Kuchar leads by 1 at Barclays

Jersey City, NJ – Matt Kuchar was 5-under par through 13 holes on Friday when play at The Barclays was suspended for the day due to darkness.

Kuchar climbed to 10-under for the tournament and was one ahead of clubhouse leaders Webb Simpson and Gary Woodland. Simpson used a 66 to move to minus-9, while Woodland fired a 7-under 64 on Friday.

There were a pair of long weather delays on Thursday that pushed the tournament back. The second round will resume on Saturday, and the tournament should be back on schedule by the end of the day Saturday.

Keegan Bradley had the round of the day as he fired an 8-under 63 to jump into a tie for fourth at 7-under-par 135. He was joined there by Rickie Fowler (64), Adam Scott (66) and U.S. Open champion Justin Rose, who was 4-under through 14 holes of his second round.

Freddie Jacobson (68), Sergio Garcia (66) and David Lynn (65) are tied for eighth at minus-6 at Liberty National Golf Club.

Tiger Woods was 1-under par through 13 holes and stood at minus-5 overall when play was stopped for the day.

Woods birdied three of the first five holes. He gave one shot back at seven, and as he made the turn, it looked as though his aching back started to act up.

The five-time winner this year tripped to bogeys at 10 and 11, but bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 13th. He hit his tee shot within 13 feet at the 14th just before play was stopped for the day.

"I'm a little sore right now, yeah," admitted Woods. "Tomorrow will be longer with the early start and then the repairing, but I don't think the wait will be too long tomorrow and we'll get back out there and finish it up."

Defending champion Nick Watney (70) is part of a group tied for 24th at 4- under-par 138.

Kuchar, the 2010 champion at Ridgewood, opened with five pars in a row. At the par-5 sixth, he found the green in two and 2-putted for birdie from 42 feet out.

The 35-year-old rolled in a 10-footer for birdie at the par-5 eighth, and came right back with a 5-foot birdie putt at No. 9 to get within one of the lead.

Kuchar drained a 21-footer for birdie at 10 to make it three in a row. At the 13th, he 2-putted for birdie from 11 feet out to grab the lead at 10-under.

Kuchar, Woods and Brandt Snedeker teed off at the par-3 14th just before the horn blew to halt play for the day. They had the option to complete the hole, but all three decided to finish the hole on Saturday morning.

"It was dark. It was a good thing to be able to stop now and come out tomorrow morning and conditions will hopefully be really good in the morning," said Kuchar.

Simpson started his round on the 10th and dropped a shot there. He erased that mistake with a birdie on the 14th, then parred the last four holes of his opening nine.

The 2012 U.S. Open champion caught fire on the front nine. He converted back- to-back birdie chances at one and two before moving to 7-under with a birdie on the fourth.

Simpson drained three straight birdie efforts from the sixth to take the lead at 10-under. However, he found water off the tee at the ninth, his last, and that led to a closing bogey.

"A lot of guys are playing good golf and my guess is at the end of two rounds I won't be leading because there are a lot of birdie holes," admitted Simpson, who played 29 holes on Friday.

Woodland also played the back nine first on Friday and he started with a birdie on No. 10. He poured in three birdies in a 4-hole span from the 13th to jump to minus-6.

The Reno-Tahoe winner stumbled to a bogey at the 18th. Around the turn, he parred the first four holes before a hot closing stretch.

Woodland birdied four of the last five holes to finish at 9-under.

"I played well today. I drove the ball well today and gave myself a lot of opportunities, got some putts to go in late, so all in all, it was a good day," Woodland said. "I got myself in position for the weekend."

NOTES: Three players that needed good weeks to move on in the Playoffs withdrew on Friday: Ben Crane (No. 125) pulled out with a bad back, Lucas Glover (No. 107) withdrew with a wrist injury and No. 109 Justin Hicks was bothered by a hip-flexor ... The cut line will likely be even-par, and if that is the case Charlie Beljan, Charlie Wi, Chez Reavie, Johnson Wagner, Steven Bowditch, Jason Bohn, Mark Wilson, D.H. Lee and Andres Romero would all miss the cut, and drop out of the Playoffs.