John Deere Classic 2013: Day 2 Leaderboard Analysis, Highlights and More

Zach Johnson entered and left the second round as the John Deere Classic co-leader. The event's defending champion fired a 66 on Friday to move to 12-under for the tournament and sits tied atop the leaderboard with fellow Americans Patrick Reed and Lucas Glover.

With nice playing conditions for the second-straight day, the Silvis, Illinois TPC Deere Run course was especially vulnerable to low scores. 

Chez Reavie's 61 led the way. However, after a one-over 72 in Round 1, he is at nine-under and in 10th place. 

He is just one of the many golfers in contention for the title. Check out the leaderboard, and then I'll recap the performance of our three leaders. 

2013 John Deere Classic Round 2 Leaderboard

View the full leaderboard at PGA.com.   

Pos.	Golfer	Score
T1	Zach Johnson	-12
T1	Patrick Reed	-12
T1	Lucas Glover	-12
4	Matt Jones	-11
T5	Troy Matteson	-10
T5	Kevin Streelman	-10
T5	Jerry Kelly	-10
T5	David Hearn	-10
T5	Daniel Summerhays	-10

All stats via PGATour.com.

Zach Johnson Won't Go Quietly 

Johnson appears intent on defending his championship at this event, not that anyone should be surprised at this. Johnson loves this course. His 66 on Friday was his 18th-consecutive round in the 60s at the event.

Also, he fired that 66 without suffering a single bogey, which helped him set a new course record. PGA Tour Media explains: 

Johnson has been struggling this year, but he has suddenly found his whole game. It starts with his performance off the tee. He is driving the ball better and the confidence has filtered to the rest of his game, which certainly includes his putting. 

Johnson is typically an excellent putter, but he hasn't been performing up to his standards this year. He's rolling the ball nicely on these greens. One of his five birdies on the day came off of this 18-foot putt from No. 14:

Given his performance at this event in the past, Johnson has to be considered the man to beat at this point. 

Patrick Reed Sets Early Standard

Reed opened up the tournament with a solid 67. He went out early on Friday, July 12 and bested that mark by four strokes.

Reed had just one bogey on the day while going four-under on both sides to finish his round as the clubhouse leader. 

Reed's stellar performance allowed Callaway Golf to happily tweet this: 

I'm not sure why they didn't tweet a picture of Reed off the tee, but his results with the driver are impressive. For his two rounds, he is averaging 322.5 yards per drive while hitting 78.6 percent of his fairways. 

Both of these numbers dwarf his marks in those categories for the year. 

However, as you'll see from this highlight on the par-four sixth, Reed's driver isn't the only club working for him:

Reed, who made the full-time jump from the Web.com Tour to the PGA last season, is starting to hit his groove. While he missed the cut last week at the Greenbrier Classic, he had a 34th-, 18th- and fifth-place finish in his three events prior to that. 

That fifth is the highest finish of his young PGA career, and he has just two top 10s. The way he is stroking the ball now, he has an excellent shot to get his third top 10.  

Lucas Glover Goes on a Birdie Hunt

Glover finds himself with a share of the lead after posting a spectacular round on Friday. Teeing off on the backside, Glover carded four birdies and no bogeys during his opening nine. He then bested that on his second nine. 

He fired five birdies and no bogeys on the opening nine. 

Understandably, Glover felt good about his round: 

Glover has ample reason to feel good about his performance. Not only did he post an extraordinary round, but he's been terrible as of late. 

Glover has missed the cut in five of his last six PGA starts. The one he made the cut in, he finished 57th.

We'll see if Glover can maintain his hot hand for two more rounds. Either way, his strong start is a great sign for his game.