The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Leader of the Pack
Harman up by a shot after second round
CROMWELL — A typical mixture of familiar names and relative unknowns to even the heartiest of golf fans populate the leaderboard as the Travelers Championship has reached the midway point.
Brian Harman stands at 10under 130, leading a trio of golfers, including first-round coleader Zach Johnson, who made 16 pars and two birdies, but two of those pars were the talk of the afternoon portion of Friday’s second round.
The familiar names lurking are Bryson DeChambeau and Paul Casey, both tied for fifth after shooting 66 and 67, respectively, while two-time winner Bubba Watson (63) and Rory McIlroy (69) are tied for eighth.
The one familiar name missing is defending champion. Jordan Spieth, who was tied with Johnson for the first-round lead after posting a 63, triple-bogeyed the par-5 13th hole en route to a 73, despite making eagle on the par-5 sixth hole for the second straight day. Spieth is tied for 25th at 4under 136.
“I don’t go to the range after 63s very often and I was there for an hour yesterday trying to figure out the golf swing,” Spieth said. “Sometimes it can get disguised by rounds, but it’s not far off.”
Spieth is still within striking distance of Harman. Several others weren’t so fortunate. The cut came at 2-under 142. Among those departing for the weekend are reigning Masters champion Patrick Reed (141) and Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk (141).
Harman, who played with Watson at the University of Georgia and contended when Watson won Travelers for the second time in 2015, made four birdies on the front nine.
“I’m not very good at keeping my emotions together,” Harman said. “It’s hard to do out there. It’s easy to get frustrated. But hopefully, I won’t get frustrated this weekend.”
Russell Henley (65) and Matt Jones (66) are just one behind and Jones will play with Harman in the final group off at 1:55 p.m.
Johnson somehow parred the 17th hole, his seventh of the day, after driving into the water, then taking a drop on the 16th tee.
“I was using the lateral hazard rule to my advantage there and drew a good lie,” Johnson said.
His 234-yard hybrid landed on the green and rolled to within just a few feet. “That’s as good of an up and down as I’ve witnessed or performed,” Johnson said.
On the third hole, Johnson left a birdie attempt on the lip. After addressing the ball, he lifted up his putter, but he quickly picked it back up once he noticed the ball was going to drop in the hole, which it did.
After a discussion with PGA Tour rules official John Mutch, it was determined Johnson took more than the allotted 10 seconds for it to drop in, Johnson had to take a par.
“If it falls in after 10 seconds, you’ve deemed to have holed out with your previous shot and add one,” PGA Tour rules official Mark Russell said. “So he was putting for birdie, he made a 4 there.”
Said Johnson: “Maybe I used the rules to my advantage on 16 and maybe I got bit a little bit on 3. But hey, it wasn’t in at one point and they said it took about 15 seconds to fall in, so it was about 5 seconds over.”
DeChambeau, who won earlier this month at the Memorial, bounced back from a double-bogey on the 13th to birdie 15 and 16.
“In times past I would definitely be freaking out, not knowing what to do,trying to correct the golf swing rather than going, ‘OK, you don’t have it right now, let’s go,’ ” DeChambeau said. “Figure out something that can get it to the house. … I’m a grinder. People don’t really know that. They think I’m just a numbers guy and everything. But I grind it out, man.”
Casey, who lost in a playoff to Watson in 2015, was even par over his first 14 holes in the morning. He then made three straight birdies (15-17) to get under par.
“The ball striking was a little better today, a little straighter and hopefully, it continues through the weekend,” Casey said.
Watson eagled the 13th en route to his 63, thee best round of the day. “It was just a combination of better thinking and then making putts. When you make putts, you can score on any golf course,” Watson said.