Spieth maintains lead at Travelers Championship

CROMWELL, CONN. » Jordan Spieth played well enough in the second round of the Travelers Championship to stay in the lead. Rory McIlroy played just well enough to stay in the tournament.

Spieth shot a 1-under 69 on Friday morning, then watched as a windy afternoon kept anyone from overtaking him.

The conditions also kept fourth-ranked Jason Day from making the cut for a second straight week. He bogeyed the 18th for a 70 to finish at 2 over. No. 3 McIlroy shot a 73, also closing with a bogey, but managed to just sneak into the weekend at even par.

Spieth, who began the day one shot ahead after a first-round 63, started on the back nine. The 23-yearold Texan had to recover from a double bogey on the par-5 13th hole after hitting his tee shot left and out-of-bounds. He also had four birdies and a bogey to reach 8 under.

“We’ve been kind of far behind in a lot of the events in making comeback runs,” said Spieth, the two-time major champion who tied for 35th last week in the U.S. Open. “But being able to be toward the front of the pack on a Saturday afternoon is a beautiful position to be in and one that we’ll certainly embrace. I’m going to try to have a lot of fun this weekend.”

Patrick Reed (66) and Troy Merritt (68) were tied for second. Both fought off wind gusts that exceeded 20 mph to hit 11 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens.

“A golf course like this, even when the wind is blowing, if you’re hitting your tee shots straight, you’re going to have some wedges into the greens,” Reed said.

U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka isn’t in Connecticut this week, but former Florida State teammate Chase Seiffert is in contention. The 25-yearold had to qualify Monday to get into the tournament. He made two eagles Friday and finished with a 66 to reach 6 under.

“I came into the week with no status on any tour, but I knew my game was really good,” Seiffert said. “I just had to get it done. To come out and play the first two rounds the way I did, it gives me a lot of confidence.

The biggest drama of the afternoon was watching the world’s third- and fourth-ranked players try to make it to the weekend.

Day was close, until he hit his second shot at 18 into a greenside bunker. He failed to get up and down, missing a 6-footer for par.

McIlroy seemed to be in good shape on 18. He was on the right edge of the fairway and looking at a second shot 105 yards from the hole. But he slipped during the swing and the ball went just 63 yards and farther right.

“My right foot completely came out from under me,” he said. “Obviously, there was a tiny bit of drizzle. Maybe a little bit of surface water. Just, I don’t know. It was weird. As soon as I started down, I just felt it and I couldn’t stop.”