Charlotte, N.C. ? Sergio Garcia posed over a 9-iron that never reached the green. Vijay Singh felt the wind change in the middle of his swing. Tiger Woods watched a birdie chance disappear off the green and into the water.

Blustery wind that swirled from all corners fooled some of the world’s best players and turned the Wachovia Championship into a test of patience Friday.

Garcia survived by playing bogey-free on the back nine for a 1-under 71, giving him a two-shot lead over Singh, defending champion Joey Sindelar and D.J. Trahan going into the weekend.

“You make bogey, you’ve just got to realize … it’s going to happen,” Garcia said. “You’ve just got to try to keep it up.”

The biggest thrill was his position, at 7-under 137, his first 36-hole lead in nearly four years on the PGA Tour.

The cut was at 4 over, and there 15 players within five shots of the lead. That included Woods, who has made 11 birdies the first two rounds, but has sprinkled in enough bogeys to leave him with plenty of work to catch up. Woods is at 2-under 142, five shots back.

The wind calmed over the final two hours at Quail Hollow, and the scoring average dropped a half-shot to 74.6. The course was so fast that the field hit less than 50 percent of the fairways.

Phil Mickelson hit into the water on the par-3 17th and finished double bogey-bogey for a 73 that left him seven shots behind.