Stricker was headed for his first trip to the White House with 13 other players for President Bush’s holiday birthday bash.

Steve Marino, who grew up in northern Virginia and had a vocal cheering section that stuck with him when the rain arrived, was even par for the day as he finished off his round.

But the name getting the most attention was Kim, a 23-year-old from Los Angeles who finally lived up to some of his potential earlier this year with a runaway victory at the Wachovia Championship. Even without tournament host Tiger Woods in the field, it says plenty of Kim to play his best golf on two of the top PGA Tour courses this year — Quail Hollow and Congressional.

He was playing with Joe Ogilvie and J.B. Holmes, and Ogilvie walked off the fifth green after making his third straight birdie to give himself a chance at making in the cut. Even so, he looked over at Kim, raised his eyebrows and said, “The guy is pretty good.”

Kim will have the rest of the weekend to show how good.

The cut was bouncing between 2 and 3 over, leaving a few players wondering if they would come back on Saturday. Davis Love III shot a 73 and was at 3 over, along with Sean O’Hair.