Edison, NJ—Bubba Watson remained at the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes at The Barclays—the kickoff event for this year’s FedEx Cup Playoffs. The one-stroke margin is over a quartet of golfers—Henrik Stenon, Tony Finau, Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner. No less than 13 players are within three strokes of the lead. With 36-holes to go anything is indeed possible.
World number-one Jordan Spieth will have some free time this weekend. He missed the cut by five strokes with a 147 total. In addition to dropping out of action for the final two rounds here, Spieth also moved back to the number-two position in the world golf rankings which Rory McIlroy had held since late last year.
The hidden story for this year’s event has been the strength of the layout designed by legendary architect Donald Ross. Plainfield CC was toasted the last time it hosted The Barclays in ‘11 when Dustin Johnson torched the course with a 19-under-par 194 total for the rain-shortened event. That year it took a two round total of 138 just to make the 36-hole cut. This year’s cut line was five shots higher—143.
