The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Sucher takes 2-stroke lead at Travelers Championship
Journeyman last won a tournament in 2014 before injuries
CROMWELL — Zack Sucher finished his first round in the growing darkness on Thursday evening, birdieing his final hole in the last group on the 18th hole to tie for the firstround lead.
He finished Friday’s second round earlier in the day in the rain, yet still was sitting atop the leaderboard. Except this time, Sucher stands alone at the midway point of the Travelers Championship.
A second-round 65 gives Sucher a two-shot lead over Keegan Bradley and Chez Reavie. Sucher was one of six co-leaders after round one.
“It’s really nice to have all the hard work pay off,” said Sucher, who last won in 2014. “So it’s feeling really good so far. A lot of work to be done, but right now, it’s feeling great.”
Sucher, a career journeyman, will now be playing in the final group of the day Saturday along with Chez Reavie at 1:55 p.m.
“There will be a lot more people out here than I’m used to,” Sucher said. “It will be nice, but I will enjoy it.”
Bradley and Reavie both shot 66 in the morning rain. That inclement weather has finally cleared out after 31⁄2 days, setting the stage for what should be a rain-free, low-humidity weekend.
“You’re taking your umbrella out; you’re getting under the umbrella,” Reavie said about his round. “You’re trying to work with your caddie; trying to clean your balls in the fairway. I mean, it throws your rhythm off, but you have to take that extra second and stay patient.”
Said Bradley: “We definitely had the tougher draw. It was weird. When it started to rain, that was when I played my best, so who knows.”
Ryan Moore, twice a runner-up in this tournament, shot 64 to move to 8-under 132, three behind Sucher. The large group at 7-under includes Jason Day, who fired a 63, and Paul Casey, also a two-time runner-up in this event.
Defending champion Bubba Watson made five straight birdies on the back nine to get to 7-under, but bogeyed the final two holes and sits six shots behind Sucher.
A couple of the notables,
former champions Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth, played in the morning wave, and both missed the cut. Mickelson shot 76 to finish two rounds at 3-over-par 143, one stroke worse than Spieth, his playing partner both days.
World No. 1 Brooks Koepka posted a 66 to survive the cut and stand at 3-under 137, eight strokes back. Eighty-two players made the cut at 2-under.
Sucher is in the midst of a six-tournament medical extension. His PGA Tour season in 2017 was cut short after a missed cut at the Travelers. Sucher had ankle surgery and wasn’t allowed by his doctors to hit a shot for 13 months. He didn’t play at all in 2018.
“For my first few rounds back, the doctors and physical therapists were saying they didn’t want me to put too much stress on the ankle,” Sucher said. “I still have a tear in the knee. … That doesn’t bother me one bit.”
Regardless of how the rest of the weekend goes, and then starts at the Rocket Mortgage Classic next week and the John Deere Classic in three weeks, Sucher has secured a place on the Korn Ferry Tour — Korn Ferry took over sponsorship of the former Web.Com Tour on Wednesday — in 2020 with two top-10 finishes.
Of course, if he does well
this weekend, he can continue playing the PGA Tour rather than the remainder of the Korn Ferry season.
“If I get inside the 150 number (for the FedExCup playoffs), everything changes and I can play out the PGA events,” Sucher said.
Andrew Putnam came the closest to catching Sucher on Friday afternoon. He birdied holes 13-16, then holed out for eagle on the par-4 second hole, his 11th of the round, to vault to 10-under. But he bogeyed the par-5 sixth hole and double-bogeyed 9 to drop back to 7-under 133.
Moore is tied with Bronson Burgoon, one of the first-round co-leaders.
“I think it’s a good, fair test of golf no matter what the conditions are,” Moore said. “You hit the right shots and put it in the right places, you have a chance to score, and that’s what I did today.”