Shell Houston Open 2017: Sung Kang Widens Lead with Strong Friday Performance

The 2017 Shell Houston Open, the final event before the PGA Tour's first major of the season, continued Friday with Sung Kang putting on a dazzling display of excellence with a 63 to drop his 36-hole score to 16-under par.

Kang is six shots clear of the lead, with Hudson Swafford and Russell Henley, both at 10-under par, needing to make up a lot of ground over the next two days to even have a shot at making the outcome interesting. 

Here's the full leaderboard after two rounds of golf from Humble, Texas:

Kang got off to a strong start Thursday, sitting one shot behind Rickie Fowler after a 65. He set the bar even higher with his performance Friday, posting his lowest single-round score since a 60 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February 2016. 

After his round, Kang had a simple yet profound explanation for how he was able to post a 63. "The putter just kept making the putts," he said, per the PGA Tour. 

For statistical evidence of how well Kang's short game was working Friday, the PGA Tour has it covered:

This is also a huge step in the right direction for Kang, who has had a rough stretch in which he has looked lost for most of this year, via the PGA Tour:

Kang does have to worry about the bubble bursting because his putting over the past two days has been far beyond what he's done this season. He ranks 156th in putting average and 158th in strokes gained putting, per PGATour.com. 

While Kang was all smiles after his round, the same could not be said for three of the PGA Tour's biggest stars, per Golf Channel's Ryan Lavner:

Despite missing the cut, Jordan Spieth did not sound defeated heading into the Masters next week. 

"We know, & other players that are playing next week know, that we strike fear in others next week," he said, per Will Gray of the Golf Channel.

Spieth missed the cut because he imploded Friday, firing a 77, his worst single-round performance of the season. It may have been a case of him looking ahead to Augusta, though that doesn't explain why he was able to open with a 69 Thursday. 

Phil Mickelson did make the cut by the skin of his teeth. Lefty posted his second consecutive 72 to head into the weekend at even par, right on the line to play the final 36 holes. 

This isn't the performance Mickelson was looking for with the Masters approaching. He was coming off a strong stretch of golf, finishing seventh at the WGC Mexico Championship four weeks ago and reaching the quarterfinals at the WGC-Dell Match Play event last week. 

Even though a lot of attention is being focused on next week, Kang is making sure everyone keeps a close eye on what he is doing. There's still 36 holes left for things to change, but there's no reason to think he won't walk away from this tournament with his first career PGA Tour win.