Spieth holds lead at midway point of Travelers Championship

Jordan Spieth fired a 1-under par 69 and retained his one-shot lead after the second round of the Travelers Championship on Friday in Cromwell, Conn.

Spieth, who shot a 63 on Thursday, is 8-under 132 for the tournament.

Troy Merritt and Patrick Reed are tied for second at 7-under. Reed shot a 4-under 66 on Friday.

The 23-year-old Spieth, playing in the Travelers Championship for the first time, finished the day with four birdies, one bogey, and a double-bogey on the par-5 13th.

“It was just kind of an off day,” Spieth said, “and I’m glad I was able to still shoot 1-under with an off round, and we’ll just go back and recognize that we probably need to be close to doubling this score for the rest of the tournament in order to win.”

After posting his only bogey of the round on the 16th, Merritt finished with a pair of birdies to go 2-under for the day after shooting a 65 on Thursday.

“The only difference today is I didn’t make as many 20-footers,” he said. “As long as you’re tapping those in for par, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Merritt had missed four straight cuts coming into this tournament.

Reed, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour, netted five birdies on Friday to one bogey on a blustery day.

“This is the hardest I’ve seen the golf course play today than in the past couple years because it was just windy out there,” Reed said.

Four players are tied at 6-under and nine sit at 5-under, including Padraig Harrington and Jim Furyk.

Rory McIlroy, playing in the Travelers Championship for the first time, shot a 73 on Friday and is even after two days, barely making the cut (140). Among those who didn’t make it were two-time Travelers champion Bubba Watson (142) and Jason Day (142).

Spieth is vying to become just the third player to win the tournament in wire-to-wire fashion, and the first since Tim Morris in 1982.