Live from the PGA at Hazeltine on Friday

Golf writer Andy Reistetter is on site at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota and is providing daily reports covering both inside and outside the ropes.

Here are his notes from Friday, August 14, 2009.

After shooting a two-under 70 and increasing his lead from one to four strokes in the year's last major, Tiger Woods was asked to recall a time "when he choked in the majors."

His response was a stoic and somewhat amused though smile-less blank stare.

His calculated response continued until the moderator awkwardly intervened and translated Tiger's response to a "no."

The question is not relevant nor is it present in the official media transcript.

It is not relevant in Tiger's mind, not in the golfing consciousness and certainly not in any one of the other 79 players to make the cut at four-over par in a drying out Hazeltine golf course.

This is Tiger's PGA Championship to win.

While holding the lead in a major after the second round Tiger is eight-for-eight in his determination to hoist the championship trophy come Sunday afternoon.

Watch out Jack- Tiger will be only three shy of your 18 Majors and only two shy of your 73 wins come Sunday afternoon.

How confident is Tiger Woods at the midpoint of the 91st PGA Championship?

"Well, I think it's just—in order to have a lead in a major championship you can't be playing poorly. And all the times that I've been in this position, I have played well. And I'm playing well now."

Padraig Harrington was off his game a bit today shooting 73 to fall into a second place tie with two-time PGA Champion Vijay Singh (72), relatively unknown Aussie Brendan Jones (70), U.S. Open Champion Lucas Glover (70), and Open at Turnberry contender Englishman Ross Fisher (68).  

Missing a short par putt on the 18th green drops Padraig into the second to last twosome on Saturday.

After playing with Woods the last three competitive rounds including his slow Sunday second place finish last week at the WGC-Bridgestone maybe Harrington needs a break.

"It's not bad to have a day off. Hopefully I'll see him again on Sunday."

The honor of being the first of the second placers to finish and play with the leader Woods in the final pairing falls to Vijay Singh who is jump starting his year with three Top 10s starting back in May at THE PLAYERS Championship.

Remember the big Fijian won the first two playoff events last year on his way to winning the coveted FedEx Cup after a stellar season last year.

"I could have scored one or two more better than I did. And every time I made a birdie I followed up with a bogey or vice versa. And bogey on the last hole was, the conditions, I was up on top of the hill and then the wind blew."

The wind blew hard with gusts up to 25 M.P.H. impacting the scores upward a stroke higher than the first round and slightly over an average of 75.

Vijay does not see the windy conditions at Hazeltine impacting the outcome of the tournament.

"These conditions don't favor anybody. Not even me. I just think if it blows like this it favors whoever is hitting the ball the best, and putts the best. So just have to go out there and hit it solid."

Lucas Glover after winning his first Major Championship eight weeks ago at Bethpage Black was fortunate to play in the morning.

"I thought the greens might have been a little more receptive this morning, and it's getting pretty windy. We had seven or eight pretty good holes and it blew pretty good the last 10 or 11 (holes)."

How is he approaching the possibility of winning his second Major?

"(Keeping a) pretty similar mind-set, just put myself in a good position and see what happens."

Does he see a need to validate his first Major victory?

"I think winning any tournament is important. I don't think—I don't think I have to validate anything. I've been out here six years and had a pretty good career. Just be nice to win another one. I'm not looking to prove anything to anybody else."

This is definitely a more relaxed Lucas Glover both before and after his Father's Day triumph.

"I've been working with sports psychologist, Dr. Morris Pickens, for years, and he's always said, you know, it's really not that big a deal. You know, it took a little while for that to get through my thick skull."

Notables to miss the cut include: Sergio Garcia by one stroke after double bogeying his final hole; 1997 Champion Davis Love III; up-and-coming Bubba Watson and Nick Watney; two-time winner this year but Major-less Steve Stricker; past Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger and future European Captain Colin Montgomerie.  

American Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin and President's Cup Captain Fred Couples both made the cut.

Others still in contention include Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter at two-under nine shots behind Woods. Ernie Els is at one-under after shooting a 68 in the second round.

Two Club pros out of twenty made the cut—Grant Sturgeon an assistant at Oakmont CC playing in his first PGA and Greg Bisconti an assistant at The St. Andrew's Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. who has missed the cut in two prior PGAs.

No player is conceding this championship to Tiger especially the defending champion Padraig Harrington:

"I've got to play very well on the weekend to overhaul Tiger and my attitude will be the same, as I said, regardless on that (missed par) putt (on 18). I've got to take my chances. I've got to be a bit more trusting on the weekend and not in any way cautious."

There are two things for certain going into the weekend at Hazeltine.

No. 1 is that Tiger will win his 15th Major and 71st PGA TOUR event on Sunday afternoon.

No. 2 is the guy who asked "the choke question" will not be asking any more questions at PGA TOUR events.

Enjoy the weekend of golf at Hazeltine and the making of history before our very eyes.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]