Watson remains 2 clear at Travelers
Cromwell, CT - Bubba Watson fired a bogey-free, 3-under 67 in Friday's second round and he remains two shots ahead at the Travelers Championship going into the weekend.
Watson, a seven-time winner on the PGA Tour, finished 36 holes at 11-under-par 129. The two-time Masters champion and world No. 5 earned his first career victory on tour at this event in 2010.
"That's what we were trying to do yesterday," Watson said when asked about keeping his card clean. "Yesterday the wind was favorable for good scoring. Today, tougher pins and more wind so it makes it tougher to get the ball close. Just made the golf course a little bit tougher, but obviously when you're playing good, you're thinking well, you can still score."
Brian Harman (65), Carl Pettersson (66) and Brian Stuard (67) all made pushes to try and catch Watson later in the day at TPC River Highlands. They ended round two tied for second at 9-under 131.
Scott Brown (67), Chris Stroud (67) and Jason Gore (68) are one shot further back and tied for fifth at minus-8.
Defending champion Kevin Streelman struggled to an even-par 70. He missed the cut by a shot at 1-under 139.
Entering the day with a 2-shot lead, Watson coasted throughout his round. He rattled off four straight pars from the 10th to start the day before rolling in a 9-foot birdie at the par-4 14th.
That was it for a while for Watson as he made the turn with six straight pars from 15.
Watson rolled in his second birdie from about five feet at the par-4 third, which got him to 2-under on the day. Three more pars preceded Watson's third and final birdie from 12 feet out on No. 7.
It was a relatively stress-free day as the 36-year-old finished up with a pair of pars to complete his bogey-free round.
"First hole, I saved one there, and then just played steady. I made a lot of solid putts where I could easily 2-putt for pars," said Watson. "There were a lot of things that were good and bad, but overall you're happy with the day."
Harman played the front nine at 1-under before having a big back nine. The lefty holed two birdies in three holes at 11 and 13. He later drained back-to- back gains at 16 and 17 to pull within two of Watson. Harman closed with a par at the last.
Playing the back nine first, Pettersson had two birdies and two bogeys on his opening nine. A stretch of four birdies in five holes from No. 4 also pushed Pettersson within one of the leader before he ended with a par on nine.
Stuard came the closest out of anyone to catching Watson despite playing his first nine holes at 1-over. A stretch of five birdies in seven holes from 10 got Stuard within one, but a bogey on 17 dropped him two back. A par at the last left him there in a share of second.
NOTES: Watson is trying to become the seventh player to earn multiple wins at this event ... Stewart Cink was the last to do it in 1997 and 2008, while Billy Casper has won here four times ... Watson was seven shots off the lead through 36 holes at this event when he won in 2010 ... Last time Watson held the 36-hole lead here was in 2013, when he went on to finish fourth ... This is the 10th time Watson has held at least a share of the 36-hole lead on tour, with two resulting in victories ... The cut fell at 2-under-par 138, with 72 players advancing to the weekend ... Joining Streelman with the weekend off were Patrick Reed, Padraig Harrington, 2007 champion Hunter Mahan, Louis Oosthuizen, Ernie Els and Branden Grace.