PGA Championship 2012: Highlighting Top Stars Still in Contention

Some of the stars weren't quite as good in the second round as they were in the first, but they're providing at least a smidgen of hope that the winner of this year's PGA Championship will be someone you've heard of.

While the likes of Rory McIlroy and Keegan Bradley dominated the first-round action at Kiawah Island, there are plenty of other stars who have lingered not too far down on the leaderboard and could be poised to make runs over the final two rounds of the last major of the year.

Throughout the course of 2012, we've seen some of the PGA's top stars crumble after making the first cut, so we know that being outside the top 10 right now isn't all that important. For those players, what's important is bringing their best golf on Saturday and Sunday.

Here's a look at some of the stars still gearing up to make runs over the last two days of the PGA Championship.

Adam Scott

Scott has been notoriously unable to sustain his momentum throughout the entirety of a tournament, but perhaps he still has a solid round or two left in him at Kiawah. At least, he'll have to hope so, because after a strong first round in which he shot a 68, he crumbled a little bit on Day 2 and set himself back a few paces with a second-round 75.

At three-over par, Scott badly needs an excellent third round—kind of like the one he had on Thursday—in order to keep himself in the hunt and avoid another heartbreaking collapse like the one he had at the British Open. At Royal Lytham, he led by four shots with four holes left to play, but he bogeyed each of those last four holes to blow it.

We know Scott tends to be streaky; hopefully, he has a positive streak left in his system for Saturday.

Phil Mickelson

Mickelson is following the inverse trajectory of Scott: He shot an unimpressive 73 in the first round, but he made up for it with a 71 in the second round to put himself at even par. It certainly doesn't put him at the top of the leaderboard, but it doesn't rule him out of contention, either.

Mickelson has been in the midst of a major drought since the 2010 Masters, and overall, his play has left a lot to be desired ever since he tied for third this year at Augusta. Since early April, his best finish was a tie for seventh at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. Including that, his last eight outings have featured a withdrawal, two missed cuts and four finishes of 25th or worse.

A good performance at the PGA Championship is exactly what Mickelson needs. He's been tinkering with his mechanics and making adjustments for the last several months, so maybe this is when he proves that he has finally figured everything out.

Vijay Singh

Out of the three of these stars, Singh seems to have the best shot at staying somewhere near the top of the leaderboard—at least right now. He had a decent first round, shooting a 71 to keep himself very much in contention, but the second round was much kinder to him. Singh shot a 69 and currently sits at four-under.

A win at the PGA Championship would be huge for Singh, who hasn't won a major since he took this one in 2004. He hasn't won a PGA Tour event since the 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship. This is his opportunity to show the world he isn't quite finished yet.

Singh's 2012 season hasn't been entirely impressive, but he's been much better over the last few weeks than he has been for the majority of the year. He tied for ninth at Royal Lytham and followed that up with a tie for seventh at the RBC Canadian Open. In his last outing, he shot in the mid- to high 60s in each round. If he can maintain the momentum he currently has throughout the whole weekend at Kiawah, he'll be in good shape.