Jacobson leads rain-hit Travelers

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bruced
June 23, 2012

Fredrik Jacobson fired a four-under 66 to take a two-stroke lead in the suspended second round at the Travelers Championship.

Fredrik Jacobson fired a four-under 66 to take a two-stroke lead in the suspended second round at the Travelers Championship.

The defending champion was on course for a five-under after four birdies, but he closed with a bogey to finish with a nine-under 131 in the $6 million event at TPC River Highlands.

Americans Roland Thatcher and Blake Adams as well as Australia’s Stuart Appleby are joint second at seven-under.

Jacobson, who is attempting to join Phil Mickelson (2001 and 2002) as the only players to successfully defend their titles, was pretty pleased that the course isn’t too difficult.

“It feels good to have some birdie chances,” he told pgatour.com.

“You play the US Open, I like that kind of golf but you play for four days and you grind it out. It’s nice to have a couple of holes where you feel like if you hit the shot you have some good chances to make birdies.”

He added: “It’s easy to start thinking about the finish line already and I can see that. Any tournament it’s tough to win. To win two in a row is probably tougher.

“But you have the thing going for you that you have some good memories to draw from, so hopefully that increase your chances.”

Charley Hoffman and Nathan Green were on course for good scores, but bad weather stopped play and they, along with 65 other players, have to return on Saturday morning to complete their rounds.

Hoffman opened with a par and five consecutive birdies and was a shot back through six holes when rain intervened while Green was three under through nine.

“It was a nice five-hole run,” Hoffman said. “Obviously, I wish I probably could have kept it going a little longer, but obviously in a good frame of mind heading into tomorrow.”

Newly crowned US Open champion Webb Simpson followed up his opening round 66 with a 69 to find himself four shots behind.