NORTON, Mass. – After more than five hours playing in the hot sun Saturday, “Bake” was an appropriate nickname for Sugarloaf Golf Club teaching pro Mike Baker.

But despite shooting a 6-over-par 77 in the second round of the PGA Tour’s Deutsche Bank Championship at the Tournament Players Club of Boston and missing the cut, Baker was more than happy to accommodate the multitude of fans seeking autographs from the players.

Baker was not happy with his 77, but he accepted it better than his opening-round 79 on Friday.

“I’m coming to realize that I’m not playing… that I’ve got swing issues,” said Baker. “You think you’ve got it figured out, then it’s not working and you try fixing that.”

The 42-year-old Baker said he still thinks he can compete at this level against players nearly half his age, such as 24-year-old Marcel Siem of Duesseldorff, Germany, one of his playing partners over the first two days.

Siem was 1 over par for his two rounds and missed the cut by a stroke.

“If I was hitting the ball a little better, I’d be right with him,” said Baker.

Siem had his struggles as well, making a quadruple bogey and a double bogey on Friday, but he kept pushing and made some birdies to stay in the hunt.

“The difference is when they hit a bad drive, they make par,” said Baker. “I just wish my game was in a little better shape.”

Baker first noticed there might be a little problem at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis., during the PGA Championship last month.

“If you hit it in the rough there, it was all brown and you could work it more,” he said. The rough at the TPC of Boston is thick and heavy, making it difficult to hit the greens.

“It’s fun to be out here, though,” he said with a smile.

His putting was better Saturday and his driving started to come around, including several of more than 300 yards. He took only 26 putts on Saturday after needing 31 on Friday. His average driving distance for the two days was 282.2 yards.

“I had my distance control going well, and the 4- and 5-footers were more on line,” he said.

His distance control was nowhere more evident than on the sixth hole, his 15th of the day.

He started by crushing a drive straight down the middle.

“It was 308 yards, according to the yardage book,” said Baker. “I only had wedge in.”

He hit the wedge just about right, but the ball rolled to the top of a ridge that bisects the green. The pin was on the lower level nearly 30 feet away.

Baker tapped the ball softly, almost too softly. He alternately told the ball to slow down, in case it missed the cup, and to keep going as it approached the hole.

“It went in on the last turn,” said Baker of his third birdie of the day, two more than he made Friday.

He also made a 3-footer for birdie on 13 and chipped in an 18-footer from behind the green on 3.

His trouble on Friday began when he started playing the back nine, and the first three holes hurt him again Saturday when he started bogey-double bogey-bogey.

Baker did receive cheers from the crowds, though, for a number of his strokes.

His birdie attempt from off the green, using a putter, just ran over the edge of the cup but failed to drop.

On 18, he hit his tee shot in a bunker on the corner, had a tough lie and had to just muscle the ball out about 80 yards, then dumped his third shot in the right greenside bunker.

Baker knocked the sand wedge about 10 feet by the cup, then made the difficult comebacker to save par and receive another round of cheers.

Baker enjoyed the experience and intends to try qualifying for next year’s tournament, hopeful that he can get his game in better shape.