In contrast to the first round, John Rollins got off to a slow start on Friday. He started on the back nine and promptly bogeyed the 10th and 14th to drop back into the pack.

Rollins finally got on a roll though, as he rolled in birdie putts of 4 and 13 feet on Nos. 17 and 18 and two more from 8 inches and 20 feet on the next two holes.

Rollins has added to more birdies on the fourth and sixth holes to get to 10 under for the tournament. He’s two strokes off the lead held by Brandt Snedeker and Arjun Atwal. – Helen Ross

John Rollins must be doing something right. After all, he has eight top-25 finishes this year and he's ranked 79th in the FedExCup.

Rollins' putter -- which he calls his "Achilles heel" -- hasn't been very cooperative, though. He ranks 160th in putting average and 151st in putts per round.

That's why he was so pleased to see some balls drop into the cup during the first round of the Wyndham Championship. Rollins made seven birdies on Thursday -- including five on the back nine as he closed with a 30 -- to grab the early lead with a 64.

Rollins didn't make the field for the PGA Championship last week. So he put in some extra work on his putting and it paid off with just 26 putts on Thursday.

The key was becoming less mechanical.

"I've been harping on myself so much about am I starting it on my line, does my stroke look good, what am I doing, whatever," Rollins said. "You kind of get away from the feel and you know what the ball is going to do on the greens.

"Now I've been really trying to focus on a point that I want the ball to enter the hole and kind of trace it back with a line, and it's almost like I'm just starting to see the ball rolling on the green better than I have."

Due to his standing in the FedExCup, Rollins doesn't have the same kind of pressure many of the players competing in Greensboro have. He's likely safe for the first two events -- but he wouldn't mind some breathing room.

"I'm obviously not worried about making it in the FedExCup but at the same time, it's an important tournament because a win this week, all of a sudden jumps you way higher in the FedExCup going into the start of it rather than being 79th like I am right now," Rollins said.

"I want to go as deep as I can and all the way into THE TOUR Championship and I know that the FedExCup, the points are much stronger so there's a lot of movement that can be made just in the first week alone, and I'm just trying to get my game ready for that.

"(So) yeah, the pressure is off as far as making that but, at the same time, the pressure is still on to win and to get up as high as we can." – Helen Ross

John Rollins has just made a 15-footer for birdie on the 18th hole to seize sole possession of the lead at 6 under. That putt capped off a red-hot 30 on the back nine.

Unlike some of the names on the leaderboard, Rollins is in good position for the FedExCup at 79th – but you can never have too many points entering the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. He’s looking for the fourth PGA TOUR victory of his career, and the first since last year’s Reno-Tahoe Open. – Helen Ross

Neither Vijay Singh nor Ernie Els has played in the Valero Texas Open before. Their debut isn’t exactly going as planned, either. Playing in the same group, Singh is 2 over and Els 3 over through 10 holes.

Singh has hit just half his greens in regulation and has already taken 17 putts. Els? He’s done the exact same, though things got particularly ugly on the par-4 10th for the Big Easy. His approach shot missed the green right, his next came out of the bunker sideways, followed by a chip on and a two-putt from just inside 12 feet.

Their playing partner, John Rollins, isn’t faring any better – he’s also 2 over through 10. Click here to follow the group live with Shot Tracker to see if they can turn it around on the easier side of the golf course. -- Brian Wacker

John Rollins started slowly on Friday but he played his final 10 holes in 4 under to make a big move up the leaderboard. He shot 69 and stands 7 under at the midway point of THE PLAYERS, five strokes off Lee Westwood's lead.

Rollins was 1 over when he came to the par-5 ninth where he rolled in a 17-footer for birdie that "sparked" him entering the back nine. He made four more birdies on the back from 32, 6, 29 and 23 feet before stumbling at the 17th where he three-putted from 12 feet.

"I thought I hit a good first putt," Rollins said. "I didn't think I hit it that hard and it kind of trickled maybe two-and-a-half or three feet by. I had a little out-of-body experience there -- just pushed it out to the right and lipped out and made a careless 4.

“All in all, I played well, rolled the ball well, so in position for the weekend."

Rollins, who has been working hard on his putting with Pat O'Brien this year, took 26 on Friday and 27 in the first round. He said the greens were definitely faster on Friday which was the TPC Sawgrass' "defense”

"A guy gets a little careless and the balls are rolling out and the next thing you know you're left with four- four-and-a-half footers for par," Rollins explained. – Helen Ross