Former BYU golfer Zac Blair back in contention at Travelers Championship

If Zac Blair's carefree attitude didn't have him enjoying his professional golf career, double shoulder surgery certainly did.

The Fremont High alum was questioned whether or not he'd return to the PGA Tour after labrum surgery, when he took nearly two years off the game to correct a number of problems. Given a medical exemption for a limited number of starts on the PGA Tour, Blair now finds himself needing 270.455 FedEx Cup points in his next eight starts to re-earn his card.

Playing like he has at the Travelers Championship won't hurt, though.

The former BYU golfer shot matching 65s to finish at 10-under-par 130 Friday at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, where Blair sits five shots off the lead two years removed from a pair of shoulder surgeries.

Denny McCarthy and Keegan Bradley are tied for the lead at 15-under 125, with Chez Reavie two shots back and Eric Cole a shot in front of Blair and Adam Scott.

As he approaches the end of his medical exemption, the 32-year-old Salt Lake City native knows he's nearing a crossroads, but he's still trying to simply enjoy the journey.

"I think I got like eight starts left, so kind of basically just play the rest of the year and then — I've basically just used it all this season," Blair said. "So kind of going on this year's points more than my points. Probably end up being pretty close to the same. ... I've really just been basing it off this year. So, play good, figure it out at the end."

"Play good, figure it out" did Blair well Friday. The veteran golfer who turned pro in 2014 and first joined the PGA Tour in 2015 carded four birdies during a bogey-free round, when his second consecutive 65 was one of the three-best rounds of the day behind Bradley's 63.

"I had a bit of a weird front side. I made a couple nice par putts, and then all of a sudden I made the long putted on 12 and everything just clicked in and I started hitting every shot where I was looking and every putt was going down my line," said Bradley, who wrapped up his round with five consecutive birdies to post 63. "On a course like this especially, you can really get it going."

After playing a handful of mini-tour events as well as the local Utah Open and earning a handful of exemptions to play in last summer's Utah Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour, Blair is trying to enjoy golf — in between the course he's recently designed on the Tree Farm in South Carolina while he contemplates his next step.

For now, that next step involves finding a way back on the PGA Tour. Quitting never entered his mind, he said, even while undergoing strenuous rehab after a brutal shoulder surgery.

"You know, the first year when you're kind of out, I didn't really get to touch a club for a long time and it was actually pretty nice just hanging out at home being with the family," Blair said. "You're on the road your whole life as a pro golfer. It was cool just to be able to hang out with them.

"But I never really thought about, like, not playing anymore. So it's definitely nice to be back out."

Fellow Utah native Tony Finau shot 4-under 66 Friday to skirt under the cut line at 5-under. The West High graduate carded six birdies with two bogeys to add to Thursday's 69 in a tie for 42nd Friday afternoon to finish tied for 41st with a group that included Rickie Fowler, Jason Day and reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark one shot above the cut.

Finau will tee off Saturday's third round at 9:21 a.m. MDT alongside Day and Andrew Landry. Blair will join Eric Cole and Adam Scott at 10:49 a.m. MDT in the antepenultimate group of the day.

Saturday's round will be streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast on NBC's Golf Channel beginning at 11 a.m. MDT.

Finau was also formally unveiled as the defending champion for next week's Rocket Mortgage Classic. Joining the Rose Park native in Detroit will be World No. 9 Max Home, two-time major champions Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa, and Rickie Fowler.

Here's the complete field:

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