Late birdie keeps Johnson around for weekend at TPC Sawgrass

Knowing he likely needed a birdie on his final hole Friday to make the cut in The Players Championship, Dustin Johnson nearly did one better.

Johnson lipped out a long 60-yard chip shot to a back pin on the par-5 ninth hole that would have given him an eagle, and tapped in for a birdie that, as it turned out, secured his spot on the weekend at TPC Sawgrass.

The birdie closed out an even-par 72 in the second round for an even-par 144 total.

Johnson played Friday morning so the cut line wasn’t determined for a several hours after he finished. But The Players cut has been at 144 in each of the past four years, and the trend continued this week as 75 players at 144 or better qualified for the weekend.

“Fortunately I made a really good up and down on 8 [for par] and then another good up and down on 9,” Johnson said. “I’m not playing good, but it’s really close to being really good.”

Johnson is tied for 63^rd, eight shots behind co-leaders Kevin Na and Jerry Kelly and six shots out of third place in the $10 million tournament.

“I’m just struggling a little bit right now,” Johnson said. “I’m hitting some really good shots but I’m hitting some really bad ones, too. It’s really close, it just was a little off today.”

Johnson had an inconsistent day that featured an eagle and the scrambling finish, and was characterized by an inability to get iron or bunker shots close to the hole.

Not surprisingly, Johnson leads the tournament in average driving distance and hit six drives of at least 318 yards on Friday to provide either short irons into par-4s or opportunities to reach par-5 greens in two.

But he missed seven of 14 fairways and managed to hit just five approach shots inside 18 feet in regulation while making three birdies, an eagle and five bogeys.

“I did drive it fairly good,” Johnson said. “But I didn’t hit my irons very well today, or wedges, nothing close enough [to the hole]. I hit a lot of good putts that didn’t go in the hole, too.”

Johnson began the second round on the 10^th hole and bogeyed the par-5 11^th for the second consecutive day. His 320-yard drive came to rest in a left fairway bunker near the front lip and he was barely able to advance the ball. His third shot found a front greenside bunker and he two-putted from 42 feet, making a 5-footer for bogey.

Johnson got the shot back on the par-4 12^th with a wedge to 9 feet.

He bogeyed the par-4 14^th with shots into left fairway and greenside bunkers, and saved par with a 75-foot chip to 5 feet on the par-4 15^th before making an eagle on the 512-yard 16^th.

He hit a 335-yard drive and 175-yard approach to 6 feet to move to 1-under par for the round and tournament.

But the prosperity was short-lived as Johnson bogeyed the 18^th after a drive into trees to the right of the fairway and bogeyed the first hole with a three-putt from 30 feet that included a lip-out from 3 feet.

From then on, Johnson was battling to make the cut.

“Obviously making eagle helps a lot,” Johnson said. “I hit a pretty decent shot on 18, just the wind got it and took it over to the right. You can’t miss it right, you can’t miss it left either, it’s just one hole where you have to hit a good one and I just didn’t.

“The three-putt on No. 1 was kind of uncalled for. It was just a [poor] day, really.”

Johnson birdied the 538-yard par-5 second hole by getting up and down from a bunker but bogeyed the 179-yard par-3 third with a tee shot over a back pin into a bunker.

Johnson had good looks at birdie with unsuccessful putts of 8 and 12 feet on the fourth and fifth holes, and remained 1 over with a flop shot from rough over a bunker to 5 feet on the par-3 eighth to keep his chances of making the cut realistic.

Johnson managed to get up and down from greenside bunkers just once in four attempts.

“I just hit myself into some bad spots,” Johnson said. “I hit it over the green on 3 there, which is terrible, and I hit some bad bunker shots today – a good one on No. 2 but I hit three bad ones. The one on 11 was fairly simple and the one on 14 was simple and I just hit bad shots.”

Late scrambling kept Johnson in the field with a chance to rectify his play Saturday and Sunday. “You never know,” Johnson said regarding how low of a score he may be able to shoot in the third round.

This story was originally published May 8, 2015 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Late birdie keeps Johnson around for weekend at TPC Sawgrass."