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Bubba Watson takes one-shot lead at the Barclays

Golf

EDISON, N.J. -- Bubba Watson, momentarily distracted by a rare warning for taking too long to play a shot, recovered with a birdie on the 18th hole at Plainfield Country Club for a 2-under 68 and a one-shot lead going into the weekend at the opening FedEx Cup playoff event.

Jordan Spieth missed the cut by five shots -- and will lose his No. 1 ranking -- after shooting a 73, the first time since the Tour Championship last year that he had consecutive rounds over par.

Watson is in good shape through 36 holes to claim his own No. 1 ranking -- a victory would move him to the top of the FedEx Cup. Much like the world ranking right now, that figures to change by the week.

Ultimately, what matters to Watson, Spieth and others is winning the Tour Championship to capture the $10 million bonus.

Halfway through this event, no telling what else will happen over the next two days.

PGA Tour rookie Justin Thomas had a few late bogeys for a 69 and shrugged when asked if he was happy with his score. He was seven shots back.

"This is a course where if you make the cut, you have a chance to win," Thomas said.

Watson was at 7-under 133.

British Open champion Zach Johnson made five birdies to go with four par-saving putts from outside 8 feet for a 65. He was one shot out of the lead, along with Henrik Stenson (66), Tony Finau (69) and Jason Dufner (68).

Watson typically struggles on courses with blind shots, and Plainfield has plenty of them. But he's picking out targets, smashing his driver close to the green on the shorter holes and getting by just fine.

The bad time came on No. 16 with a difficult pin position, made even tougher by the fact Watson watched Spieth's shot roll back some 100 feet off the green. Watson took longer than 40 seconds -- 1 minutes, 2 seconds to be exact -- and was given the bad time. One more bad time would have led to a one-shot penalty. Watson said he rushed his next shot from the fairway and came up 30 yards short of the green.

Asked about his round, the first thing he brought up was the bad time, which he thought was "hilarious." He spoke to the rules official after the round.

"I told them, `I'm not mad at anybody about the bad time.' I went over the time, which is the right ruling," he said. "It's just on a hole like that, one of the toughest holes we've ever played besides 2011 when we played the same pin placement, it's very difficult.

"But yeah, I'm very happy about my round," he said. "I'm excited where I'm at. I made the cut and I'm in the last group. Hopefully, I'm here talking to y'all tomorrow about something else crazy that happened."

Ryan Palmer, whose father, Butch, was killed last week just north of Amarillo, Texas, had a 3-under 67 on Friday.

Butch Palmer, 71, died when he lost control of his SUV and was thrown from the vehicle when it rolled several times. 

"It's been difficult, obviously," Ryan Palmer said. "Inside the ropes it's been a little easier because I'm able to kind of get away and play with some ease and some peace, not allow shots to affect me as much, just because I think at the end of the day we're just playing golf. I'm able to go out there with a little bit of calmness."

Palmer said he never gave a second thought to not playing the FedEx Cup opener, mainly because his father would have wanted him to.

"He was one of those stubborn guys," Palmer said. "The last thing he wanted was anybody standing over him. He didn't want to be in a box, he said, and everybody looking down at him. Not playing was really not a question. My mom wouldn't have wanted me not to play. It would be a lot more memorable if something was to happen this week. But I'm able to just play with some peace and quiet out there. Feels good."

Some players have a month to search by missing the cut, making it impossible to move into the top 100 in the FedEx Cup and advance to the top 100. That group included Tim Clark and Graham DeLaet. Adam Scott also missed the cut and is likely to fall out of the top 100 at the end of the tournament Sunday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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