DULUTH, Ga. -- He has a history here, not one he likes to remember or discuss, but a history nonetheless.

In six appearances at the BellSouth Classic, Jose Maria Olazabal 's best finish has been a tie for second in 2005 when he missed a 5-footer on the 54th hole of the rain-shortened event that would have given him the win. Then he missed another 5-footer on the first hole of sudden death to lose to Phil Mickelson.

Despite the admitted blown opportunity, the 2005 BellSouth Classic was Olazabal’s best finish in America in three years. And other than the one runner-up, his history in Atlanta has been something less than memorable.

He’s missed two cuts, and finished tied for 37th, 27th and 45th. If not for the $330,000 he earned in his runner-up appearance last year, the Spanish veteran would hardly have made enough at this event to cover travel expenses and caddie fees.

So it’s no surprise that Olazabal tempered expectations even after shooting an 8-under 64 on Friday -- one shot shy of the course record Mickelson shot on Thursday – to enter the weekend near top of the leaderboard. The only problem with Olazabal’s respectable 135 total is that it is seven shots behind Mickelson, who set the two-day scoring record for the BellSouth Classic at 16-under par.

“I could not have imagined shooting 64 today to start with,” Olazabal said. “I think, at the moment, Phil is the only one really doing any fireworks. I’m 9-under par. I’m not going to shoot 20 under in the next two rounds, so I think it’s up to Phil.”

All eyes might be on Mickelson, but the Spaniard’s eight-birdie, no-bogey 64 was classic Olazabal. He rolled in birdie putts of 11 feet, 3 inches; 22 feet, 6 inches; 17 feet, 6 inches; and 15 feet, 8 inches. He also holed one from 20 feet, 5 inches for par at the par-3 16th. Then he two-putted for birdie on three of the par 5s. The only approach Olazabal stuffed close came at the short par-4 third when he hit a wedge inside 5 feet.

“I putted well today and that was the key for today’s round,” he said. “I hit my irons okay. The only area where it was not all that good was my driving. Even though I hit most of the fairways, I did not feel comfortable with it.”

While he was speaking of Friday’s round, Olazabal could have been talking about the last decade of his career. Hitting fewer than nine fairways a round on average, he finished last season ranked 158th in driving accuracy, which was not unusual. Olazabal’s driver has been his nemesis for the last ten years. Even throughout the 1990s when he won 17 times around the world and was a stalwart for the Europeans in Ryder Cup play, Olazabal had a reputation as a short game genius whose tee shots might go anywhere at any time.

For the last couple of years he and Butch Harmon have worked on tightening his swing with the driver so that he can hit more shots in the middle of the clubface and improve his consistency. But as Harmon says, “He’s made great progress, but we still have a ways to go. At this level whatever problems you fight to overcome in your golf swing are problems you are always going to fight.”

Olazabal claims to have been fighting a lot of problems so far this season. “The area I really don’t feel comfortable with, especially this week, has been the driver,” he said. “The putting stroke has been off, except for today. I mean, I didn’t putt well last week. Actually, I haven’t putted well pretty much all season long.”

At least, as he says, one part of his game is on. “Confidence, I mean, I’m comfortable,” he said. “At least the attitude so far is pretty good, which is important.”