FanHouse Justin Leonard

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- Justin Leonard is one of the few players not feeling any pressure this week to secure his PGA Tour card next year.

He's already got that in hand. That much is clear from his play.

Leonard shot an 8-under 64 in the second round of the Children's Miracle Network Classic on Friday, surging to the top of the leaderboard in the final Tour event of the season.

"Any time I can come out and do that and play a nice, relaxed round where there's not a lot of pressure, I'm giving myself a lot of chances," he said. "It just makes the game easier."

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard and Ryan Moore. Those are just some of the elite names on the list of people that have bypassed PGA Tour Qualifying School because of elite play when they were youngsters.

Rickie Fowler has a chance to join that group with a top-10 finish this week at the Children's Miracle Network Classic, the last official tournament of the year on the PGA Tour and Fowler's lone shot to earn somewhere around $70,000 or more to make it in the top-125 and avoid the final stage of Q-School.

Some interesting components come about here. First, Fowler was playing his best golf the last two tournaments, finishing t-7 at Justin Timberlake's tournament and a playoff loss at the Frys.com Open in Phoenix. That means, if Fowler could somehow put together another high finish, he would have earned his card in three tournaments!

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Rickie Fowler was asked on Friday, after a second round 64 put him in a tie for the lead at the PGA Tour's Frys.com Open, if he was still planning on going through Q-School next week to try and earn his tour card for 2010.

"Right now that's still the plan. First stage is starting next Tuesday," Fowler told PGATour.com.

The crazy thing is, he might not have to if he keeps this up. Fowler, just 20-years-old and playing in his second event on the PGA Tour as a professional, is tied for the lead at 11-under after rounds of 65-64, making one more eagle (2) than he's made bogeys (1) the last two days at Greyhawk Golf Course.

He is Tiger Woods, and sometimes, it seems we forget this. He wins six events in 2009 and we complain about his performances at the majors. He is one of the better match play golfers to ever wrap his hands around a cord grip, yet we worry about his team record.

And then he goes and does stuff like he did Saturday morning at Harding Park in San Francisco, and we remember, this guy is so good at golf it's sickening. Playing alongside Steve Stricker for the third time this week at the Presidents Cup, Woods and Stricker found themselves in trouble. Serious trouble. Needing a 22-footer for birdie on 17 just to say in the match, Tiger eyed the putt with the International team of Mike Weir and Tim Clark in tight for birdie.

Woods' putt looked like it might be short the whole way, but one more revolution lead to the biggest Woods fist pump since the 2005 chip-in at Augusta National and a breath of air to Fred Couples' A team. Weir missed the short birdie, and the match went to 18 all square.

There, Tiger did something only Tiger can do.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The greatest shots in Presidents Cup history? No, not a chance. All the same, Justin Leonard played them perfectly.

Let's talk shot making.

He drained them.

"It was knowing I needed to come out and play well today," he said.

Leonard teamed with Phil Mickelson for Friday's Presidents Cup second round and played top shelf. He birdied the first hole to get the American twosome going in the best-ball competition. He kept pounding until finally rolling in a 12-footer at No. 16 to finish off the International team of Retief Goosen and Adam Scott 3 and 2.

It was a performance instrumental in allowing the United State to lead 6½-5½ going into Saturday's third round.

It wasn't the way Justin Leonard wanted to end the first day of the 2009 Presidents Cup on Thursday. A 2 1/2-footer for the win, Leonard pushed the putt, lipped it out and was forced to halve a point with the Internationals.

On Friday, it was the same story, different result. Playing alongside Phil Mickelson, arguably the hottest player in the entire field at Harden Park, Leonard had a 15-footer on the 16th hole for a birdie and the match, and he calmly rolled it dead center, leading to a grin from Mickelson and another point for the Americans. The Leonard-Mickelson team took down Retief Goosen and Adam Scott 3 and 2.

The point gave the United States a 4.5-2.5 lead at the Presidents Cup, and for the second day in a row, a big win for Mickelson, who was hitting his irons so crisp, you almost expected the result to be a conceded putt.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Of all the various formats used during four days of this week's Presidents Cup match-play competition, alternate shot is the indisputable meat grinder.

Two golfers with a single golf ball. One player hits a shot, the other finds it and gets to take the next whack.

Rinse and repeat as necessary.

"Alternate shot -- we all know it's difficult," U.S. captain Fred Couples said. "But it's also an emotional thing."

Copy that, as Jack Bauer would say.

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The eighth Presidents Cup begins play Thursday afternoon at Harding Park Golf Club, but the action started Wednesday when team captains, American Fred Couples and International Greg Norman, matched twosomes for six first-round foursome matches.

The alternate-shot competition will begin at 12:10 p.m. PDT with the International pairing of Canadian Mike Weir and South African Tim Clark taking on Americans Anthony Kim and Phil Mickelson.

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Greg Norman will play hurt at next week's Presidents Cup.

OK, as captain of the International Team that is taking on the Americans at San Francisco's Harding Park Golf Club, Norman will not hit a shot, but no question he is ailing.

Captain Shark has his right arm in a sling, the result of arthroscopic shoulder surgery performed Wednesday.

"A bit of a surprise," Norman said Friday. "I was trying to delay it until January of next year, but the doctor said I needed to get it done now."

It was a big weekend for women's golf. The United States defeated Europe in the Solheim Cup, but more than that, Michelle Wie finally played up to her potential. She was 3-0-1, the best among her teammates, and was loose, smiling and having fun while doing it.

Maybe a break from her overprotective parents had something to do with it. Or perhaps it was her Saturday fourball partner, Christina Kim, who helped keep things light. Whatever, the LPGA will be forever grateful if Wie emerges as the face of the tour.

That story has yet to write itself. In the meantime, the news out of Europe in the aftermath of the Solheim Cup has to do with Kim's on-course antics. Depending on your perspective, her actions were somewhere between slightly distracting to Happy Gilmore-tastic. I watched parts of the telecast over the weekend and I tend to think it was more the latter.