Damron flustered, Uresti flummoxed, more from Round 2

After making his swing on the tee of the par-3 9th at Potomac, seeing the ball sail left of target, Robert Damron could do nothing but shake his head and kick his club in disgust.

After his chip shot from the left greenside bunker hit the green and rolled 25 feet past the hole, Damron quickly escaped the sand trap and hurried to his ball. At this point, it appeared that he wanted nothing more to do with the hole.

Damron missed the putt, tapped in for his bogey, and hurried off the green looking clearly bothered. This completed a disappointing front nine of 5-over 40 for Damron, putting the veteran well outside the cut line at 9-over par.

This was not an isolated example on Friday at TPC Potomac. All day long, the difficult course setup and series of demanding par-4's has caused scores to sail, in sharp contrast to the typical score dispersion seen at a Web.com event.

Take Omar Uresti, for instance. The short-hitting Texan opened the event in 74, knowing a solid round of 2- or 3-under would be necessary if he wanted to stick around for the weekend. After six holes on Friday, Uresti was even on the day, still in position to make a run with a few birdies.

After a double bogey on the par-4 16th, Uresti was suddenly in panic mode. Despite a nice up-and-down from 30 yards for par on 18, the veteran found himself four shots outside the cut line with nine holes to play. This made another missed cut - and further drift down the money list - seem all but inevitable.

Despite a birdie on the par-5 2nd, Uresti will need to go 3-under over his last six to stick around.

Former Ryder Cupper Woody Austin opened the day in a tie for 6th at 4-under, but triple-bogeyed the 4th and turned in 41 to make a missed cut a very tangible reality. Former PGA Tour member Ryan Armour birdied the 1st (his 10th) to get to 1-over on the event, safely inside the current cut line of 2-over, but promptly doubled the 3rd to fall outside the line.

The list goes on and on.

Potomac is eating plenty of veterans alive, while lesser-knowns like Tom Hoge and Monday qualifiers like Josh Persons find themselves on the first page of the leaderboard. Makes you question the perception that tough setups favor experienced players. And so it goes.

More notes:

-Saw Jimmy Jones on the 18th green, who caddied for Ryan Armour in a practice round with KJ in Springfield. When he saw me, Jones ran over to me and gave me a high-five, asking how I was doing. In an ironic twist, Jones is caddying this week for Wes Short - in the same group as Ryan Armour, his former employer. Wonder how those conversations are going.

-Forgot to mention this earlier, but Steve Allan has some interesting body language while watching his shots. Allan played in the same group as KJ, and was constantly observed shaking his head in disbelief and muttering harsh words to himself when the ball didn't head in the desired direction. Allan hung in there for most of the round, but missed a few makeable putts late in the round to finish at 4-over on the event, outside the cut line.

-Asked Fabian Gomez (who shot 70 for a two-day total of 2-under) for an interview after his round. He respectfully declined. The reason?

"He doesn't speak English," his caddie told me.

Gomez was followed by a friend of his caddie, the only other person to follow the group (KJ, Gomez, and Allan) besides me. I had figured that being close to D.C., this tournament had potential to attract a well-sized crowd. Not Friday, but we'll see how things turn out on the weekend.

Then again, it's an exciting time for Washington sports. The Nationals in the playoffs, RG3 taking the NFL by storm.

Who needs the Caps?