Spieth Maintains Lead at Travelers Championship

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Jordan Spieth’s 1-under 69 on Friday was six shots off his opening-round 63, but it was good enough to maintain a one stroke lead heading into the weekend at the Travelers Championship.

 
Coming off a near flawless debut at TPC River Highlands, Spieth admitted his second round was a bit off.

“Yeah, it was a battle. I was just a little off today. You know, I didn’t expect to be on to the same level as a 63, but I just got a little bit — the swing was just — it’s close,” said Spieth. “It was just kind of an off day, and I’m glad I was able to still shoot 1-under with an off round.”

The 23-year-old Texan, who started on the back, played to even-par on his first-nine with a double-bogey sandwiched between two birdies.

After two quick birdies at the turn, Spieth was at 2-under on the day, and 9-under on the tournament, with six holes to play. But a bogey on the difficult 233-yard par-3 5th halted the momentum, and from there he played even-par over the final four holes to finish at 8-under through 36 holes.

 
“Had an opportunity on the front [his back nine] to get to 10-under. That was our new goal. It fell just short, but in a good position,” said Spieth. “For an off day to shoot 1-under and hopefully that’s the high score we post this week, that’s where you need to hold it when you get a little off.”

Tied for second, at 7-under, is Troy Merritt (68) and Patrick Reed (66), who, following a solid performance at Erin Hills (T13, -6), has posted two sub-70 rounds in Connecticut. The Ryder Cup star seems to be coming out of his season-long slump.

 
“I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball well all year. I feel like I’ve been putting pretty solid. It’s just every once in a while there is something that’s not quite there that day, and the numbers aren’t adding up,” said Reed, who finished with five birdies and one bogey. “Here recently, I feel like scores are starting to reflect how I’m playing and hopefully I can continue it all.”

Wesley Bryan, who posted a second-consecutive 67, and Daniel Summerhays (68) headline a group of four players at 6-under, tied for fourth.

A logjam exists after that with nine players at 5-under, 10 more at 4-under, and too many to count from 3-under to the cut line of even-par. In all, 85 players made the cut of the 150 player field.

Those who didn’t make the cut included world No. 4 Jason Day (+1), two-time Travelers champion Bubba Watson (+2) and Justin Thomas (+5).


Top 10

1 Jordan Spieth -8
T2 Troy Merritt -7
T2 Patrick Reed -7
T4 Wesley Bryan -6
T4 Daniel Summerhays -6
T4 Chase Seiffert -6
T4 Boo Weekley -6
T8 Patrick Rodgers -5
T8 Daniel Berger -5
T8 Beau Hossler -5
T8 Graham DeLaet -5
T8 Chez Reavie -5
T8 Smylie Kaufman -5
T8 Padraig Harrington -5
T8 Jim Furyk -5
T8 Danny Lee -5


Factoids

  • This marks Spieth’s ninth 36-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour. Of the previous eight, he’s been able to convert four: 2015 Masters, 2015 U.S. Open, 2016 SBS Tournament of Champions, and 2017 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
  • Spieth has been the sole leader after both rounds Only two players have won the tournament in wire-to-wire fashion – Gene Littler in 1959 and Tim Morris in 1982.
  • The second-round leader/co-leader has won 15 of 31 stroke-play events this season, most recently Brooks Koepka at the U.S. Open.

Leader’s Stats

A look at how Jordan Spieth is getting it done after two rounds at TPC River Highlands.

[orbit_circle_loader animate=”animate_none” number=”75″ number_color=”#000000″ track_color=”#eeeeee” bar_color=”#24ade7″]

Greens in Regulation

27/36 – T14[/orbit_circle_loader]

[orbit_circle_loader animate=”animate_none” number=”64.29″ number_color=”#000000″ track_color=”#eeeeee” bar_color=”#24ade7″]

Driving Accuracy

18/28 – T41[/orbit_circle_loader]

[orbit_circle_loader animate=”animate_none” number=”33″ number_color=”#000000″ track_color=”#eeeeee” bar_color=”#24ade7″]

Birdie Percentage

12/36 – 1st[/orbit_circle_loader]


Video Highlights


Quotable

“I really wanted to grab two [birdies] a side. That’s kind of my goal. I figured if I get two a side every nine holes that we play this week that will be 16-under, and that will win the golf tournament.”
Jordan Spieth


Leaderboard

Travelers Championship . Second Round . TPC River Highlands

POSPLAYERTOT
1Jordan Spieth-8
T2Troy Merritt-7
T2Patrick Reed-7
T4Wesley Bryan-6
T4Daniel Summerhays-6
T4Chase Seiffert-6
T4Boo Weekley-6
T8Patrick Rodgers-5
T8Daniel Berger-5
T8Beau Hossler-5
T8Graham DeLaet-5
T8Chez Reavie-5
T8Smylie Kaufman-5
T8Padraig Harrington-5
T8Jim Furyk-5
T8Danny Lee-5
T17Anirban Lahiri-4
T17Brendan Steele-4
T17Ryan Brehm-4
T17Johnson Wagner-4
T17Xander Schauffele-4
T17Fabian Gomez-4
T17Paul Casey-4
T17Brian Harman-4
T17Charley Hoffman-4
T17Brett Stegmaier-4
T27Will MacKenzie-3
T27David Lingmerth-3
T27Tony Finau-3
T27Marc Leishman-3
T27Vaughn Taylor-3
T27Brandt Snedeker-3
T27Kevin Na-3
T27Morgan Hoffmann-3
T27Kyle Stanley-3
T27Greg Chalmers-3
T27Keegan Bradley-3
T27Hudson Swafford-3
T27Mackenzie Hughes-3
T27David Hearn-3
T27Sebastian Munoz-3
T27Brad Fritsch-3
T43Nick Watney-2
T43William McGirt-2
T43Jonas Blixt-2
T43Matt Every-2
T43Bud Cauley-2
T43C.T. Pan-2
T43Jason Kokrak-2
T43Geoff Ogilvy-2
T43Webb Simpson-2
T43Tim Wilkinson-2
T43Rick Lamb-2
T43Tom Hoge-2
T55Retief Goosen-1
T55Russell Knox-1
T55Alex Cejka-1
T55Steve Wheatcroft-1
T55Mark Hubbard-1
T55Julian Etulain-1
T55Bryson DeChambeau-1
T55Kevin Streelman-1
T55Emiliano Grillo-1
T55J.J. Henry-1
T55Hunter Mahan-1
T55Rod Pampling-1
T55Michael Kim-1
T55Byeong Hun An-1
T69Kevin TwayE
T69Spencer LevinE
T69Scott PiercyE
T69Peter MalnatiE
T69Cameron PercyE
T69Ryan PalmerE
T69Jamie LovemarkE
T69Joel DahmenE
T69Grayson MurrayE
T69Adam HadwinE
T69Rory McIlroyE
T69Robert StrebE
T69K.J. ChoiE
T69Patton KizzireE
T69Bryce MolderE
T69Ricky BarnesE
T69Sung-hoon KangE
-Kelly KraftCUT
-Trey MullinaxCUT
-Luke DonaldCUT
-Mark AndersonCUT
-Andres GonzalesCUT
-Robert GarrigusCUT
-Martin LairdCUT
-Tag RidingsCUT
-Bubba WatsonCUT
-Seung-yul NohCUT
-Chad CollinsCUT
-Gonzalo Fdez-CastanoCUT
-Harris EnglishCUT
-Vijay SinghCUT
-Jason DayCUT
-Billy Hurley IIICUT
-Jim HermanCUT
-Harold Varner, IIICUT
-John PetersonCUT
-Tyrone van AswegenCUT
-Brandon HagyCUT
-Scott StallingsCUT
-Cody GribbleCUT
-Ken DukeCUT
-Whee KimCUT
-Troy KellyCUT
-Zack SucherCUT
-Brett ColettaCUT
-Seamus PowerCUT
-Lucas GloverCUT
-Kyle ReifersCUT
-John HuhCUT
-Chad CampbellCUT
-Miguel Angel CarballoCUT
-JT PostonCUT
-Brian GayCUT
-Zach JohnsonCUT
-Brian CampbellCUT
-Jhonattan VegasCUT
-Derek FathauerCUT
-Martin FloresCUT
-Rory SabbatiniCUT
-Ryan ArmourCUT
-Justin ThomasCUT
-Bobby WyattCUT
-Nick TaylorCUT
-Dominic BozzelliCUT
-Zach ZabackCUT
-Michael ThompsonCUT
-Shawn StefaniCUT
-Steven AlkerCUT
-Ben CraneCUT
-Jonathan RandolphCUT
-Ryan BlaumCUT
-Neil JohnsonCUT
-Richy WerenskiCUT
-Nicholas LindheimCUT
-Zac BlairCUT
-Brian StuardCUT
-Ryan RuffelsCUT
-Andrew LoupeCUT
-Jason BohnCUT
-Mark WilsonCUT
-Carl PetterssonCUT
-Bobby GatesCUT
-Wyndham ClarkCUT
-Billy DownesCUT
-Brett DrewittCUT
-Stuart ApplebyWD
-Bob EstesWD
-Charlie BeljanWD

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