The Associated Press

DULUTH, Ga. - Bob Tway and Lee Janzen are in position to win halfway through the BellSouth Classic, a spot neither has been in too often during long losing streaks.

Tway and Janzen made the best of late tee times Friday and finished tied at 8 under par in the second round of the final tuneup before the Masters. Defending champ Retief Goosen was two shots back, with four more players tied another shot behind.

Tway hasn't won in more than eight years, and Janzen's last victory came in the 1998 U.S. Open. In his past three tournaments, Tway hasn't finished worse than 17th, with a tie for fourth at the Chrysler Classic and a third at the Ford Championship.

"I just figure the more times that I give myself a chance, then maybe one time I'll sneak in there," Tway said. "If I can continue to do that and feel more and more comfortable about being in the last few groups, then I think one of these days I'll get there."

Janzen hasn't had that kind of success this season, and his five-year exemption status following his last victory expires at the end of the year.

He faced a similar dilemma in 1998, five years after his first win in the Open, and responded by winning it again.

"I'm well aware of that," Janzen said. "You know, I haven't won because I haven't played well enough. I can't come up with any better explanation than that.

"I've wanted to win, and I've worked at it. I feel more peaceful about it, feel better about my opportunities. I think I would handle it better."

Tway shot 66, the best score of the second round, and had a couple of chances to go even lower. After starting his round on the back nine, he had three straight birdies on the front side to get to 8 under, then made another to get to 9 under.

But he three-putted for bogey at the par-3 No. 8, which plays about 250 yards, then missed a 5-footer for birdie on his last hole.

"I didn't hit a very good putt," he said. "It looked like if I got it above the hole, it wouldn't break. But if you start it straight, it's going to break.

"I tried to go up the left edge, and I kind of quit on it. It didn't really break."

Phil Mickelson, playing in his first tournament after taking a month off for the birth of his third child, shot 79 and missed the cut by six shots.

LPGA OFFICE DEPOT: Annika Sorenstam had an adventurous first nine holes before steadying for a 4-under-par 68 to take the first-round lead in Los Angeles.

Cindy Figg-Currier, who took off last year to have a baby, opened with a 70 at El Caballero Country Club and was alone in second place.

Alison Nicholas of England, Lorena Ochoa of Mexico and Yu Ping Lin of Taiwan gave the leaderboard a distinctive international flair.

All had 71s that left them three strokes back of Sorenstam, the LPGA star from Sweden.

Stephanie Louden also was in the group at 1 under after the first 18 holes of the 54-hole tournament.

Sorenstam, who'll compete against the men in the PGA's Colonial next month, began her round on No. 10.