LOS ANGELES — Although this is Charlie Wi's third year on the PGA Tour, this is the first time the former Westlake High standout is playing Riviera Country Club as a professional.

So far the lack of local knowledge hasn't hurt Wi, who opened this week's Northern Trust Open with a 1-under 70 and came back on Friday to fire a 68, leaving him tied for ninth heading into the weekend.

Had it not been for a few unlucky breaks on the back nine, Wi would have been even higher on the leaderboard. Wi bogeyed both par 5s on the back nine, costing him at least two strokes and perhaps even more.

On 17, his approach hit the green but bounced long into the deep grass, which led to a poor chip shot and eventually a bogey. On 11 it was a similar situation, with Wi hitting the green, but having the ball bounce off.

"Other than making a few mistakes on 11 and 17, I'm playing OK," Wi said. "I am hitting the ball nice."

Wi is enjoying the hard and fast conditions that the high winds and sunny weather have provided this week.

"I'm not one of the longer guys out here, so it's nice to get a little more roll on my shots," Wi said.

With 36 holes left, Wi is six strokes behind leader Phil Mickelson, but at this point he's not concerned about Mickelson or anyone else on the leaderboard.

"I am just going to go out and do the things I do," Wi said when talking about his game plan for the next two days. "I've been playing well so far (this season), so I'm just going to try and keep doing what I have done the last few tournaments."

Mr. Mom: For more than a year, Scott McCarron had no idea if he would ever play another round of the PGA Tour. In August 2006, McCarron had surgery to repair a torn tendon in his elbow and for a year after the surgery couldn't pick up a club.

McCarron took advantage of being away from the game to spend more time with his family. He drove his daughters to school, volunteered in their classrooms and even coached their soccer team.

The "Mr. Mom" lifestyle apparently agreed with the former UCLA standout because after about three months of being home, his wife told McCarron how happy he looked.

"I said this is probably the happiest I've ever been, being able to be at home," McCarron said. "It was a nice feeling."

But as happy as McCarron was being at home with his wife and kids, he also longed to get back on the golf course.

In August 2007, McCarron started swinging a club, albeit in pain, and by October he was feeling good enough to test his elbow in competition.

Since then his game has slowly been coming back, and this week at Riviera, a course that McCarron calls his favorite on the PGA Tour, he's turned back the clock.

With family and former UCLA fraternity brothers watching, McCarron fired a 7-under 65 on Friday, leaving him tied for fourth at 5-under 137.

"Being out for a year and a half, I really have no business being in the hunt nor near the lead, but I feel good coming in here," McCarron said. "I just love this place and have some good feelings coming in here. And lo and behold, I played pretty well today."

McCarron said his time away had made him appreciate the game even more and reignited his enthusiasm.

"I enjoy the practicing and the working out and eating right," McCarron said. "All the things that started to get monotonous for me after 13, 14 years of traveling. Unfortunately, I had to take a year and a half off to find that again, but I'm very happy."