Spieth shot a 66 to post a seven-under-par 133 halfway total and is tied for third at seven-under with Patrick Reed, who played just eight holes Friday. At 12-under 198, he was one stroke ahead of Colonial member Ryan Palmer and Webb Simpson. India’s Anirban Lahiri is a further shot adrift.
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The start of the round was delayed 5 1/2 hours after thunderstorms overnight that lingered into the morning.
“I was trying to get one more (birdie) coming in, because I think that would be really cool”, said Piller, who was thrilled to earn a third-round grouping with fellow Dallas resident Spieth, along with Simpson.
In his six-birdie round, Spieth hit only four fairways but scrambled with a solid short game, including a chip-in birdie from 30 feet at the 11th.
Spieth, who followed up and opening-round 67 with a 66 to get to 7-under par, says draining the five footer on the par-5 first turned out to be key.
He had an opening 64 with six birdies on the front nine.
LPGA: Ariya Jutanugarn remained in position for her third straight Tour victory, shooting a 4-under 68 to take a two-shot lead in the Volvik Championship at Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“The greens were up, I think, two feet from yesterday, and it just took me a little while to adjust but once we made that adjustment I was a little better on the greens”, Spieth said.
“I didn’t hit my iron that good but still OK and I start to make some putt on the back nine”, she told reporters. Simpson, playing in the early wave on Friday, continued his solid effort with a three-under-par 67 to move to 8-under and into the clubhouse lead. Masters champion Danny Willett, two strokes ahead after a birdie on the par-3 fifth, bogeyed five of his last 10 holes for a 76.
“Much better, yeah. I’d say it’s up there close to if I want to have it 100 percent trust by major time”.
“A Longhorn and an Aggie, that’s going to be the fun part of the thing”, Palmer said. He then chipped in from off the front of the green at the 615-yard 11th and hit his approach within a foot at the 12th for another birdie and stayed alone at top of the leaderboard after that.
Webb Simpson was hot on Spieth’s tail heading to the 18th hole.
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After starting the second round with a three-putt bogey at the10th, Spieth had a couple of short birdies before another bogey at the 16th. 4 and 5, the 221-yard par 3 followed by the 472-yard hole along the Trinity River that wrap up a hard trio of holes known as Colonial’s “horrible horseshoe”. “Just nearly more satisfying today than yesterday because I managed my game”.
