* K.J. Choi's birdie-birdie finish stole the historical thunder from Greg Norman's surprise 2-rd performance.
        - leads a major for the 1st time in his career
        - only player under par after two rounds
        - 67 tied for the 2nd-lowest round of the tournament
        - 7th time in his career he has led at end of 2nd round (        - only once has the 2nd-round Open leader at Birkdale gone on to win ('71 Lee Trevino) 
        - best previous finish at a major was 3rd at the 2004 Masters
        - 2nd straight Open Championship playing in final group on Saturday (with Sergio Garcia last year)

* 53-yr old Greg Norman shot an even par 70 for the 2nd straight day and is in 2nd place at even par. He almost became the oldest player to lead the Open Championship after two rounds if not for a K.J. Choi birdie-birdie finish.
        - The last time he played in the final group of a major was at the '99 Masters, when he played with Jose Maria Olazabal.
        - Par save on 18 gave him the 2nd round lead for most of the day
        - Has not been this high up on leaderboard at an event after 2 rounds since leading the '02 Kemper Open
        - Listed at 500-to-1 odds to win before event started (Source: Ladbrokes)
       
* Camilo Villegas birdied the final 5 holes to finish with the best Open 2nd round ever at Royal Birkdale (65)
        - tied for 6th-best Open Championship round at Royal Birkdale
        - best round in a major in his career (had only broken 70 once: '07 PGA Champ.)
        - 1st player to birdie 5 holes in a row at the Open Championship was Phillip Price in 2001 at Royal Lytham/St. Anne.
        - Never won a PGA TOUR event

* David Duval (remember him?) shot 1-under par and is only 3 shots off the lead.
        - Since winning the '01 British Open, Duval has played 19 majors, missing the Cut in 13 of them and withdrawing from another.
        - His one top-10 at a major over this time was the tournament after he won, the '01 PGA Championship (T-10).
        - Duval has made just one cut in 12 TOUR starts this year, finishing T-60 at the Stanford St. Jude.
        - 1,087th ranked player in the world coming into the event.

* Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh all had much better days after a terrible Day 1.
        - Mickelson shot 11 shots better (-2) and made the Cut with a +7
        - Els shot a -1 and made the Cut at +9. He was below the Cut when he finished
        - Singh shot 71 after carding an 80 on Thursday, but missed the cut at +11
        ** With Phil and Ernie in with Retief Goosen... we still have not had a major since Tiger turned pro that did not feature at least 3 of the Big 5 (including Tiger and Retief Goosen) on the weekend.

* 12 rounds in the 60s on Friday (below Par). There were 3 on Thursday. Average score was 73.78 after a 1st rd average of 75.98.
        - In 1998 at Royal Birkdale, the 2nd-rd average as 74.76.

* Defending champ Padraig Harrington finished birdie, par, eagle, birdie to finish at 2 over par and only 2 shots off the lead. 

* The final group in the third round  (2:40 BST, 9:40 AM ET) will Choi, currently ranked 11th in the world, and Norman, who stands 646th.

Looking ahead to Weekend
- Choi looking to become 1st Asian to win a major
- Norman would be oldest to win a major or any PGA TOUR Event.
- In this century, only Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player have won the same major in 3 different decades. Jack did it with the Masters, U.S. Open and PGA Champ. Player won the U.S. Open in '59, '68, and '74.
- Villegas looking for his first PGA TOUR Win
- Duval, former Number one player in the world, hasn't finished in Top-10 of major since '01 PGA Champ.
- Harrington trying to become 6th player since 1951 to win consecutive Open titles.
- Don't sleep on Jim Furyk (3 back), Robert Allenby (3 back), Stuart Appleby (4 back)