Simpson grabs lead, Spieth survives Colonial cut

The morning wave of golfers completed their rounds Friday at the Dean & DeLuca Invitational with minimal impact on the leader board, thanks to another day of swirling winds at Colonial Country Club.

Webb Simpson, Paul Casey and Tony Finau all posted second-round efforts of 66 in the gusty conditions, with Simpson (6-under par) climbing to the top of the leader board pending the results posted by afternoon starters. In addition, defending champ Jordan Spieth secured his weekend tee times at Colonial with a second-round 68 after a slow start. Spieth, 23, left the course in a tie for 14th place, at 2-under for the tournament.

But the top spot barely budged. The best tournament total on the course at the midpoint of Friday’s round is only one stroke better than the top scores posted Thursday (5-under, 65).

One of the three players who shared the first-round lead after Thursday’s efforts of 65, Derek Fathauer, is playing an afternoon round today at Colonial. The other two frontrunners, Kelly Kraft and J.T. Poston, backtracked Friday morning with rounds of 73 and 76, respectively.

Kraft finished 36 holes at 2-under but now is four strokes off the pace being set by Simpson. Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open winner, offset six birdies with two bogeys in his second round to move to the top of the Colonial leader board in time for a late lunch on Friday afternoon.

Casey, the No. 14 player in the world golf rankings, bagged five birdies during his second-round 66 to move within a stroke of Simpson at 5-under.

One of Friday’s early highlights came from defending champion Jordan Spieth, a Dallas resident who shook off three bogeys in his first five holes of his round to post a second-round 68 and move to 2-under par for the tournament. Spieth posted birdies on five of the last 13 holes he play, including a 2-under stretch through Colonial’s signature stretch, the “Horrible Horseshoe” (Nos. 3-5). Spieth took birdies at No. 4 and No. 5.

He has taken birdies at No. 5, statistically the toughest hole on the Colonial layout during the event’s 71 years, in both rounds. Spieth acknowledged that making it to the weekend rounds at Colonial following two consecutive missed cuts at PGA Tour events qualified as a relief.

“That would have been really, really tough for me to swallow if I missed this cut,” said Spieth, who is comfortably in the weekend mix. “It was in my head. I normally never talk about the cut line, and it was in my head … So back is against the wall. To be able to come back is definitely a lot of confidence.”

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Simpson grabs lead, Spieth survives Colonial cut."