Jordan Spieth at BMW Championship 2015: Friday Leaderboard Score and Reaction
After firing a six-under 65 in the first round, Jordan Spieth pieced together another strong showing during Friday's second round at the BMW Championship as he remained within striking distance of leader Jason Day.
The reigning Masters and U.S. Open champion shot a five-under 66 at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Illinois, which leaves him seven strokes off the pace in a tie for fourth entering the weekend.
Justin Ray of the Golf Channel reported Spieth's 131 total through 36 holes is one back of his career low on Tour.
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Here is a look at the current leaderboard with two rounds remaining in the highly competitive tournament:
The 22-year old superstar wasn't quite as locked in Friday as he was during the first round, which forced him to settle primarily for pars. He did enjoy fairly steady play throughout the day, however, and thrived down the stretch, as evidenced by his scorecard, courtesy of PGATour.com:
| Par | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 35 |
| Round 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 33 |
| Overall | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -8 | -8 |
| Par | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| Round 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 33 |
| Overall | -8 | -9 | -8 | -7 | -8 | -8 | -8 | -9 | -11 | -11 |
Since inclement weather cut the first round a bit short Thursday, Spieth had to finish out his final hole from the opening round Friday morning. As seen in this video from the PGA Tour's official Twitter account, his approach was nearly perfect:
Day had a chance to shoot an opening-round 59 on that same hole if he could sink a chip, but he ended up with a 61. When asked about it, Spieth jokingly downplayed the Aussie's recent dominant form, according to Brian Wacker of PGATour.com:
After closing out his first round in remarkable fashion, Spieth seemed poised for a big day. He appeared to carry that momentum over to the start of the next round, as he birdied the par-four first hole.
The Texan then went on to post seven straight pars before closing the front nine just as he started it, with another birdie on the par-four ninth.
Spieth made the turn at eight under for the tournament, and after saving par on the 10th, he converted another birdie on the 11th to move to nine under.
Per Sean Martin of PGATour.com, Spieth's putter was starting to come to life after it betrayed him a bit on birdie attempts throughout the front nine:
Spieth then followed that up with the first two bogeys of his round on the 12th and 13th holes. According to Martin, his putting went south quickly, but his approach shots were especially erratic to open the back nine:
While Spieth's front nine was fairly uneventful, his up-and-down back nine took another turn on the par-five 14th, as he was able to get one of his strokes back with a birdie.
He added another birdie on the par-three 17th after an excellent tee shot, but he truly pulled his round back together on the par-five 18th with this beautiful approach:
He proceeded to make the eagle putt, which was significant, as it moved him to five under for the day and 11 under for the tournament. At the same time, it was likely somewhat frustrating for Spieth since his round could have been so much better if not for the two bogeys.
Spieth certainly had his moments Friday, but as seen in this GIF from PGA Tour on Twitter, he was playing second fiddle to one of his playing partners in the form of Day for most of the round:
There is no question that Spieth has a lot of work to do Saturday and Sunday in order to make his way back near the top of the leaderboard, but his performance in the first half of the BMW Championship was encouraging.
He missed the cut at both The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship leading up to this event, which caused some to question if he had anything left for the 2015 season.
Spieth answered those critics in the first round, and although Friday's showing wasn't quite as good, he kept himself in it thanks to playing the final two holes three under.
Hanging with Day is a tall order for Spieth or any other golfer in the world right now, so he very well may be playing for second rather than the victory this weekend, which would put his FedExCup championship hopes in dire straits.
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