World No.2 Adam Scott produced one of his best ball-striking rounds of the year to catapult into a tie for the lead after the second round of the Barclays at Ridgewood Country Club.
Scott carded an impressive six-under-par 65 which could have easily been a much lower score had his putter been more cooperative, to jump to eight under at the halfway mark of his title defence in the US PGA Tour’s opening playoff event.
It was good enough to share the top spot with American Cameron Tringale (68) one clear of Americans Kevin Chappell (67), Brendon Todd (69) and veteran Jim Furyk (69) who sit seven under.
Jason Day bettered Scott’s round by one with a sublime bogey-free 64, storming his way 67 spots up the leaderboard to six-under and a tie for sixth.
Scott split a birdie and a bogey over his first three holes then found his groove, reeling off four straight birdies on holes five through eight to catapult to just one shot off the lead.
He could have easily carded eight straight after close chances on nine and 11 slid by while his long-range birdie putt on the 10th did a complete lap of the hole before somehow lipping out.
But after another close approach on the 12th the Queenslander made no mistake, brushing in the birdie to join the lead.
He missed makeable birdie chances on 14, 15 and 16 and then missed the green from close range on 17 before scrambling for par but ended on a superb note with an approach from 155 yards to a foot, bringing a final birdie.
“I am pretty pleased but it really could have been a lot better. I played some of the best golf tee to green that I have this year,” Scott said.
“I guess you can’t get too greedy but I would like a few more putts to go in over the weekend.
“It is always hard to put numbers on it but I think I left six or seven shots out there.”
Stuart Appleby, with his position in the playoffs on the line, put together a nice 66 to move to three-under, putting him in the box seat to survive to week two of the playoffs.
He is joined by John Senden (71) in a tie for 27th.
Steven Bowditch couldn’t much his performance from round one, shooting 72 to be two-under, but still an outside chance should he get hot over the weekend.
It was the end of the tournament for Matt Jones (+2), Aaron Baddeley (+2), Robert Allenby (+4), Marc Leishman (+5) and Geoff Ogilvy (+7).
Jones and Leishman are locked into the second week of playoffs regardless but it is the end of the season for Baddeley and Allenby.
Ogilvy faces a nervous wait over the weekend to see if he can hold on to one of the final spots in next weeks field.
Only the top 100 on the points list move on with Ogilvy currently projected to fall just outside the bubble, a number that could change depending on how other players perform on the weekend.
World No.1 Rory McIlroy shot 65 to easily make the cut after a struggling 74 on the opening day.
