Golf:Paul Casey is in position in Chicago to make his exclusion from the Ryder Cup look a huge mistake by Colin Montgomerie.
Casey, overlooked for a wild card despite being the world number nine, repeated his opening 69 at the BMW Championship - third event of the FedEx Cup play-offs - and will go into the third round in a tie for fourth spot only two behind leaders Matt Kuchar and Charlie Wi.
The 33-year-old, joined on four under par by fellow Englishmen Ian Poulter and Luke Donald, has not shot higher than 72 in the past month and describes himself as "in a good place right now".
That was not the case two weeks ago when he realised he had not been picked by Montgomerie while playing with Pádraig Harrington, who had been.
He said: "It's done and dusted. You've got to get over things pretty quickly - I got over it pretty quickly. I've had a lot of conversations, even the guys who have been picked by Corey (Pavin) and the guys who automatically qualified.
"I don't really want to sort of share what people's views are. I don't think that's right."
Casey has also spoken with European Tour chief executive George O'Grady and says he has been "relaying messages" with Montgomerie.
"Monty is a friend. He was in a very difficult position," he said.
Europe's captain had to leave out at least one of Casey, Harrington, Donald and Justin Rose after they all decided to stay in America rather than return for the climax to the qualifying race.
In the end he left out Casey and Rose to make room for in-form Italian Edoardo Molinari, who won the last counting event.
Poulter would have shared the lead but for two late bogeys in his 72, while Donald - joint second in the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday - birdied the last for a 70 that maintains his bid for the €7.8million jackpot in Atlanta in two weeks' time.
Kuchar, winner of the opening play-off event, is still in the driving seat, though, after it initially looked as if illness was going to cost him dear.
The American Ryder Cup newcomer, suffering from a virus, bogeyed four of his first six holes, but played the last seven in three under to be alongside Korean Wi.
Rose, meanwhile, had a 71 for three under and joint ninth, which makes it four English players in the top 10 at halfway.
Tiger Woods remains an also-ran after he improved only one shot on his opening 73, while 21-year-old Ulsterman Rory McIlroy remains near the rear of the 70-strong field after rounds of 76 and 74.
Collated second-round scores and totals (USA unless stated, par 71):
136Charlie Wi (Kor) 67 69, Matt Kuchar 64 72
137Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 65
138Dustin Johnson 68 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 67 71, Paul Casey (Eng) 69 69, Ian Poulter (Eng) 66 72, Luke Donald (Eng) 68 70
139Kevin Na 70 69, Hunter Mahan 71 68, Justin Rose (Eng) 68 71, Ryan Moore 65 74
140Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 69 71, Adam Scott (Aus) 71 69, K J Choi (Kor) 71 69, Camilo Villegas (Col) 70 70, Tim Clark (Rsa) 70 70
141Vaughn Taylor 70 71, Brian Gay 68 73, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 71, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 72 69, Matthew Jones (Aus) 71 70
142Michael Sim (Aus) 72 70, Robert Allenby (Aus) 72 70, David Toms 70 72, Tom Gillis 70 72
143Steve Stricker 70 73, Zach Johnson 70 73, Stewart Cink 70 73, Phil Mickelson 72 71, Justin Leonard 72 71, Bill Haas 70 73, Sean O'Hair 75 68, Tim Petrovic 73 70, Bo Van Pelt 72 71
144Nick Watney 70 74, Jim Furyk 73 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 72 72, Rickie Fowler 71 73
145Brendon De Jonge 74 71, Brian Davis (Eng) 73 72, Anthony Kim 70 75, Tiger Woods 73 72, Ryan Palmer 73 72, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 73 72, Heath Slocum 71 74
146Jason Dufner 74 72, Martin Laird (Sco) 73 73, Bubba Watson 72 74, Bryce Molder 74 72, Kevin Streelman 71 75
147Ricky Barnes 73 74, Charley Hoffman 70 77, Vijay Singh (Fij) 70 77, Jason Bohn 73 74
148Jeff Overton 72 76, Brandt Snedeker 76 72, Jason Day (Aus) 72 76
149J.B. Holmes 77 72, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 74 75, John Senden (Aus) 74 75, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 76 73
150 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 76 74, Andres Romero (Arg) 80 70
151Angel Cabrera (Arg) 75 76, Scott Verplank 76 75, Stephen Ames (Can) 74 77, D.J. Trahan 75 76, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 73 78
153Ben Crane 76 77