Merritt played like true headliner Friday

FRIENDLIER CONDITIONS: Matt Kuchar is defending champion at the RBC Heritage and the early leader after 36 holes Friday at 8-under, but early in the round, he was well aware he was playing second banana to playing partner Jordan Spieth.

Spieth, whose 9-under 62 came within a stroke of the tournament single-round record (David Frost’s 61 from 1994), was already the center of attention for media and fans this week. As the week-old Masters champion, his galleries were large even while shooting a first-round 74 Thursday.

But Kuchar had no reason to be jealous – not that such an emotion is in his makeup. His 5-under 66, good for a one-stroke edge on 2013 RBC Heritage winner Graeme McDowell, was yet another sign that early-season struggles for the tall player with the ready smile are now a thing of the past.

“The conditions were easier today than yesterday, so I think we all got out there thinking this is a good opportunity to take advantage of some tamer conditions,” Kuchar said. “And I got off to a good start,” with birdies at 11 and 15 to turn in 33.

His finish was better, though. Kuchar birdied Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6 before a bogey at the par-3 seventh. When Kuchar came up short and in the green-front bunker at the par-4 ninth, then nearly holed out his sand shot – which would’ve been a replica of last year’s tournament-winning hole-out at the 18th – the huge gallery surrounding the green serenaded him with chants of “Kooch! Kooch!”

Kuchar said the combined excellence of his and Spieth’s play probably was a result of each playing off the other’s success. “We had it going,” he said. “It was cool to be a part of (and Spieth) really kept it going.

“It’s got to be more than a coincidence when you have two guys in a group (who) fire great rounds. There’s certainly got to be some momentum that pulls the other ones along. It seems to happen a lot.”

Kuchar, though, believes it’s more than one day’s inspiration for him. After a recent dry spell during which he said he was attempting a swing change to hit higher iron shots – a change that he said actually threw him off his game – he found something on the driving range that has him again hitting solid shots.

“I honestly thought I was coming into some good form,” he said. “It didn’t pan out the way I thought. (But) I did a lot of work Monday, Tuesday (and) Wednesday and got back to where my game felt like I could play again. (I) started clicking again Wednesday.

"That’s the thing about golf, is a player can feel it’s far away, but when you’re on TOUR, you’re never that far away. You plug in the right ingredient and you just click right back.”

In this case, maybe that “ingredient” was a birdie-fest starring Kuchar and Spieth. It seemed to work well Friday.

G-MAC UNDER THE RADAR: It’s not easy for a past U.S. Open champion to fly under the radar at a golf tournament – especially one, in this case the RBC Heritage, where he’s also a former winner.

But after Masters champion Jordan Spieth and defending RBC Heritage winner Matt Kuchar engaged in an 18-hole “shootout” Friday that produced a combined 15 birdies and just one par, Graeme McDowell was more than happy to slip almost unnoticed into second place after 36 holes at Harbour Town Golf Links.

The 2013 RBC Heritage winner and 2010 U.S. Open champion tacked a 2-under 69 onto his opening 66 and sat at 7-under 135, a stroke behind Kuchar and one ahead of Spieth. This, after sharing the first-round lead with Matt Every, who shot 70 and was tied with Spieth and three others.

McDowell said his share of first Thursday “doesn’t win you anything in this game, and you really just have to try to keep your head down. I really felt like I had to push the accelerator this morning as much as I could.”

He didn’t match the Kuchar-Spieth fireworks, but no matter. In his victory here two years ago, McDowell played steady rounds of 71-67-68-69 before besting Webb Simpson in a one-hole playoff. “I felt the opportunity to go low was there this morning, and it just didn’t quite happen for me,” he said. “But (he had) a couple of birdies to finish (at holes 8 and 9), and I’m right where I want to be.”

McDowell said he heard some of the crowd roars for Spieth and Kuchar, though he didn’t know about Spieth’s record-challenging 62. “I was aware ‘Kooch’ was going well in front,” he said, “but I wasn’t aware that Jordan was going 9-under, to be honest. I thought Jordan was certainly under par, but when I saw 62 on the scoreboard, I thought, ‘Wow.’

“Like I say, ‘When you’re on, you’re on,’ I suppose. And he’s the hottest player on the planet right now and rightly so, and great for the tournament that he’s on the leaderboard going into the weekend.”

It doesn’t hurt, either, to have the popular McDowell in contention as well. Certainly, he can empathize with Spieth about the challenge of staying focused and aggressive the week after the mind-numbing pressure required to win a major title.

“Jordan looked like he had aged about 10 years (Thursday),” McDowell said. “The few days following a major championship win, it’s a whirlwind experience. The demands, the things that happen ... it’s so amazing, but it’s also immensely tiring. Talking about (McDowell) flying under the radar, it’s the complete opposite.”

For now, McDowell will be happy to stay beneath most folks’ attention level. On Sunday, though, that could all change.

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE: Twenty-four hours earlier, Kevin Kisner was basking in the spotlight as the low South Carolina native in the field at the state’s lone PGA TOUR event, the RBC Heritage. Friday, the Aiken, S.C. resident was finding out the “down” side of that distinction.

Kisner, two strokes off the first-round lead at Harbour Town Golf Links on Thursday, fired a 4-under 67 Friday – one shot better than his earlier score – and at 7-under 135 is five back of leader Troy Merritt, but just a shot out of second place.

He figures to be a fan favorite on Saturday and Sunday, which, he said with a laugh, is a mixed blessing. “I want to see how many tickets I’ve got to go get now for the weekend,” Kisner said.

“No, it’s always fun I only have two tournaments that people can drive to, here and Charlotte (Wells Fargo Championship). So I welcome them all, and hopefully I can keep performing.”

Kisner had his second straight day with six birdies. “I just need to eliminate some bogeys,” he said.

He might’ve asked former RBC Heritage champion Jim Furyk for assistance on that. The former U.S. Open winner went 33 straight holes without a bogey, carding an all-pars 71 Thursday and following that with a 64 that included eight birdies with only a lone bogey at the par-4 16th hole. He, Kisner and Graeme McDowell were tied for fourth at 7-under.

“I had a great ball-striking day,” Furyk said. “You know, I did make some putts.  The putter was hot early; (it) kind of cooled off different parts of the round.  I had a lot more opportunities out there.  But I felt like I hit a bunch of good putts today.”

Kisner on Thursday mentioned his preference for Southern greens over the poa annua greens on the West Coast. He felt at home both rounds at Harbour Town.

“This is just what I grew up on,” he said. “Guys that are from the West Coast complain about the grain (of the greens), and I don’t even look at grain here. I just putt like I’ve always putted. And I guess that’s why I’m not very good on the poa annua,, and they laugh at me out there.”