Leaderboard: Duncan checks in to top spot

SYDNEY — Jason Day and Jordan Spieth went in opposite directions Friday at the Australian Open. Day had four consecutive birdies on the back nine, including a 30-footer, for a 3-under 68 that left him a stroke out of the second-round lead. Australian Lucas Herbert, who shot 66, is in front with a 9-under total of 133 on The Australian course. First-round leader Cameron Davis, who shot 72 Friday, is another stroke behind in third. Defending champion Spieth earlier failed to take advantage of ideal morning scoring conditions and had a 71 to fall further behind the leaders — eight strokes behind Herbert and tied for 19th place with 10 others. Spieth, who hasn’t played since the Presidents Cup in late September, has won the Australian Open two out of the last three years and finished second the other time. Day, who had seven birdies and four bogeys, is aiming to win his first Australian Open title in his first competitive appearance on home soil since 2013. “It was quite tough out there today with the winds,” Day said. “But I played very well and gave myself a lot of opportunities for birdies.” The 21-year-old Herbert led the Australian Open into the final round last year — when he finished seven shots off the pace in a tie for 20th — and is coming off a second-place finish in last week’s New South Wales Open. “I think I warmed up this morning and it felt really good, and I was like, `I hope this sticks around’,” Herbert said. At least Spieth’s morning start Saturday means he will avoid the windy conditions that the leading groups will have to contend with in the afternoon. And that left him optimistic of a comeback. In 2014, he shot a then course-record 63 at The Australian to win his first Australian title by six shots. “I feel like you can make up more ground and come from behind here over I think any tournament I’ve played this entire year,” Spieth said. “The golf course will start to bake out and you get really calm conditions in the morning that leave the windier conditions for the afternoon, so I’ll have a pretty gettable golf course. If I can post something like 5, 6-under, then I’m very much in this tournament.” Day agreed that Spieth is far from out of it. “It’s Jordan Spieth,” Day said. “If he gets something going on the weekend he can hole a lot of putts and make a lot of birdies and make a charge, and usually he does make a charge on the weekend. “Sometimes there’s not a lot of pressure on your shoulders. You just go out there and kind of free-will it and that’s how you make a ton of birdies and move up the leaderboard pretty quick.” Spieth said the seven-week layoff was the longest he’s had since his college days and that he felt rusty and nervous at times during his first round which featured five bogeys in windy conditions. The wind began to pick up late in Spieth’s round Friday, as did his frustration level at times. On the par-4 sixth — his 15th of the day — his drive traveled well over 300 meters, so far that it reached a spectator crossing area that officials obviously felt was far enough from the tee. Spieth took a drop from it, but his approach to the green failed to spin back, leaving him a putt of at least 20 feet. He missed his birdie attempt. “It’s just been the short game rust that’s kind of hurt me a bit the last couple of days that prevents me from being 5 or so under,” Spieth said. At least he birdied the ninth — his last hole Friday. Finishing on even-par would have left him just one stroke away from the projected cut, which could have changed based on afternoon scoring. “That was only my second one-putt of the day,” Spieth said. “The other was for par.” NOTES: Canadian Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champion, missed the cut, shooting 77-69. He’s set to play in next week’s Australian PGA at Royal Pines on Queensland state’s Gold Coast, where Masters champion Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Marc Leishman are also entered.

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Here is a look at the two players who Monday qualified for the Travelers Championship. The qualifier was held at Ellington Ridge Country Club in Ellington, Connecticut. There was a five-for-two playoff for the two spots. There are just two spots available at each Monday Qualifier following the resumption of the 2019-20 PGA TOUR season after the COVID-19 break. QUALIFIERS David Pastore (67) Age: 28 College: University of Virginia Turned pro: 2014 PGA TOUR starts: 3 PGA TOUR earnings: $0 Twitter: @dP_pastore Notes: This will be his fourth PGA Tour start. In 2019 he Monday Qualified for both the Farmers Insurance Open and The Honda Classic … In that Honda Classic Monday Qualifier, he missed a very short putt on the first playoff hole for eagle to win but managed to come back and get through … He played in the 2015 Travelers Championship … He is a 2020 Korn Ferry Tour member but hasn’t made any starts yet this year after finishing T126 at final stage … Has played three career Korn Ferry Tour events, the last in 2019 at the LECOM Health Challenge … Finished seventh on the Mackenzie Tour – Canada Order of Merit in 2019 … He finished the year with one runner-up, one third place finish, among four total top 10s … After his freshman year at University of Virginia, he had to re-earn his spot back on the team through an open tryout … His senior year he injured his hand and only played two events Chase Koepka (67) Age: 26 College: University of South Florida Turned pro: 2016 PGA TOUR starts: 5 PGA TOUR earnings: $197,400 Twitter: @ChaseKoepka Notes: This will be his third PGA TOUR start of 2020 … He finished 46th at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES and finished 67th at the Shriners Hospital for Children Open … His career-best finish on the PGA TOUR is a fifth-place finish at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans where he teamed with his brother Brooks … Is a 2020 Korn Ferry Tour member after making it to final stage and finished T68 … Koepka has played in one 2020 Korn Ferry event, The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, where he missed the cut … In 2019 was a Challenge Tour member in Europe … Made two of 12 cuts that year … 2017 was his best year on the Challenge Tour as he made 14 of 18 cuts and finished eight on the Order of Merit … Was a European Tour member in 2018 … That season he made 11 of 28 cuts, with a best finish of seventh in South African Open … In January, he had a 20-foot putt on the last hole to shoot 59 on the Minor League Tour. He shot 64 the second day and won the event. It was his 11th win on the Minor League Tour. KOEPKA Q&A A quick chat with Chase Koepka after Monday qualifying at the Travelers Championship: PGATOUR.COM: Last year you decided to come home after playing in Europe for a few years. Did you think it was time for a change, or was the distance from your family an issue? CHASE KOEPKA: “It was a little bit of both. I was definitely a little bit homesick from playing over there for a few years, and it doesn’t help that I wasn’t playing my best golf over there last year. And that makes the homesick worse playing poorly that far away from my family. Just looking at my career though, I have never really been able to do Korn Ferry Q school up until this year, so I told myself I’d concentrate on that. I wanted to get ready for finals. It didn’t work out exactly how I wanted at finals, but I still have some status.” PGATOUR.COM: Do you have a number in mind once you play a practice round and get a feel for the course, or do you try not to think of a number instead just go as low as possible? KOEPKA: “At some courses you know, it’s going to take 8 or 9 under, but at this course coming in, I actually had no idea what to expect. I heard some guys discussing 67 that got into a playoff in years past, but that was with four spots. So, I really didn’t know what to expect with two spots. I thought 6 or 7 [under} would be a good round today. I was a little bit shocked when I came in that I was tied for the lead at 5 under. I thought it would be a little short.” PGATOUR.COM: With limited Korn Ferry Tour status, are you going to chase Mondays or play some mini-tour events? KOEPKA: “I will try to mix in some Mondays with some mini-tour events in between. You cannot do Monda’s 24/7 and expect to get better. One good thing that has come out of all this, is there is a lot of new mini-tours popping up and giving guys like me a place to play. I mean if you don’t have full status on Korn Ferry or PGA Tours, you are basically a mini-tour player, so I’m just glad there is places to play.” PGATOUR.COM: There are a lot more downs in this game then ups. Does successfully Monday qualifying like this give you a huge mental boost? KOEPKA: “Oh yeah definitely, if you get through one Monday qualifier a year, you are doing really well. When you do, it’s all about capitalizing on your opportunity. You see stories every year, there is maybe three or four guys that turn one Monday qualifier into status or a place in the Korn Ferry finals. Every single year. It’s awesome that we have those in this game, a way to play yourself into these events. It was a bit shocking that they even are having Monday qualifiers again, and so when they announced that they would, it gave everyone a little hope.” PGATOUR.COM: We saw Brooks was at the course watching you come up 18 and you sat down together between the round and playoff. What advice did he give you? KOEPKA: “When I got done, we talked and basically just told me, ‘Awesome job’ and asked me what holes we were playing for the playoff. I went and asked and once I told him he told me to get out to the range and practice those shots to be ready.” PGATOUR.COM: You have dealt with a lot of different types of pressure in your career. Where does a Monday qualifier playoff pressure fall? KOEPKA: “It was like I was trying to win a big-time golf tournament. It was a lot of pressure for sure. You are either in with a huge opportunity for your career or you are going home. I try to look back on putts that I have made in my career and use that. It’s just human nature to look ahead and think about getting into event and what could happen, but you really have to try your best to block that our and stay in the moment.” PGATOUR.COM: Now that you are in the field, do you set hard goals, such as a top 10 or just measure how you play and let the chips fall where they may? KOEPKA: “It’s pretty much play as well as I can and see where the chips fall. Play well and see where we stand on Sunday. I can’t look too far ahead. I am going to try get as many FedExCup points as I can. If I can finish in the top 10 and get into the next week, that would be a huge bonus. All I wanted to do this year is play as many tournaments as I can and just get better. This week’s event just happens to be a TOUR event and is a huge opportunity for me.” NOTES NOTABLE MISSES: Vincent Whaley 68, Chase Seiffert 68, Cliff Kresge 69, Spencer Levin 71, Ken Duke 72 STRENGTH OF TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP MONDAY QUALIFIER: Combined number of PGA TOUR starts: More than 2,130 Number of players with at least one PGA TOUR win: 2 (Ken Duke 1, Carlos Franco 4) Combined number of PGA TOUR wins: 5 Combined PGA TOUR earnings: More than $62 million Combined Korn Ferry Tour wins: 11 Player with most PGA TOUR wins in the field: Carlos Franco 4 COURSE INFO Name of course: Ellington Ridge Country Club, 6928 yds, 74.2 rating, 136 slope 2019-2020 SEASON MONDAY QUALIFIER STATS Average Medalist score: 65.4 Average last qualifying spot score: 66.7 Total number of cuts made: 10 of 47 (21.3%) Most recent results (Honda Classic): Hayden Buckley 69th, Arjun Atwal MC, Andrew McCain MC, Daniel Wetterich MC Money earned: $325,518 Best Finish: Garrett Osborn, T18, Sanderson Farms NEXT MONDAY QUALIFIER June 29: Rocket Mortgage Monday Qualifier, Oakland University Katke Course July 6: Workday Open Monday Qualifier, Country Club of Murfield Village NOTES FROM OTHER TOURS Ryan McCormick finished T14 at the Korn Ferry Classic at TPC Sawgrass after Monday Qualifying, then finished T6 at the King and Bear Classic. Paul Peterson finished T16 at the Korn Ferry King and Bear Classic after Monday Qualifying, earning a spot in the Utah Championship presented by Zion’s bank.

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It’s a new, made-for-television golf match featuring some big names, with Steph Curry, Peyton Manning and Phil Mickelson. But all eyes will be on one man: Charles Barkley.

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