Year has gone from sweet to sour for Pettersson

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- Not much has gone right for Carl Pettersson in the 12 months since he won his adopted hometown's tournament.

If he doesn't put together another strong weekend at the final event of golf's regular season, his rough year will end a few weeks early.

The native Swede who calls North Carolina home returns to the site of his only victory since 2006 to defend his title at the Wyndham Championship, where he's on the board of directors.

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"I've played some good rounds (and) if I had better confidence in myself, I probably would have shot one or two shots better each day," Pettersson said Wednesday.

"This game's all about confidence, and if you feel like you're going to do well, you probably are going to do well. I feel like my game's turning around, and it just takes time to get that spring back in your step."

Pettersson moved to North Carolina as a boy, attended high school in Greensboro, played collegiately at North Carolina State and lives a 90-minute drive away in Raleigh.

He put together quite the feel-good local story last August at the Donald Ross-designed course at Sedgefield Country Club, leading almost all of the final two rounds, following his tournament-record 61 in the third round with a 68 to lock up a two-stroke victory that was his first - and only - since the 2006 Memorial.

He hasn't finished in the top 10 since.

His best result this year was his first, when he was 17th at the Mercedez-Benz Championship in January. He missed the cut in 14 of the 23 tournaments he's played since then while failing to reach the weekend in eight consecutive events during a two-month stretch from March to May. He missed the cut at last week's PGA Championship by one stroke.