Major champs in trouble at PGA Tour Q-School

• By Ryan Ballengee
• Dec 2, 2011 1:17 PM ET

The Santa Ana winds raged on Thursday, leading to the cancellation of school in parts of Utah and California. The finals of PGA Tour Q-School, however, went on as scheduled at PGA West.

For the four major champions in the field, none are on the path to graduation. 

David Duval, the 2001 Open champion, is even after two rounds, as is '02 PGA winner Rich Beem. Both players have opened with consecutive rounds of even-par 72. That leaves them tied for 81st and 10 shots back of leader Will Claxton, who followed up a Wednesday 64 with 70 in the difficult Thursday winds.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen is 2 over after struggling to 75. 

Despite matching Janzen on Thursday, 2003 PGA champion Shaun Micheel is in the best position one-third through Q-School. He is 2 under thanks to an opening 67.

Micheel is tied with Sam Saunders, grandson of Arnold Palmer. After making just one bogey in the first round, Saunders made four bogeys, two double-bogeys and five birdies in a tumultuous round of 74. 

Seung-Yul Noh, the youngest winner of the Asian Tour's Order of Merit, is a shot better on 3 under. The 20-year-old is No. 101 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Boo Weekley, two-time winner of the RBC Heritage, is 2 over.

Tommy Armour III, who is competing despite having full status on the Champions Tour, is 5 over and appears headed back to the 50-plus circuit for 2012.

After being tied for last place on Wednesday, Ty Tryon made a nice comeback on Thursday. His second round 70 has him at 4 over, but eight back of the top-25 cutoff for earning a PGA Tour card. 

Nine rounds of 80 or more were recorded on Thursday. One of those nine players, Brendan Pappas, withdrew after shooting 86.