Travelers Championship 2016: Friday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

The 2016 Travelers Championship continued Friday with Tyrone Van Aswegen, Russell Henley, Marc Leishman and Daniel Berger concluding the second round in a four-way tie for the overall lead at seven under par.

The quartet should not feel too comfortable in its spot, though, as four players are one shot behind at six under, and seven golfers sit at five under after 36 holes. 

Here's the leaderboard after two rounds at TPC River Highlands:

Van Aswegen fired a bogey-free 66 to move up eight spots Friday. His best run of the second round came from Nos. 9 through 11, where he reeled off three straight birdies.

The 34-year-old South African is in prime position to have his best tournament of the year. Van Aswegen has one top-10 finish this season, but it was all the way back at the Frys.com Open in October. He hasn't finished higher than 17th in the calendar year.

Berger is fighting alongside Van Aswegen thanks to a 67 in the second round. He's taken a roundabout path into the lead, as Jonathan Wall of the PGA Tour's official website noted:

Per the PGA Tour's official website, Berger is hitting an astounding 86.11 percent of his greens in regulation. His ability to get onto the green with multiple shots to play with has allowed him to cover up some shortcomings with the putter.

Eventually, Berger will have to start taking advantage of his opportunities on the green if he wants to win, but the week couldn't be going much better for the 23-year-old thus far.

Henley went out with a bang by tying for the second-lowest score of the day with a 65. He moved into a tie for the lead on his final hole by firing a birdie to cap off his tremendous effort. 

The round of the day, however, belonged to Blayne Barber. The Florida native launched himself into contention with a 64 to bring his 36-hole score to five under par. 

Sean Martin of the PGA Tour's official website broke down how big the jump was for Barber:

Per Golfweek's Jim McCabe, Barber said he had one goal in mind after opening with a 71 on Thursday: "Get everything I can out of these next three."

There are still two rounds to go, but it's safe to say Barber got all he could out of the second round. 

Another one of Friday's pleasant surprises was Vijay Singh, who followed up his opening-round 67 with a solid 68 to bring his score to five under par for the tournament.

Singh had a lot working for him before he got to the greens, much like Berger. His driving accuracy is 67.9 percent, and he's hit 77.8 of his greens in regulation, according to the PGA Tour's website.

One of Singh's best shots of the day came on his ninth hole (No. 18), where he stuck his second shot near the flag, as the PGA Tour's official Twitter account showed:

Singh has had brief flourishes this year, including a second-place finish at the Quicken Loans National in June. He hasn't been able to sustain that success, though, which is not a surprise, considering he's 53 years old, but this is a nice reminder that there are still good moments left in him. 

Defending tournament champion Bubba Watson was unable to capitalize on a good opening-round 67. He battled his way to a 70 on Friday, which included a run of three bogeys in four holes from Nos. 12 through 15.

The PGA Tour tweeted out video footage that summed up Watson's worst stretch of the tournament thus far:

It's a testament to Watson's talent and mental resolve that he didn't fall apart after the rough patch. He's still in the mix at three under.

The third round is going to be interesting, because the PGA Tour has moved up the start times and put players in groups of three because of anticipated bad weather in the area. 

With everyone lumped on the course together, there won't be any time for players to stare at the leaderboard to figure out what they need to do. They can just focus on putting the ball on the tee and letting it rip.

There hasn't been much separation on the leaderboard through two rounds—a trend that isn't likely to end after Round 3.

Post-Round Reaction

Berger is making a lot of noise again after an injury forced him to withdraw from the Bridgestone Invitational, and he finished 73rd at the PGA Championship. 

Speaking after his second round, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com), Berger said his performance thus far has surprised him: "I definitely played better than I thought I would. This is my seventh round in six weeks, and for a professional golfer that's not a lot."

Per the AP, Leishman did note that some of the weather conditions made putting up a low number more difficult than usual: "The wind got up a little bit today, so you had to be playing good golf to shoot a really good number."

There's not a lot of wiggle room for anyone, so keeping an eye on the weather conditions tomorrow figures to be atop the priority list for everyone in contention.