PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Nick Watney is playing so well that he doesn't even realize it.

Coming off a wrenching one-shot loss to Phil Mickelson at Doral, Watney kept right on rolling Friday with a 4-under 67 at the Transitions Championship to share the 36-hole lead with Steve Stricker.

"I guess I'm playing very well, but it really seems like this is just what I'm supposed to be doing," Watney said.

It will be the third straight weekend round that Watney will be in the final group. He played with Mickelson the last two rounds at the CA Championship, and it might not get any easier at Innisbrook.

Stricker, who also had a bogey-free 67, is playing quite well this year, too.

Take away one bad patch — a 77 in the last round to lose the Bob Hope Classic, followed by a missed cut in Phoenix — and Stricker has shot par or better in every round this year. This was his 10th straight subpar round.

"I know that I've been playing well," Stricker said. "I know I've been shooting some good scores. But no, I haven't paid attention to that. I look at my stats and I realize I was up there in the stroke average. Obviously, I must have been shooting some decent scores."

They were at 6-under 136 on a Copperhead Course that is among the strongest tests on tour. It has become even tougher with sunshine that is baking out the greens and strong wind in the afternoon that makes it field more like June than the Florida swing.

"You don't play this course thinking you're going to make a bunch of birdies," Charles Howell III said after a 66 put him in the large group at 5-under 137.

Jim Furyk opened with a 65 for his first lead on the PGA Tour in nearly 20 months. He was 13 shots worse on Friday while playing in the afternoon, and had to two-putt from 30 feet on his final hole simply to make the cut. He wound up with a 78 to finish at 1-over 143.