Phil Mickelson used a solid finish to seize a one-shot lead following the second round of the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut, on Friday where a third PGA Tour player tested positive for Covid-19.
Mickelson closed with a birdie at the last hole of the TPC River Highlands course for a seven-under-par 63 that brought him to 13 under on the week and one shot clear of first-round leader Mackenzie Hughes (68) and sponsor invite Will Gordon (62).
World No 1 Rory McIlroy (68) and Xander Schauffele (68) were among a pack of five golfers a further three shots back.
Mickelson, in his first tournament since turning 50 last week, will have a short turnaround as third round action will feature threesomes off split tees starting at 7am (midday Irish time) due to expectations for inclement weather later in the day.
“It’s probably a little bit difficult as you get older, but when you’re playing well, you have that extra momentum, and it should be okay,” said Mickelson.
Gordon, in only his eighth PGA Tour start and playing on a sponsor exemption, made the most of his opportunity as he mixed six birdies and one bogey over his opening eight holes before adding another three birdies after the turn.
“I knew that [the course] was going to be gettable this morning,” said Gordon. “Just tried to come into today with a really positive mind set and aggressive mindset and I was able to do that.”
Collin Morikawa came into this week riding a streak of 22 consecutive cuts made to begin his professional career but finally ran out of gas, falling three short of matching the record held by Tiger Woods.
“Just couldn’t get the ball in the hole,” said Morikawa. “That’s the name of the game, right? So it was bound to happen at some point.”
Denny McCarthy withdrew ahead of his second round after he became the third PGA Tour player to test positive for Covid-19.
“Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night with additional aches and soreness and sensed something was off,” said McCarthy. “I felt like the only thing to do was get tested at that point before I went to the course.”
Bud Cauley, who played the first round with McCarthy, tested negative twice but withdrew as a precautionary measure, bringing the number of coronavirus-related withdrawals this week to seven.
Shane Lowry will also be in action at the weekend after adding a one-under 69 to his opening 66 to move to five under.
LEADERBOARD
USA unless stated, par 70):
127 Phil Mickelson 64 63
128 Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 60 68, Will Gordon 66 62
131 Brendan Steele 69 62, Rory McIlroy (N Irl) 63 68, Xander Schauffele 63 68, Brendon Todd 66 65, Marc Leishman (Aus) 66 65
132 Brian Stuard 65 67, Seung-Yul Noh (Kor) 64 68, Zach Johnson 68 64, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 63 69, Sung Kang (Kor) 65 67, Kevin Streelman 66 66, Kevin Na 66 66, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 67 65, Patton Kizzire 66 66, Bryson DeChambeau 65 67, Troy Merritt 68 64
133 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 67 66, Dustin Johnson 69 64, Wesley Bryan 67 66, Ryan Armour 67 66, Patrick Cantlay 66 67, Lanto Griffin 66 67
134 Charley Hoffman 67 67, Scott Stallings 66 68, Mark Hubbard 68 66, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 68 66, Jon Rahm (Esp) 66 68, Russell Henley 65 69, Joseph Bramlett 69 65, Kyle Stanley 69 65, Lucas Glover 66 68, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 64 70, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 68 66, Jim Furyk 69 65, Sam Burns 68 66, Sergio Garcia ((Esp) 64 70, Luke Donald (Eng) 69 65, Tyler Duncan 64 70
135 Scott Brown 69 66, Harold Varner III 66 69, Aaron Wise 68 67, Tom Hoge 67 68, Richy Werenski 67 68, Joel Dahmen 67 68, Doc Redman 68 67, Michael Thompson 64 71, Shane Lowry (Irl) 66 69, Paul Casey (Eng) 69 66, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 65 70
136 Roger Sloan (Can) 67 69, Austin Cook 71 65, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 68 68, Chez Reavie 70 66, Hank Lebioda 69 67, Patrick Reed 70 66, Jordan Spieth 67 69, Jason Day (Aus) 67 69, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 68 68, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 69 67, Kevin Chappell 68 68, Adam Long 67 69, Ian Poulter (Eng) 67 69, Brandt Snedeker 67 69, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 71 65, Sungjae Im (Kor) 68 68
Missed cut
137 Matthew Wolff 68 69, Adam Schenk 72 65, Brian Gay 67 70, Branden Grace (Rsa) 68 69, Bubba Watson 69 68, Cameron Davis (Aus) 66 71, Robert Streb 69 68, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 69 68, Tony Finau 68 69, Scottie Scheffler 70 67, Cameron Smith (Aus) 69 68, Keith Mitchell 69 68, Brice Garnett 69 68, Ryan Moore 67 70
138 Chris Stroud 66 72, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 69 69, Sam Ryder 66 72, Hudson Swafford 71 67, Ryan Palmer 67 71, Gary Woodland 70 68, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 69 69, Brian Harman 70 68, Tyler McCumber 65 73, Danny Lee (Nzl) 67 71, Hunter Mahan 67 71, Max Homa 71 67, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 72 66, Billy Horschel 70 68, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 70 68
139 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 69 70, Luke List 71 68, JT Poston 70 69, Jason Kokrak 70 69, Vaughn Taylor 70 69, Danny Willett (Eng) 68 71, Cameron Percy (Aus) 67 72, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 68 71, James Hahn 70 69, Patrick Rodgers 67 72, Corey Conners (Can) 73 66
140 Talor Gooch 69 71, J.J. Henry 69 71, Justin Rose (Eng) 67 73, Matthew NeSmith 70 70, Beau Hossler 73 67, David Pastore 73 67, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 70 70, Sahith Theegala 69 71
141 Keegan Bradley 67 74, Peter Kuest 73 68, Grayson Murray 68 73, Sepp Straka (Aut) 69 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 70, Davis Love III 74 67, Matt Every 70 71, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 71 70, Jamie Lovemark 70 71
142 Matt Wallace (Eng) 70 72, Wyndham Clark 71 71, Justin Thomas 71 71, Ted Potter Jr 72 70, Rob Oppenheim 68 74, Kevin Tway 72 70, Michael Kim 70 72, Zac Blair 69 73, Kevin Kisner 71 71
143 Robby Shelton 70 73, Bol Hoag 69 74, Sebastian Cappelen (Den) 72 71, Vijay Singh (Fij) 75 68, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 69 74, Harry Higgs 71 72, Bo Van Pelt 74 69, Collin Morikawa 72 71, Russell Knox (Sco) 74 69, DJ Trahan 67 76, Cameron Tringale 70 73
144 Matt Jones (Aus) 74 70, David Hearn (Can) 72 72, Scott Harrington 68 76, Stewart Cink 68 76, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 71 73
145 Bronson Burgoon 69 76
147 Peter Malnati 73 74, JJ Spaun 78 69
154 Martin Trainer 77 77
