CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The homeboy is holding steady.

Charlotte-born Bill Haas, whose father is a member at Quail Hollow Club, had his second straight solid day and finished at 10 under to take the halfway lead at the Wells Fargo Championship on Friday.

The Haas clan lives about 90 miles down the road in South Carolina, but they have deep roots at the host course and Jay Haas, now a regular on the Champions Tour, helped land a tournament at Quail Hollow.

"I've said this would probably be, outside of the majors, this would be my number one tournament to win, just because of the people involved with the tournament," Bill Hass said after his second-round 70. "When I walk in the clubhouse, everybody I see, I know. It's just the feelings I would have on Sunday night hanging around with all those guys would probably be unlike any other tournament. 

"I don't think that adds any extra pressure because it's just there's the pressure of winning any tournament that will be on me on the weekend. But to put myself in that situation to where I even have that chance to even talk about it is nice."

Haas attended college at nearby Wake Forest and while he's a South Carolina resident now, the ties still bind. 

"I don't know, I think this is one tournament that I always look forward to," he said. "A month out, I'm like, I can't wait to get to that tournament.  It just has a good feel about it.  I've got a lot of good friends here, a lot of Deacon fans here, which I'm hearing, 'Go Deacs,' out there a lot, which is nice. 

"But it's just probably our best event outside of majors. I've said that before. I think every player enjoys it, and I'm biased by growing up and coming here a lot."

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The PGA Tour announced at midday Friday that Tiger Woods had committed to play next week at the Players Championship, which no doubt caused a huge sigh of relief at tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., site of the event.

Had Woods not commited, the event would have been missing three players from the current world top seven, which is no way to begin a week at an event frequently dubbed the fifth major.

But tread lightly here, because by no means does the commitment ensure that Woods will play. He skipped this week's event in Charlotte with injuries to his left Achilles and knee and has been wearing a walking boot on the affected foot, swing coach Sean Foley said. In fact, they have not worked together since the Masters, so Woods' state of readiness can certainly be called into question.

Woods has one of his worst career track records at TPC Sawgrass, where he has played every year he has been healthy and managed one victory.

Woods raised a few eyebrows when he skipped the Charlotte event after spending the week after the Masters in China and Korea, doing exhibitions and outings for Nike. He announced last week that doctors advised him against playing, but he then hosted a charity rock concert in Las Vegas last weekend.

Interesting way of doing rehab, right? But for those wondering about the severity and legitimacy of the injuries, one longtime former Woods insider was certain that the fading world No. 1 is feeling some pain. Butch Harmon said any assertion that Woods is a hypochondriac is completely false.

"Tiger Woods has a higher pain threshhold than any player I have ever known," Harmon said Friday at the Wells Fargo Championship.

Harmon said that in addition to Woods' lifelong issues with his left knee, he routinely suffered undisclosed injuries during his punishing training regimen, but never let anybody know.

"He never wanted anyone to know he was hurt because it would look like a sign of weakness, and No. 2, he never wanted to make excuses," said Harmon, Woods' former swing coach. "He'd have calf injuries, sprains, whetever, and he would never even limp. People would have no idea. He's a tough guy."

Famously, Woods won the U.S. Open in 2008 -- his last major win -- while playing on a knee with two hairline fractures and shredded ligaments.

Given his myriad personal and physical issues, Woods has only played 16 stroke-play rounds and was bounced in the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Out of contention, Woods withdrew midway through the final round at Sawgrass last year with a previously undisclosed neck injury he said he sustained while practicing before the 2010 Masters.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- If not for Rory McIlroy's blistering 62 in the final round last year, Phil Mickelson would be defending a title this year at the Wells Fargo Championship.

Looks like this time, he's not going to let a few squirrelly shots or anybody get in his way.

Off to a uniquely Lefty start, Mickelson hit three balls in the water over his first 27 holes, but after making a birdie on his ninth hole on Friday morning, Mickelson had stormed into a share of second place at 6 under.

Mickelson has five top-seven finishes at the Quail Hollow Club but has never won, including a solo second last year, on the heels of his Masters victory four weeks earlier.

"Philly being Philly," his swing coach Butch Harmon said.

Mickelson hit only 8 of the first 21 fairways and 14 of 27 greens, so you can see he's obviously working his magic. He even salvaged par on two holes when he hits shots in the water.

Mickelson loves the course, and the setup in particular, because there isn’t much rough. Here's what he said about Quail Hollow after his opening round of 69:

"The thing I love about this course is that the trees are very tight, so it's a very tight, treelined golf course," he said. "But with the rough being kind of first cut or a little longer than first cut, you can recover. You can hit shots. You can try different things, try to get out and around these trees, and it makes for fun, exciting golf because you can see what I think is the most exciting golf, which is the recovery shot."