Blistering Rounds Highlight Travelers Championship Saturday

CROMWELL, CT — As the sentimental favorite faltered, a pair of pros with vastly different resumes blistered the TPC River Highlands Saturday morning, setting up a Sunday showdown with 17 players within seven strokes of the lead at the Travelers Championship.

Brendon Todd, a somewhat unheralded player with three PGA Tour victories to his credit, had a 9-birdie, zero-bogey 61 to grab a two-shot advantage at 18-under par. Former U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson, sixth in the Official World Golf Rankings with 20 PGA Tour wins under his belt, matched Todd's effort with a 61 of his own, moving into sole possession of second place at 16-under.

With players grouped into morning threesomes going off both the 1st and 10th tees in an effort to beat a predicted thunderstorm, Johnson teed off at 8:09 a.m. and carded four birdies on the front nine, including barely missing an eagle on the 9th and tapping in for birdie. The former top-ranked player in the world continued his impressive run with birdies at 10, 12, 13, 15 and 17. His iron play was stellar, as just two of his nine birdie putts were from outside nine feet.

"I'm very happy with the way I played," he said following his round. "I gave myself a lot of looks. Every hole, like I said, I felt like I was giving myself an opportunity to make birdie, and I feel like I'm rolling the putter well, so I just need to get myself in a position where I've got a chance to make a putt."

Nearly 45 minutes behind Johnson was Todd, who birdied the first hole, then duplicated the feat on 3, 6, 7 and 9 to go out in 30. He birdied 12, 14 and 15 to take sole possession of the lead, then upped the advantage to two strokes with another birdie at 17. In contrast to Johnson's round, six of Todd's nine birdies were putts of 10 feet or longer.

"There's just a lot of scoring holes and the greens are really, really good this year, so people are able to make a lot of putts," he said. "My job [Sunday] is going to be to go out there and get off to a good start and just try to make as many birdies as I can and see if I can't shoot another good round."

Kevin Streelman, the 2014 champion, fired a 63 to assume third place by himself at 15-under. Another stroke back was first-round leader Mackenzie Hughes, while Bryson DeChambeau and Kevin Na are tied for fifth at minus-13.

Second-round leader Phil Mickelson, the only back-to-back champion in tournament history (2001 and 2002), struggled with inconsistency, posting three bogeys and just two birdies in a 1-over par 71 that left him tied for seventh with four other players at 12-under. Among his miscues were a missed 4-foot par putt on 7, and a poorly-struck bunker shot on 13 that led to a penalty stroke.

"I was a little off today, but I'm having a lot of fun," the 50-year-old Hall of Famer said. "I mean, this has really been a lot of fun. I haven't played great this year. I've missed a lot of cuts, and the next thing I know my game is starting to come back and I can sense it, and then I play two great rounds, and this is really a lot of fun.I'm going to come out tomorrow and give it my best to go low. I know I'm playing well enough to do that."

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