Everything you need to know about Friday’s second round at the Masters

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Matt Kuchar certainly isn’t looking to create another win drought. The affable veteran waited 1,667 days and 116 starts between winning the 2014 RBC Heritage the Mayakoba Golf Classic earlier this season. If he surges forward from his comfortable 36-hole position this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii it will be his second triumph in three starts on TOUR and come just 64 days apart. Kuchar has posted back-to-back 7-under 63s at Waialae Country Club to move to 14 under, currently four shots clear of Chez Reavie (65) and Stewart Cink (62) after the morning wave. Only Andrew Putnam (11 under total through 12 holes) appears a threat to his lead. “Just two great days. To shoot 7-under back to back is unexpected, but certainly awfully excited,â€� Kuchar said. While the wins went missing for the lengthy stretch, Kuchar’s form did not. At least not at first. He finished inside the top 20 of the FedExCup in 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2018 however Kuchar dropped to 76th in the season long race, his worst result since being 116th in 2008. The St. Simons Island resident says he may have tried too hard last season and having the early victory this season was certainly keeping him on a high. “I want to say last year I probably ground harder than I’ve done in the past,â€� he admitted. “Close to Ryder Cup I was on the outside of a couple things and felt like I hadn’t been used to being in that situation. “So now being in good shape it’s certainly a nice place to be. Freed up? I’m not sure. I still kind of attack the game the same way.â€� While his record of turning a halfway lead into a victory is far from stellar at two out of 12 the 40-year-old did close the deal from this spot in Mexico recently. He knows players can go low at Waialae but the course can also bite you if you’re not careful. “Love the golf course. It’s a challenging one. If you play well you can make birdies; if you don’t you’re going to make bogeys,â€� Kuchar added. “The golf course gets tough when you’re playing from the rough. Even if you have short clubs in your hand it’s challenging.â€�

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The 14th annual FedExCup Playoffs opens with a new but familiar backdrop. THE NORTHERN TRUST will be contested at TPC Boston for the first time. The par 71 was the only host of the Dell Technologies Championship when it was a staple in the 2-hole of the old four-event series from 2007-2018. Eight of the 12 winners on the course during the FedExCup era qualified for the 2020 Playoffs. As of midday Monday, all 125 who are eligible are committed. Scroll past the expanded ranking of projected contenders for the adjustments made for the Playoffs, details on TPC Boston and more. RELATED: The First Look | One-liners for every player in the Playoffs POWER RANKINGS: THE NORTHERN TRUST Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider will include reviews of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler, each of whom is a former winner at TPC Boston, as well as Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood among other notables. Nothing has seemed to evade the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FedExCup Playoffs included. About halfway into the three-month hiatus, it was announced that the Playoffs would be shifted forward a week on the calendar. In other words, THE NORTHERN TRUST originally was scheduled for last week. The other modification to THE NORTHERN TRUST and next week’s BMW Championship addressed the FedExCup Playoffs points earned. Instead of the usual quadrupling of the points versus what’s available during the regular season, they are tripled. For example, the winner of the first two events receives 1,500 FedExCup points instead of 2,000. This helps offset the elimination of 13 tournaments, including THE PLAYERS, three majors and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. What you remember about last year’s introduction of the reduction to three Playoffs events hasn’t changed. At the conclusion of THE NORTHERN TRUST, the top 70 in FedExCup points will advance to the BMW Championship. It’s just that with the points up for grabs shaved by one-quarter, it could be more challenging to survive. (Tuesday’s special Power Rankings for the Playoffs will analyze this in greater detail.) TPC Boston’s position on the PGA TOUR schedule dates back to 2003, and it always hosted right around the first week of September. Of this week’s field, 86 have competed here before. Save a handful for whom it’s been a few years since they qualified, what they’ll see isn’t much different than how they remember it. TPC Boston tips at 7,308 yards. The field will average under par comfortably, but the trio of par 5s - Nos. 2, 7 and 18 - are just inside the top-half of the harder par 5s on any course, so capitalizing on them is at a relative premium and more valuable than usual. Distance off the tee in general will carry an additional benefit, but because greens are smaller than average at 5,200 square feet, course management will win the race. THE NORTHERN TRUST will be a borderline shootout during which hitting greens in regulation and connecting with pace and read on the putting surfaces should define the champion. Aside from combination fescue-bluegrass primary rough allowed to grow upwards of three-and-a-half inches, bentgrass serves as the shortest grass across the property. This includes the greens that are prepped to measure 12-and-a-half feet with a Stimpmeter. With favorable weather through the 36-hole cut - the last of the 2019-20 season - there is unlikely to be an imbalance in the draw - also the last of the season. Daytime temperatures will rise into the upper 80s on Saturday when winds are expected to freshen. A reasonable chance of rain if not storms elbows its way into the equation on Sunday. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings (THE NORTHERN TRUST) TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (FedExCup Playoffs), Sleepers, Fantasy Insider * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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