The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
10 Takeaways
CROMWELL — Round 2 of the Travelers Championship is complete, with some well-known names in contention and some others that failed to make the cut.
Here are the sights, sounds and observations from Friday’s action at TPC River Highlands:
1. BUBBA’S BACK: It wouldn’t be a Travelers without Bubba Watson in the championship hunt. The bombing Floridian notched the first of his 11 PGA wins here in 2010. He won again in 2015, with a couple of Masters titles in between. Watson was even-par 70 after the first round. His 7-under 63 on Friday, the best round of the day, put him three shots off the lead entering Saturday.
2. FOUR AND FOUR: Bryson DeChambeau shot 4-under 66 on Thursday and repeated the trick a day later to put himself two shots off the lead. But his Friday round nearly came off the rails with a bogey on 12 and a double bogey on 13. He recovered with successive birdies on 15 and 16 to salvage his score. Why didn’t DeChambeau panic? “Experience,” he said. “In times past I would be freaking out, not knowing what to do, trying to correct the swing rather than going, ‘OK, you don’t have it now.’ ”
3. ROLL TIDE? Brian Harman mentioned he’s not good at keeping his emotions together on the course. A reporter followed up by asking whether that was the case when Harman, a Georgia graduate, watched Alabama score the winning touchdown in overtime during the BCS national title game in January. “Yeah,” Harman said. “Thanks for bringing that up. Appreciate that.”
4. BIRTHDAY BLUES: Russell Knox turned 33 on Thursday, but his birthday round included no birdies and a 3-over 73. The next day was a bit better. Knox had seven of them Friday, with just one bogey, for a round of 64.
5. DIFFERENCE OF 10: Jordan Spieth went from a first-round 63 to a secondround 73, a mixed bag of a Friday that included a birdie, an eagle and two bogeys in the first six holes. He added a triple-bogey 8 on the back nine. His phenomenal 63 was misleading because he’d felt issues with his swing Thursday. “I don’t go to the range after 63s very often, and there I was for an hour yesterday trying to figure out the golf swing,” Spieth said. “Sometimes (problems) can get disguised by the rounds.”
6. MAKING A DIFFERENCE: A year ago, Lanto Griffin had $4,800 in career winnings and was considering quitting the PGA Tour. His agent talked him into seeing a sports psychologist. While his career earnings are, relatively speaking, a meager $185,000, he’s giving back in the form of $10,000 to a need-based scholarship for high school students in his hometown of Roanoke, Virginia. “I grew up with no money to play golf,” Griffin said. “So if anybody knows the meaning of giving back, it’s probably me. I just need to play better so I can build my brand and start a foundation.”
7. MADISON STILL IN THE HOUSE: Brett Stegmaier, who grew up in Madison, will stay for the weekend. He shot a Friday round of 67 to put him at 3-under 137 for the tournament.
8. RULES OF GOLF: According to USGA rules, players have 10 seconds to address a putt that’s hanging on the lip. If the ball should drop into the hole untouched within 10 seconds, it’s good; if it drops in after the 10-second limit, it counts as a stroke. That’s exactly what happened to Zach Johnson on the third hole. He was just about to knock in a hanging putt when he noticed it falling into the hole. Johnson pulled his putter away, thinking he might be penalized for hitting a moving ball. He was soon informed by officials the time limit had expired, and he’d been awarded par, not birdie.
9. ALMOST PERFECT: Russell Henley hit every green in regulation during his round of 65, which puts him at 9-under 131 for the tournament, one shot off the lead. “I didn’t really put myself in a position where I had to stress too much,” Henley said. “Maybe I lipped out a couple birdie putts, so make a couple more of those and I’m in the lead.”
10. YER OUT: Among the notable names that failed to make the cut: two-time U.S. Open champ Retief Goosen, 2012 U.S. Open champ Webb Simpson, current Masters champ Patrick Reed, and Jim Furyk, who shot a tour-record 58 in a round here two years ago.