It was mission completed for two of New Zealand's highest profile golfers who guaranteed themselves pay cheques at the US PGA Championships in Rochester, New York, today.
Phil Tataurangi and Michael Campbell both occupied prominent positions on the leaderboard after the second round of the year's last major championship.
Tataurangi shot a
one-over-par 71 at Oak Hill to be in a share of 18th place on 143, six strokes shy of surprise leader, unheralded American Shaun Micheel.
Campbell also signed for 71, leaving him 32nd equal two shots behind Tataurangi, a team-mate when New Zealand won the Eisenhower Trophy world amateur title 11 years ago.
Simply making the cut was a significant achievement for both men, for entirely different reasons.
For Tataurangi, 31, the PGA Championship marked just his second outing on the PGA Tour since he underwent surgery to repair a herniated disc in May.
For Campbell, 34, it was the first cut he'd made in 10 appearances in strokeplay events on US soil this season.
The recently crowned Irish Open champion endured a miserable series of results in the US before he resettled in Europe.
It was also just the fifth time Campbell has survived the cut in the last 15 majors that he's attended, a modest track record which continues to grate on the New Zealand No 1.
Campbell, who opened with a four-over 74 yesterday, was in danger of making an early exit when he made the turn at two-over for the round before a string of four birdies on the back nine settled the nerves.
He lost that momentum, though, by posting a double-bogey six on the 18th.
Tataurangi made a good start, a bogey four on the third being sandwiched between birdies on the second and fourth.
Bogeys followed on the seventh and 10th but he generally played steadily to string together 13 pars and complete two rounds without a double bogey against his name, a fair achievement on a tough course.
The two New Zealanders were more fortunate than a number of high-profile names who failed to make the cut.
Among the casualties were world No 3 Davis Love, 2002 PGA champion Rich Beem, two-time major winner Retief Goosen, Spain's Sergio Garcia, Scotland's Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke, of Northern Ireland.
- NZPA
