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Bryce Molder holds one-shot lead over Webb Simpson

By Steve Habel, The Sports Xchange
Bryce Molder. UPI/ David Silpa
Bryce Molder. UPI/ David Silpa | License Photo

FORT WORTH -- Bryce Molder had moved to 9-under and into a one-shot lead over Webb Simpson and a two-shot lead over Jordan Speith when play was suspended by darkness during the second round at the Dean & Deluca Invitational on Friday at soggy Colonial Country Club.

Molder, who was the first-round leader at 6-under, still had three holes to play in his second round. 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.

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Spieth, who completed his round with a 66, and Patrick Reed, who still had 10 holes to play, were at 7-under.

The round was delayed more than five hours before it started because of rain, lightning and wet conditions after an overnight deluge saturated the course. Sixty-two players had not finished their second rounds when darkness suspended play.

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Those rounds will be completed and the 36-hole cut, projected to be at 1-over, will be made on Saturday morning prior to the start of the third round. The tournament should be back on schedule after Saturday as sunny weather is expected for the rest of the weekend.

Anirban Lahiri of India and Jason Dufner had reached 6-under when darkness interrupted play. Tony Finau was in the clubhouse at 5-under after a 67 in the second round while David Toms, Harris English, Ryan Palmer and Martin Pilar had reached that figure with holes left to play.

Molder has dominated the front-nine at Colonial in the first two rounds, shooting 6-under on Thursday and 5-under on Friday. That's a composite 59 over the two days. He was at 11-under through the first 11 holes on Friday until he double bogeyed the 12th.

"It was kind of tale of two nines even though I didn't finish the second nine, "Molder said. "The first nine was really clean, one or two opportunities and I kind of did everything I needed to get up-and-down or I either knocked it really close or made a bunker shot. Everything was going right.

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"The back nine was kind of that, but that happens. You can't play great golf for too long. But it was a good day."

Simpson, winner of the 2012 U.S. Open, had four birdies and a bogey in his second round. He is making his first start in this tournament since 2010, having missed the cut in both prior appearances at Colonial.

"The good thing about me and the bad thing about me is once I get confidence, I seem to be really confident," Simpson said. "Once I get a little down, I seem to get really down. But you know, through two days, it's been solid, so I'm excited.

"For me it was tougher today than yesterday," Simpson said. "I didn't quite hit as many fairways as I did yesterday, and around these holes, the rough is brutal. When you add in a little bit of wind, it becomes a guessing game. I made some good par savers that kind of kept the round going, and it was great to birdie a couple coming in."

Spieth, who started on the back-nine, had six birdies and two bogeys in his 4-under showing on Friday. Spieth's 66 was the best round of those players who teed off in the morning wave and he hit 10 of 14 fairways on Friday, four more than he did in the opening round.

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"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. "All that was set up by the fairways I was able to hit.

"I feel very comfortable over the ball this week," Spieth added. "We put in some good work from Sunday to Thursday. Some of the drives just didn't find the fairways yesterday in those heavy winds. Today, there were a little more gettable conditions and softer fairways, and I was able to hold them."

NOTES: In the previous 68 editions of the Dean & Deluca Invitational, the first-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win 17 times. ... The first-round leader/co-leader has won just eight of 27 stroke-play events this season, most recently Sergio Garcia last week at the AT&T Byron Nelson. ... Five past FedExCup champions are in the field this week: Jordan Spieth, Bill Haas, Brandt Snedeker, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk. ... Colonial CC shows its teeth over the stretch of holes from Nos. 3-5, known as the "Horrible Horseshoe." During the first round, the holes played as the fourth toughest (4.149), the third most difficult (3.207) and the toughest (4.240), respectively. ... This is the 16th event in the 2015-16 PGA Tour Season to experience a delay or suspension, including five out of the past six weeks. ... Play was conducted under preferred lies during both the first and second rounds.

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