By David Westin
The Augusta Chronicle

MARIETTA, Ga. - How can you lead a tournament of the BellSouth Classic's stature with your B game?

Neal Lancaster can't explain it but he's doing it.

The North Carolina native is tied with Savannah's Gene Sauers at the halfway point of the Masters prelude. Nick Price and former Georgia Tech four-time All-America David Duval are one shot back. They both had 70s Friday in a swirling and cold wind.

The wild second round included the second straight eagle on the 407-yard par-4 first hole by Price and a 12 - yes, a 12 - on the par-5 eighth hole by John Daly, who missed the cut by one shot. He had rounds of 71-77-147.

Lancaster, who shot a 2-under-par 70 Friday at the Atlanta Country Club, is at 7-under-par 137 through 36 holes. Sauers shot 68 to tie for the low round of the day.

``I hit a lot of bad shots and got away with them,'' said Lancaster, a 34-year-old journeyman from Smithfield, N.C.

One of those shots came on the par-5 eighth hole where a duck-hooked tee shot ``almost hit a Coca-Cola machine and hit about seven people,'' Lancaster said.

As he did all day in a bogey-free round, Lancaster saved par on No. 8.

``It was a struggle, definitely,'' said Lancaster, who hist just six fairways off the tee. ``I believe it just goes to show you they way I played today, everybody has potential.''

For British Open champion Daly, the eighth hole was nothing short of a torture chamber. Entering the hole four-under par for the tournament and just three shots off the lead, Daly's 12 included three left-handed whiffs and two penalty shots for unplayable lies.

Had Daly parred the ninth hole - his last hole of the day since he started on No. 10 - he would have made the cut. Instead, he made bogey after three-putting the par-4. In those two holes, Daly went from 4-under for the tournament to 4-over.

Lancaster compared his play on Friday to his performance earlier this season at the Nissan Open, where he finished 16th after a final round 77.

``I was leading after 54 holes with B game going,'' Lancaster said. ``This week somebody could win playing their B game because the weather supposed to get worse. Nobody is going to go out there and shoot 64, I wouldn't think, just because of the weather.''

No matter what happens in the final two rounds, Lancaster knows he'll be in next week's Masters. He earned his invitation by finishing among the top 16 in the 1995 U.S. Open (he tied for fourth place).

Sauers, a three-time Masters participant who hasn't played in Augusta since 1993, needs a win this week to make the field.

``Being from Georgia, it's kind of tough not to be there,'' Sauers, 33, said. ``In the back of my mind I'm thinking if I play well, I'm going to be in the Masters next week. But that's something that I've got to just throw out the window right now and just do what I've got to do here first.''

Of the 38 golfers in the field who are also in the Masters, 17 missed the cut and will be heading to Augusta for some early practice at the Augusta National.

Some of the golfers making their way down I-20 ahead of schedule are former Masters champions Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize and Craig Stadler.

Two-time Masters champ Ballesteros, who shot 78-78-156, hit just 11 fairways and 12 greens in regulation in 36 holes.

``My game is fine,'' said Ballesteros, who took a five-month break before returning to competition in early March,'' Ballesteros said. ``It's just my confidence that is off.''

Ballesteros said he would leave for Augusta to begin preparation for his 20th Masters appearance ``probably'' today.

Five of the six golfers with local connections missed the cut. The lone exception was former Augusta College golfer Taylor Smith, who shot 74-71-145.

Franklin Langham of Thomson shot 75-75-150, former Augustan Allen Doyle shot 80-74-154, Aiken's Hugh Royer III shot 76-80-156 and former West Lake and Augusta Country Club assistant pro Craig Hartle shot 83-84-167.

FALSE ALARM: Royer missed his third cut in his last four starts, but he was just glad to be playing golf without worrying about his health. After getting an allergy shot at the AT&T Classic in February, he developed some complications. At the Bay Hill Invitational in mid-March, Royer was diagnosed as having a tumor that might be malignant. A re-examination recently in Aiken revealed it was a blood clot that was broken up, not a tumor.

BAD TIMING: Lancaster had the misfortune of teeing off early on Friday, at a time when the temperature was hovering in the low 30s. Lancaster was in the 7:50 a.m. group.

``People ask me how do you get loose in that kind of weather,'' Lancaster said. ``You don't. You just don't get loose. You deal with it the best you can. You know everybody is going to hit some bad shots when it's 30 degrees. You kind of laugh at them.''