Day & Palmer Share Halfway Lead at Deutsche Bank Championship


After following up his opening 8-under 63 with an even-par 71, Ryan Palmer was joined atop the leaderboard at the $8 million Deutsche Bank Championship by Jason Day. The second of four events in the season-ending FedEx Cup Playoffs got underway Friday at TPC Boston.

Palmer, a 37-year-old Texan with three PGA Tour victories, carded five birdies, three bogeys and a double on the par-5 second hole to get to 8-under 134 through 36 holes. Day, a 26-year-old Aussie with two victories - including the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in February, started out hot with five birdies on the front nine to make the turn in 5-under 31.

But on the back, Day - who finished tied for fourth in this year's U.S. Open at Pinehurst - ran into troubles with three bogeys and a birdie for a 37 and a 3-under 68.

Day said at greenside that the front nine at TPC Boston is much more amenable to scoring than the home half. "Tee to green I played great," he said of his work on the opening side. "Rolled in a lot of putts."

But of the back, he noted, "It's playing really difficult." Despite his travails coming home, Day is looking forward to the final two rounds of the tournament that has a rare Monday finish. "I'm very optimistic in how everything went."

Just one stroke back are Matt Kuchar and Billy Horschel, who each carded 66s. Kuchar posted nine birdies and four bogeys, while Horschel had six birdies and a bogey.

Sharing fifth at 6-under are 2011 FedEx Cup champion Bill Haas (69), Russell Henley (66), Patrick Reed (68), Keegan Bradley (71) and Webb Simpson (70).

Only three behind the co-leaders are Russell Knox (70), Seung-Yul Noh (68), Jordan Spieth (70), Martin Kaymer (66) and Ben Crane (68).

Chris Stroud (69) and Jim Furyk (66) are tied for 15th at 4-under.

No. 1-ranked Rory McIlroy followed up his opening 70 with a 69 to join five others at 3-under 139. Also in that group are Rickie Fowler (69), Zach Johnson (68), Chesson Hadley (73), Danny Lee (65) and Chris Kirk (66).

Defending FedEx Cup champion and 2013 Deutsche Bank winner Henrik Stenson of Sweden carded his second straight 70 and is at 2-under heading into Sunday's third round.

The 36-hole cut was set at 3-over 145. The Barclays' champion, Hunter Mahan, shot rounds of 73 and 71 to move into the third round. The 32-year-old Californian leads the FedEx Cup standings, with McIlroy in second.

Among those heading home are two-time major champion Angel Cabrera, who carded a 73 and 75, and Brandt Snedeker, who posted a 76 Saturday.

With a good tournament this week Snedeker was hoping to get the attention of 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson and be one of his three captain's picks. But the 2012 FedEx Cup champion will have to wait as he's been eliminated from the Playoffs.

"I didn't do anything the last week or two weeks to justify or to solidify a spot on the team," said the 33-year-old Nashville native, who also missed the cut in last week's Barclays.

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