When he ran his 25-footer for birdie on 9 a couple feet past the hole, he figured he was likely done.
"I was hoping it could maybe be even," Johnson said after his round. "Maybe. There's just no wind today, and the greens are soft."
Little did Johnson know that Friday's morning scoring average was over a stroke higher than Thursday's average, and that his efforts actually improved his position on the leaderboard upon completion of his round.
Johnson posted a Friday 71 to back up his Thursday 70, moving from T46 after the first round to T43 currently, in an anomaly on a tour that consistently yields low rounds and cut lines well under par.
So by the looks of it, Johnson will be around for the weekend. Even if he didn't want to hear any of that after finishing his round.
"I'm going to stick around," Johnson said. "But it's not like I have any other choice (regarding travel arrangements)."
Johnson's round exemplified his struggles finding adequate driving distance to make low scores possible, a problem that surfaced earlier this summer in Springfield. At Highland Springs CC, a relatively flat course that lacks significant length, Johnson could survive with below-avergae drives.
Not at TPC Potomac. When it was suggested that he was driving the ball 250 on Friday, Johnson remarked, 'if that.' With an abundance of long par-4's, Johnson found himself hitting long irons and hybrids into greens on nearly every hole, keeping him from giving himself realistic birdie looks.
"You saw it out there," Johnson said. "I had sixty-footers all day."
But he made do, with his lone three-putt coming on his 9th hole of the day (the 18th) when he missed a 4-footer, and he plodded along with a series of par saves. The most notable came at the 4th hole, when he missed the green left but chipped up and rolled in an 8-footer.
After opening up in an all-over-the-place fashion by alternating birdies and bogeys through his first five holes, Johnson settled down and made par on 11 of his final 13 holes. Aside from the three-putt bogey on 18, he found another bogey on the 8th after driving into a bunker left of the fairway, laying up short right of the green, and missing a 12-footer for par.
In those final three holes, Johnson had only two realistic birdie looks - a 15-footer on the par-5 2nd, and a 20-footer on the par-4 5th.
"I just didn't play good today," Johnson said.
But he didn't play bad. At the difficult Potomac track, not bad should be good enough for a Saturday tee time.
Notes:
-KJ immediately greeted me when I caught up with his group on the 12th green, walking down the hill from the green to say hello and briefly catching up. Throughout the round, we discussed the firing of Bobby Valentine ("that just never was going to work out"), his trip to Atlantis last month ("it was a blast, the girls loved it"), and the difficulty of the course ("this is a PGA Tour-level test").
Despite his struggles on the course, KJ kept his spirits up and was in a joking manner throughout the round. Of course, he was pleasant with his caddy Smiley, just like he always is.
-I got to talk with Smiley as well on a forecaddying hole, who reflected on his boss's recent lack of driving distance. However, Smiley maintained a positive light on the situation, maintaining that KJ can still contend when he putts well.
"When he putts good, my man can beat anyone out here," Smiley said. "Anyone. Doesn't matter how far we hit it, or where we hit it. Just need to putt good."
Smiley was prophetic on Friday - KJ didn't hit the ball anywhere near well, but putted decently enough to get in position to make a Sunday paycheck.
-After the round, I had a fun run-in with KJ, Smiley, and Joe Chemcyz in the media room. Seeing me typing on the way to the locker room, KJ and Smiley stopped by my workspace and checked out what I was doing.
We informed KJ of the positive outlook regarding his chances to make the cut, and he still didn't seem to think that he had a chance.
KJ joked to Joe about how I was the only one in the media room, saying, "that's some press corps you've got, huh?"
He went on, "Seems like you guys really don't have security here. He can just stroll in and plug his computer in."
"It's like he thinks he's a professional journalist," Joe replied.
"Yeah, and Smiley's a professional caddy," KJ retorted.
Then KJ paused and issued another remark, pointed in my direction. "Guess you can say you're a professional caddy, too."
-I stated my confusion to Joe about how KJ really didn't think he was going to make the cut, even though the leaderboard trend seems to clearly show that he will make it.
"Well, you're just the veteran here now, aren't you?," Joe replied.
-I asked KJ about his plans for the offseason, if he fails to make the top 60 and keep full status. He said he will soldier on to Q-School, going to second stage in Panama City in an attempt to make it to finals, and then back to the big Tour. And remember, this is the last year of traditional Q-School, before the new structural changes make it necessary to go through the Web.com Tour in order to make it to the Show.
But hey, you never know. He could post a couple 62s this weekend, win by a bunch, and get himself in position to make the top 25 and head back to the PGA Tour that way.
He just needs to figure out the issue of distance.
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