Dustin Johnson rolls with the punches at Pebble

(06-18) 17:11 PDT Pebble Beach - -- PEBBLE BEACH - Dustin Johnson has certain routines when it comes to playing the Pebble Beach Golf Links. Leave it to the U.S. Open to throw his habits for a 17-mile curve.

Instead of crashing at a buddy's house in the forest gates, as Johnson likes to do, he's staying at the official lodge on the course. Rather than pack the umbrella and galoshes, he's wearing light sweaters and sunblock - not that the latter swap is all that bad.

"It's kind of nice not wearing rain gear," Johnson said.

Know what else must be nice? How Johnson is able to calm this beast of a course in June, just as he has done the past two rainy Februarys at the AT&T; National Pro-Am.

Johnson fired a 1-under-par 70 in the second round Friday, leaving him 1-under for the two rounds. He's in a four-way tie for second place, two shots behind leader Graeme McDowell.

Johnson is not yet Mark O'Meara, the Prince of Pebble Beach who won six times here, though not in the U.S. Open. If Johnson can pull off the Open feat, adding to his consecutive victories at the AT&T;, consider him first in line to that throne.

"Whenever you have success at a golf course, you get a lot of confidence," Johnson said. "So I've got a lot of confidence here. It sets up very well for me."

It isn't nearly as easy as Johnson makes it sound. Plenty of golfers from this 156-player field play the AT&T.; They all say the course is infinitely more difficult the second time around.

Look at David Duval, the AT&T; runner-up at 15-under who has translated that experience into a 6-over start to the U.S. Open. Or 5-over Vijay Singh, who recognizes the same sight lines but little else about how this course plays.

This week's greens are drier and faster, now that the winter rain has gone away. Some tee boxes are pushed back. Many bunker edges are shaved low or grown high, now that the USGA has altered the course to the field's disliking.

So many changes on the course, and yet so little change from Johnson.

"He played very well," said Singh, who played in Johnson's group. "He's just bombing it down there. He should have been 5- or 6-under, easily."

The most unfair part of Johnson's success is he does it without having to flex considerable muscle. This guy can drive the ball a country mile, a skill limited at times by the smallest course on the U.S. Open circuit.

He ranked second on the PGA Tour in driving distance last season. Pebble Beach has four holes shorter than his 303.6-yard average. He used a driver six times Friday. At other courses, he hits that many drivers before breakfast.

What does Johnson do? What he does about everything else different here since his last winter getaway. He adjusts accordingly, then proceeds to march up the scoreboard.

"These greens, they're really small," Johnson said. "But if you're hitting good quality shots, you can get it close to the hole. And I just feel like I got a good game plan to play this golf course.

"Yeah, it's a lot different, but it's still the same golf course."

E-mail David White at dwhite@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle