By Mark Immelman, Special to PGATOUR.COM The Travelers Championship at the TPC River Highlands provided pleasant respite for the players and their caddies after the workout they got during The U.S. Open at Olympic. Heavy overnight rains softened the conditions and certainly made the hole-locations more accessible and this made birdies the order of the day through 36 holes. The softer conditions also made the course play a little longer and a bunch of “bombers” showed up near the top of the leaderboard, but even though powerhouses like J.B. Holmes, Camilo Villegas and Blake Adams are lurking they will have to overtake scrambler-extraordinaire, Fredrick Jacobson. Week in and week out, Jacobson is noted on the PGA TOUR for his abilities around and on the greens. For the club golfer, I believe that Freddie is a super player to watch and learn from on many fronts. Jacobson has remained true to his style of play and has only made what appear to be only fine refinements to his swing. He has however always been a fantastic scrambler and he continues to take advantage of the course around the greens. Indeed I remember watching him play many years ago at Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland. Even then I was struck at his canny ability to make pars and birdies from some less than opportune spots on the hilly European Tour venue. This week Jacobson has had 53 putts through two rounds (28 in round 1 and 25 in round 2) and he is averaging 1.615 putts per green in regulation which ranks 8th in the field. In other words, he is having another great week with the putter. There is something to learn from this and that is to strive to break what I what I term "the putting par" each round you play. In my opinion “putting par” is 30 putts per round. I believe this for various statistical reasons -- which I won’t get into -- but no matter whether you are a single-figure handicapper or a bogey-golfer I feel like par with your putter should be 30. So keep tabs on the total number of putts you take each round and record those so that you can keep track of your performance. Make it your goal to break "par" each time you go out and I am sure your scores will improve. Good luck. Mark Immelman, the brother of PGA TOUR professional Trevor Immelman, is a well-respected golf instructor and head coach of the Columbus State University (Ga.) golf team. For more information about Mark and his instruction, visit his web site, markimmelman.com or follow him on Twitter @mark_immelman or “Like” Mark Immelman Golf Instruction on Facebook. He also has a golf instruction e-book called “Consistently Straight Shots – The Simple Solution” available on iTunes/iBooks.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

CROMWELL, Conn. -- Camilo Villegas would go to bed asking himself what happened to the player that won three times in his first five years.

“It’s just a crazy game,” Villegas said. “I know it’s not lack of effort. I work hard enough, sometimes maybe a little bit too hard. You feel a little anxiety, and you just want it so bad that you just can’t let go.”

This week, Villegas has been able to let go and the results have followed: He entered the third round one shot back after finishing off a 64 early Saturday morning.

“I am hitting the ball a lot better, and made a lot of progress the last month and a half,” Villegas said. “Finally about a week and a half ago, I said, okay, no more technical thoughts. Let's just have fun in this game and play golf like I was a kid again.”

That’s been a lot easier said than done since Villegas’ last victory two years ago.

Villegas missed 10 cuts last year and in 14 starts this season has missed the cut in just under half of them (he also withdrew from the RBC Heritage).

Through two rounds at the Travelers Championship, however, Villegas is in the top 10 in the field in fairways and greens. He also had just 24 putts in the second round.

“It's been a tough year,” Villegas said. “It’s nice to be able to control the ball and play some good golf.”

CROMWELL, Conn. -- The second round is complete at TPC River Highlands, after bad weather delayed play twice on Friday.

The third round will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET with the 88 players who made the cut at even par going off both tees in groups of three. Because more than 78 players advanced, there will be a secondary cut.

The 88 players to make the cut, by the way, is the second-most in the event since 1971. In 1981 there were 91 players who made the cut.

A year ago, the cut was 4 under, topping the previous mark of 3 under in 2008, 1983, 1982, 1981.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

CROMWELL, Conn. -- Patrick Cantlay made it to the weekend for a second straight year at the Travelers Championship, only this time he won’t be sticking around.

A year after recording a course-record 60 at TPC River Highlands, Cantlay wasn’t able to overcome his opening-round 75 in his debut as a professional. The former UCLA standout finished a second-round 67 Saturday morning and missed the cut by two strokes.

“I struggled the first day and never really recovered,” said Cantlay, who tied for 24th here last year. “I didn’t make very many putts. I hit a lot of good ones, just none went in. That’s kind of how golf goes. It just happens.”

Cantlay took 31 putts in each of his two rounds this week at TPC River Highlands -- an especially high number considering he hit just 10 greens in regulation on Thursday.

This was the first of three consecutive starts for Cantlay, who will again play on a sponsor exemption at next week’s AT&T National and The Greenbrier Classic the week after. He can accept up to seven sponsor exemptions this season.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

CROMWELL, Conn. -- J.B. Holmes’ story keeps getting better.

So do the results.

A little more than nine months after undergoing brain surgery to relieve the symptoms of Chiari malformations at the base of his brain (structural defects in the part of the brain that controls balance and can cause problems related to headaches, coordination, dizziness and vision), Holmes is in contention at the Travelers Championship following a 62 in the second round.

“I've hit it well every day,” said Holmes, who has his swing coach Matt Killeen on his bag. “I'm just happy to be out here and glad I'm playing here.”

Holmes was 4 under through his first eight holes when play was suspended Friday at TPC River Highlands. When it resumed Saturday morning, Holmes hit a wedge to 3 feet to set up an easy birdie to make the turn in 30.

He kept the momentum going on the back nine with three more birdies in a four-hole stretch.

Holmes missed just three greens in the second round and took only 25 putts. His 62 was two strokes off matching the course record, and he’s 8 under and near the top of the leaderboard through his first two rounds ( click here to replay his round ).

“[The soft conditions] made it where you could really go at the pins,” Holmes said. “I didn't have to worry about it bouncing off to the right, or if you short side yourself it's not quite as difficult to get up-and-down.”

Five times this season, Holmes has finished in the top 25 -- two of those have come in his last two starts with a tie for 19th at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and a tie for 13th at the Memorial tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance.

“I hit the ball really well, especially in the last five or six rounds,” said Holmes, whose last victory came at the 2008 FBR Open. “I kind of felt it coming on a little bit. I feel like I'm 100 percent and swinging at it good.”

CROMWELL, Conn. -- With heavy rains soaking the area overnight, the resumption of the second round, originally scheduled for 7 a.m. ET, was pushed back 30 minutes.

Play was suspended twice on Friday with the second suspension coming at 3:19 p.m. The round never resumed as rain and lightning continued throughout the day.

There are 77 players who have yet to complete the second round.

Delays at the Travelers Championship have caused a scheduling change for PGATOUR.COM’s LIVE@ coverage. Originally set to go on the air at 11 a.m. ET Saturday morning, coverage has been pushed back two-and-a-half hours. You can now stream live coverage from TPC River Highlands on PGATOUR.COM from 1:30-8:30 p.m. ET Saturday. For a complete LIVE@ schedule, click here . Click below to see highlights from Friday’s early LIVE@ coverage.