KIAWAH ISLAND, South Carolina: Four-time major winner Phil Mickelson has left folks alternately scratching their heads and gasping in amazement with his play on the PGA Tour this year.

The 42-year-old Mickelson shot a brilliant fourth round 64 to beat Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach then contended at the Masters.

But in his last few starts, Mickelson has failed to impress. He also tied for 65th at the US Open.

The left-handed American appeared to be getting his game back together Friday by shooting a one-under 71 in difficult conditions in the second round of the 94th PGA Championship.

He had an early tee time on Friday, when the most of the rain hit.

Mickelson has a two-round total of even-par 144 and is four shots back of the leaders.

"If I'm within four shots or so heading into the weekend, that's a really good position where I can actually feel my game get better as the week's gone on," he said.

Starting on the back nine, he began his round with back-to-back birdies, finishing with three birdies, two bogeys and 13 pars.

"The great thing about this course is if you play well and you hit good shots, you can make pars, you can make some birdies," Mickelson said.

"And if you don't, you're going to make some big numbers, because it really does reward good shots and it penalizes bad ones.

"You have to challenge and take on the crosswinds, and if you get it going with the crosswinds, your misses are going to be very big. And so it's a difficult test."

Mickelson struggled to a two-over 73 in Thursday's opening round, which put him seven shots back of first round leader Carl Pettersson.

Only two players, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, have more starts in a PGA Championship than Mickelson, the 2005 PGA Champion. He is tied for third with eight career top-10 finishes at the PGA Championship. - AFP

Scores on Friday in the second round of the PGA Championship at par-72 Kiawah Island Resort (Ocean Course), Kiawah Island, South Carolina (USA unless stated, all times Local):

140 - Vijay Singh (IND) 71-69, Tiger Woods 69-71, Carl Pettersson (SWE) 66-74

141 - Ian Poulter (ENG) 70-71

142 - Jamie Donaldson (WAL) 69-73, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 67-75

143 - Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 68-75, Adam Scott (AUS) 68-75, Blake Adams 71-72, Trevor Immelman (RSA) 71-72

144 - Phil Mickelson 73-71, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 68-76, Peter Hanson (SWE) 69-75, Tim Clark (RSA) 71-73

145 - Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (ESP) 67-78, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 70-75, Zach Johnson 72-73, Marcel Siem (GER) 72-73, Pat Perez 69-76, Martin Laird (SCO) 71-74, John Daly 68-77, Keegan Bradley 68-77

146 - Fredrik Jacobson (SWE) 71-75, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 69-77, K.T. Kim (KOR) 69-77, Bo Van Pelt 73-73, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 70-76, Scott Piercy 68-78, Marc Leishman (AUS) 74-72, K.J. Choi (KOR) 69-77, Greg Chalmers 70-76, Ryo Ishikawa (JPN) 69-77, Ben Curtis 69-77, Gary Woodland 67-79, Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 68-78

147 - George McNeill 71-76, David Lynn (SCO) 73-74, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 70-77, Ernie Els (RSA) 72-75, Y.E. Yang (KOR) 73-74, Alex Noren 67-80, John Senden (AUS) 73-74, Robert Garrigus 74-73, Cameron Tringale 69-78, Steve Stricker 74-73

148 - Matt Every 72-76, Jimmy Walker 73-75, Bubba Watson 73-75, Rich Beem 72-76, Retief Goosen (RSA) 73-75, Justin Rose (ENG) 69-79, Paul Lawrie (SCO) 73-75, Michael Hoey (NIR) 78-70, Toru Taniguchi (JPN) 72-76, Bill Haas 75-73

149 - Brendon de Jonge (ZIM) 71-78, Marcus Fraser 74-75, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 75-74, J.J. Henry 72-77, Ken Duke 71-78, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 70-79, Darren Clarke (NIR) 73-76, Jim Furyk 72-77, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 70-79, Seung-Yul Noh (KOR) 74-75

150 - Sang Moon Bae (KOR) 72-78, Luke Donald (ENG) 74-76, Chez Reavie 74-76, Dustin Johnson 71-79, Jason Dufner 74-76, David Toms 72-78, John Huh 72-78 - AFP

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