Simpson tries to wrap his head around 36-hole lead

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Imagine you're a rookie on the PGA TOUR, you're leading a tournament for the first time this season, and you're playing on a course that not only is unfamiliar to everyone in the field, but a bit unpredictable -- other than the fact that everybody agrees that it's one tough son-of-a-gun.

Oh, and a tropical storm is due to hit tomorrow.

THE BARCLAYS

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Welcome to Webb Simpson's world.

Not that he's complaining, of course. The Wake Forest product jumped to the head of The Barclays leaderboard Friday with a 3-under 68, which tied for the low round of the day and gives him a two-shot lead at 8 under. He also has jumped up the projected FedExCup points standings; should he go on to win the first event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, he would move from 85th to second place in the standings, behind a guy named Tiger Woods.

That's pretty heady stuff for a young pro.

But if you're gonna play with the big boys, you've got to deal with the pressure. Simpson will have plenty of it Saturday playing in the final group of the day with two of the first-round co-leaders Paul Goydos and Steve Marino.

"I'm sure a lot of emotions will be going through my head tomorrow," Simpson said. "But you know, I'm a big believer in prayer and so I'll go to bed saying a few prayers tonight and come out tomorrow just like I did today."

If he can shoot another 68 like he did Friday, that would serve him well. Certainly if he can maintain his sharp putter -- he has needed just 48 putts through the first two rounds; only Marino (47) has needed less -- Simpson should remain a contender for his first TOUR win.

Like a security blanket that he can't give up, the putter Simpson is using is one that he's had in his bag for the last five years. He understands that putting is what separates the winners from the guys looking just to make cuts.

"To play well out here, you've either got to hit it perfect or putt really well," he said. "I've had a couple of weeks this year where I played well but didn't hit it good -- just putted good.

"You start to see the more putts you make under 10 feet, you kind of creep up the leaderboard more so than you would if you just hit it really good. That's been huge for me this year."

That's not the only thing he's learned this year, of course. Not surprising, it has been a constant learning process for Simpson this year, with the requisite growing pains to boot.

Starting off with some early success -- he posted top-10 finishes in his first two starts of the year -- Simpson had to learn how to deal with increased expectations. After stumbling through a stretch of nine missed cuts in 13 starts, he then had to learn how to deal with a lack of success.

His first inclination was hitting the practice range. Hard. But that just wore him out.

"It got to the point where I didn't really want to go out and play golf," he said. "I kind of had to take a step back and analyze what I was really doing. My fiancée (actress Dowd Keith) and I were talking about how when I was in amateur golf, I would leave the course, usually right after the round, and so we started doing that, taking a step back from practicing."

It always helps to have a few mentors along the way. Thanks to some friendly advice from guys such as Zach Johnson, Ben Crane and Lee Janzen, Simpson learned how to deal with other aspects of the TOUR life. So did his rookie caddie, William Kane, who received a few pointers from the caddies of Johnson and Crane.

It took Simpson awhile to get back into form. But he appears to be settling in. Leading The Barclays after 36 holes is a pretty good indication that he's got the game to be a contender at this level. But will he seal the deal over the next two days?

Another learning process, to be sure.

"I missed the cut back in Greensboro (at the Wyndham Championship) last week in front of the home crowd, so that was tough," Simpson said. "But I knew that my game was close. It just wasn't clicking yet. I told myself to say patient and sooner or later, it would come around.

"The last couple of days, I've seen some really good results."

And now he'd like to see some the next couple of days.