WACHOVIA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTEBOOK

Wachovia Championship notebook: Johnson builds confidence, but must wait on Players' spot

By Alan Blondin - ablondin@thesunnews.com

CHARLOTTEIf nothing else, Dustin Johnson will take some confidence to the TPC Sawgrass next week. Whether he plays has yet to be determined.

Johnson followed up a 78 in the first round of the Wachovia Championship at Quail Hollow Club with a 1-under-par 71 Friday's second round, in which he both hit the ball more solidly and putted much better. He now waits to see if he can use the momentum next week in the $9 million Players Championship. He's the field's second alternate.

Johnson toned down the aggressiveness in his swing and improved his accuracy compared to the first round by hitting seven of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens. And he didn't miss many fairways by much.

"I was definitely overswinging [Thursday] ... and couldn't control the golf ball," Johnson said. "Today I did a lot better controlling my golf ball.

"I'm feeling good and have a lot of confidence going, especially with the putter."

Johnson lowered his putts Friday from 30 to 26. He went back to the Titleist Scotty Cameron putter he used successfully at PGA Tour Q-School and early in the year when he recorded a couple top-10 finishes. "I always kept that one with me, just in case," he said.

Johnson said he may possibly play the next four weeks if he gets into The Players. The AT&T Classic near Atlanta, Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in Fort Worth, and Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, follow. That would give him seven consecutive tournaments.

"If I play those three I'll be taking the week off after that," he said. "I've got to find some time to take off." He also intends to play in a 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier the Monday after the Memorial in Ohio.

Letzig lone survivor

Michael Letzig saved the day for the group of PGA Tour pros who receive instruction from teachers based on the Grand Strand. Both Justin Rose and Kevin Streelman, who are students of Barefoot Resort instructors Nick Bradley and Alasdair Dyer, respectively, missed the cut. As did Johnson, whose instructor is Coastal Carolina men's coach Allen Terrell.

Terrell also instructs Letzig - when Letzig requests it and Terrell is available - and Letzig made the cut on the 1-over line. He gave himself a one-stroke cushion with a hole to play with a birdie on the 343-yard eighth hole, driving just shy of a greenside bunker and chipping to 18 inches. And he needed it, hitting both a fairway and greenside bunker and making bogey on his final hole to shoot a 70.

Letzig is a New Mexico grad whose sister, Lindsay, played at CCU. He lived on the Strand and practiced at the TPC of Myrtle Beach while playing the NGA Hooters Tour a few years ago, and reached the PGA Tour by finishing in the top 20 on the 2007 Nationwide Tour money list.

McNeill makes move

On a Quail Hollow Club layout that doesn't yield much, George McNeill made a quick dash up the leaderboard Friday.

McNeill shot a 30 on the front nine by playing the final six holes 6 under with a birdie on the fourth, eagle on the fifth with a 40-foot putt, and birdies on holes 7, 8 and 9. He holed a 34-foot birdie putt on the 11th and 24-foot birdie putt on the 15th to pull into a tie for the lead at 9 under, but bogeyed the final three holes, including the difficult 16th and 17th holes into the wind, to shoot a 67 and fall back into a tie for sixth at 6-under 138.

"It was fun up until those last three," McNeill said. "They're not easy without any wind, so it was tough, and I hit bad shots. I'm glad I just made at the worst a bogey."

McNeill was a club pro for seven months in 2006 before returning to competitive golf and winning the Q-School that year, and he won the Frys.com Open last fall as a rookie. He tied for second in the PODS Championship two months ago, but broke 70 Friday for the first time in 17 rounds.

"I felt like my game was coming around," McNeill said, "I just hadn't broken 70 in what felt like about three years. I'm just happy to get it in under that and get an under-par score two days in a row."

Phil moment

Seniors have senior moments, and Phil Mickelson has Phil moments, when he loses all sense of judgment on a golf course.

He paid for one in Friday's second round on the par-5 15th hole, which played as the easiest hole on the course Friday at nearly a half-shot under par. Mickelson pushed a drive into the left trees, and rather than play safe, he attempted to hit a wood from pine straw beneath a tree canopy over water and toward the green.

The ball came off the club well left and went deeper into the woods. He then barely advanced the ball 10 yards with a heavy shot into thick rough, hit his fourth shot in front of a greenside bunker, flopped to 9 feet and missed the sliding putt to make a double-bogey 7 that dropped him from three shots off the pace to five.

He fell farther back with another double on the closing 18th, hitting a wedge from 140 yards into the creek short and left of the green, then missed a 7-foot bogey putt.

"The last four or five holes I made a few mistakes that cost me," said Mickelson, who called some of his late shots "sloppy". "I let it slide there at the end, and unfortunately I'll have a lot of work to do on the weekend."

Mickelson's fit physique this year is the result of better training and eating habits, and he assumed it would give him more stamina. "I'm hoping for a little more stamina, but the way I finished today, I don't know if I'm getting it," Mickelson said. "I'm going to have to get back in the gym."

Tough finish

After playing respectfully in his first three PGA Tour rounds at the Verizon Heritage and Wachovia Championship, Conway High graduate and Wilmington, N.C., teaching pro Curt Sanders shot an 82 Friday and finished last in the field at 14-over 158. It got ugly early, as Sanders made double bogeys on two of his first four holes Friday.