder Tim Clark is leading the way, although his ability to find fairways is not up to his usual high mark. While his stats had suggested he would be a contender, Tim's problem, even in much lesser company, is closing the deal. As for Padraig Harrington in second, if he says the greens remind him of soggy Ireland in spring who am I to argue? I just wonder if he would have been saying that 24 hours earlier.

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