Knox has his sights set firmly on the prize

TYRONE VAN ASWEGEN, Daniel Berger, Russell Henley and Marc Leishman shared a one-shot lead at seven-underpar 133 at the halfway stage of The Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands.

However, Scotland’s Russell Knox was handily placed just one shot behind the leaders heading into the third round, following successive three-under-par 67s from his opening 36 holes.

The Scot was joined by 18-hole co-leader Jerry Kelly in a fourway tie for fifth at 134 after firing a level-par 70.

Vaughn Taylor and Andrew Loupe, the other 18-hole leaders, shot 71 and 76 to move to 135 and 140, respectively.

England’s Paul Casey, who lost in a play-off last year and former world No. 1 Vijay Singh, are also at 135. Casey shot 67 and Singh carded a 68.

Van Aswegen, the world No. 348 from South Africa, shot a bogey-free 66. He opened with eight straight pars Friday morning before rolling in three consecutive birdies from Nos. 9 to 11.

He claimed sole possession of the lead with another at No. 16, hours before Berger birdied No. 15 to tie for the lead.

The 34-year-old Aswegen has never won on the PGA Tour, his best finish came at the 2015 Frys.com Open, where he tied for third.

Berger, the world No. 40, bounced back from his lone bogey at the third with nothing but pars and four birdies en route to his 67.

The 23-year-old claimed a threestroke win – his first on the PGA Tour – at the FedEx St Jude Classic in June.

Henley, the world No. 99, was also bogey-free with his 65, rolling in four birdies. His birdie at the ninth, his final hole, pulled him into a tie for the lead.

The 27-year-old is a two-time winner. His last victory came at The Honda Classic in 2014.

Bubba Watson, the defending and twotime Travelers champion, is four shots off the lead at 137 after a 70.

Opening at the 10th tee, Watson found trouble with bogeys at Nos. 12, 13 and 15. However, the sixthranked Watson recovered with a bogey-free final 12 holes, adding birdies on Nos. 6-7.

Freddie Jacobson (141) of Sweden, the 2011 Travelers winner, was among those who missed the one-under cut.

Branden Grace of South Africa (141), who tied for fourth at last week’s PGA Championship, also missed the cut.