The Daily Wrap-up, Round 2: Transitions Championship
PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) -- Nick Watney is playing so well that he doesn't even realize it.
Coming off a wrenching one-shot loss to Phil Mickelson at Doral, Watney kept right on rolling Friday with a 4-under 67 at the Transitions Championship to share the 36-hole lead with Steve Stricker.
"I guess I'm playing very well, but it really seems like this is just what I'm supposed to be doing," Watney said.
It will be the third straight weekend round that Watney will be in the final group. He played with Mickelson the last two rounds at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, and it might not get any easier at Innisbrook.
Stricker, who also had a bogey-free 67, is playing quite well this year, too.
Take away one bad patch -- a 77 in the last round to lose the 50th Bob Hope Classic, followed by a missed cut in Phoenix -- and Stricker has shot par or better in every round this year. This was his 10th straight sub-par round.
"I know that I've been playing well," Stricker said. "I know I've been shooting some good scores. But no, I haven't paid attention to that. I look at my stats and I realize I was up there in the stroke average. Obviously, I must have been shooting some decent scores."
They were at 6-under 136 on a Copperhead Course that is among the strongest tests on TOUR. It has become even tougher with sunshine that is baking out the greens and strong wind in the afternoon that makes it field more like June than the Florida swing.
"You don't play this course thinking you're going to make a bunch of birdies," Charles Howell III said after a 66 put him in the large group at 5-under 137. "At least I don't. Maybe that's my problem."
The bigger problem is finding separation at a tournament that doesn't seem to allow it. Some two dozen players were within four shots of the lead going into the weekend.
Jonathan Byrd reached 8 under through 11 holes until he kept finding the bunker and making bogeys. He had to settle for a 70 and joined Howell in the group at 137 that included two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen (68), Stuart Appleby (67) and former Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman (69), who turned 50 last week.
"This is a golf course that it kind of scrunches the field a little bit," said Joe Ogilvie, who joined that group after a 66. "You're not going to see a guy ... well, (Jim) Furyk might get it to 10 under ... but you're not going to see a guy shoot 62 on this golf course."
Ogilvie spoke too soon.
Furyk opened with a 65 for his first lead on the PGA TOUR in nearly 20 months. He was 13 shots worse on Friday while playing in the afternoon, and had to two-putt from 30 feet on his final hole simply to make the cut. He wound up with a 78 to finish at 1-over 143.
Masters champion Trevor Immelman had consecutive sub-par rounds for the first time since the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, shooting a 70 to join the group at 4-under 138 that included Rich Beem and Steve Flesch, who each had 67.
Stricker made his blunder early in the tournament when he took double bogey on the second hole from a plugged lie in the bunker and a three-putt, which really irritated him. But he has been solid ever since, and was especially happy about two birdies on the par 3, the last one coming on No. 8 with a 5-iron to 15 feet.
"If you play the par 3s well here this week -- play them at even par or better -- you're doing well," he said.
Watney seems to be doing everything well at the moment. He attributes most of that to a putting aid called "Inside Down the Line Putting Track" which swing coach Butch Harmon asked him to try. That was in October, and Watney has been rolling ever since.
First came his victory in the Buick Invitational with birdies on two of the last three holes, then a spirited duel with Mickelson in which Watney came up an inch short on a birdie putt at Doral to force a playoff.
"I'm keeping the game pretty simple and putting well," Watney said. "Hopefully, that will continue."
Divots: Nick Watney wrote the initials "LM" on his cap in honor of Lee Markarian, a friend in Fresno, Calif., who had triple bypass surgery on Thursday. "Just so he knows I'm thinking about him," Watney said. ... Bob Estes had a 78 to miss the cut, but what really stung was an insect. After taking a penalty drop in the trees on the 11th hole, he felt something sting him while hitting his next shot. Estes said the stinger stayed in his neck until someone used a piece of tape to extract it. ... Brandt Snedeker missed the cut for the fifth time in seven starts this year.
| Top 5 notables at the Transitions Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Friday's Best |
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The 560-yard par-5 first hole at Copperhead was the easiest with a Friday scoring average of 4.748.
The 465-yard par-4 sixth hole at Copperhead was the toughest with a Friday scoring average of 4.406.
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Olin Browne chips in for birdie at the fourth hole and then nearly aces the eighth hole. 
Six players shot 5-under 67 on Friday, but the nod goes to co-leader Steve Stricker. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
PGA TOUR Network correspondent Bob Stevens offers these observations from Friday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
Jim Furyk's stunning collapse from opening 65 to a 78 is pretty simply explained, he couldn't find the bottom of the cup. Thirty-four putts feels like a million for these guys, but inside that number, there's an even more telling stat. Thursday, Furyk made 161 feet worth of putts including two of more than 32 feet. Friday? He made one putt longer than 8 feet (a 9 1/2-footer to save par at the par-5 14th) and only 36 1/2 feet of putts all day, less than a quarter the distance from the day before.
Listening to the players talk, the early bird got the worm on both Thursday and Friday. Furyk's 13-shot difference from early to late is the most obvious example, but Charles Howell III was among those from the late/early half of the field who agreed, and it showed. He improved his score by five shots, from 71 to 66, in part because he hit two more greens and still took four fewer putts on the softer greens.
With the possible exception of Tiger Woods (who's the exception to a lot of rules), most players have a favorite type of tournament in which they play well. For example, Phil Mickelson seems to excel in tournaments where a lot of birdies are required. But Nick Watney won at the Buick Invitational in San Diego where birdies were not so plentiful, nearly won in the birdiefest last week at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, and will be in the final group tomorrow where birdies are few and far between. He doesn't seem to mind, continuing to go his merry way saying he's just continuing to do what he's been doing and enjoying the "different tests" last week and this have been.
| What the top finishers said... | ||||||||||||||||
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| Read full interview transcripts | ||||
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| Live Essentials | ||||
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SECOND NOTEBOOK: TRANSITIONS CHAMPIONSHIP
By Doug Milne, PGA TOUR Staff
PALM HARBOR, Fla. -- A total of 74 players made the 36-hole cut at 1-over 143, which is the lowest since 2004 when 73 players made it to the weekend at even-par 142.
• After his first-round, 2-under 69, Steve Stricker fired a bogey-free, 4-under 67 in Round 2 to claim a share of the 6-under lead with Nick Watney. His Round 2 score adds to an impressive 2009. Other than the first two rounds of the FBR Open (74-72) and the final round of The 50th Bob Hope Classic (77), Stricker has not posted an above-par round in any of the six stroke-play events in which he has started in 2009.
• The 2009 Transitions Championship marks Stricker's fourth start here. He missed the cut in 2004 and 2007, but following a final-round 66 last year, he tied for 14th place. His most recent 36-hole lead was the 2008 Barclays, where he ultimately finished tied for 13th.
• Stricker played his first nine holes of the tournament in 1 over. However, he has played his last 27 in 7 under. Additionally, his accuracy has dramatically improved from the first round to the second. In Round 1, he hit four shots inside 20 feet. In Round 2, that number nearly tripled to 11.
• On the heels of his runner-up finish at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, Watney continued his solid play at the Transitions Championship. After an opening-round 2-under 69, he posted a bogey-free 4-under 67 in Round 2 to give him a tie for the lead with Stricker.
• In Round 2, Watney wore a hat with the initials "L.M." on the left side. It was a tribute to a close friend of his in Fresno, Lee Markarian, who is recovering from triple-bypass, open-heart surgery performed Thursday.
To read the remainder of this story, click here.
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