SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The boys from Madison are making it look easy at Notre Dame in the U.S. Senior Open.

For the second straight day, Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly, friends and competitors since their junior years in Wisconsin, took apart the rain-softened Warren Golf Course, each shooting bogey-free rounds of 6-under 64 in the second round Friday.

Stricker broke the tournament 36-hole record at 14-under 126, a day after shooting an event-record 62 for a share of the first-round lead with defending champion David Toms. Kelly, a playoff winner over Stricker and Retief Goosen last week in the Madison event that Stricker hosts, was two strokes back after their morning rounds.

"I've known Jerry from a young age when we were playing amateur events and junior events across Wisconsin," said the 52-year-old Stricker, the Regions Tradition winner last month for his first major title. "It's good to see him playing well. I knew this course would set up well for him. He's doing everything well as it shows from winning last week."

Stricker has plenty of motivation from his loss Sunday when he missed a birdie putt on the final hole of regulation and bogeyed the first playoff hole.

"It stings a little bit," Stricker said. "I feel good going around this course. It fits my eye well. It's a treat to go around here and play, and I like what I've been doing so far."

The 53-year-old Kelly, who admits his personality is the polar opposite of Stricker's quiet nature, says they have helped each other during their low moments on both tours.

"It's competition and support and friendship," Kelly said. "I appreciate everything (Stricker's) done for my game. I hope he knows I've been there for him."

The victory last week was Kelly's fourth on the 50-and-over tour. He won three PGA Tour titles.

"Definitely a continuation of last week," he said. "(I've) got a great feel the last five weeks. It's low every week (on the PGA Tour Champions). So it teaches you to keep going, keep going."

Toms was third at 11 under after a 67. He played in the afternoon when wind the picked up.

"I had some ups and downs, not quite as solid as yesterday but not many days are," Toms said. "I think the wind played a factor, what wind we had in the middle of the round, as far as trying to get a ball close to the pin. You had to pay attention to that."

Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen had a 65 to get to 9 under in Senior Open debut. The South African rebounded from a bogey on the 13th hole with four straight birdies.

"It's nice to have that finish and (be) five behind with two rounds to go," Goosen said. "Just got to get on a good run."

Bob Estes (65), Chris DiMarco (66) and Kirk Triplett (68) followed at 8 under.

Among those returning for the weekend is Tom Watson, who matched his age with a 69 on Thursday and bettered it Friday with an afternoon 68 that included consecutive birdies at holes 15-17.

"I wanted to be here on the weekend again," Watson said. "At my age, you never know how many more USGA championships you're going to play in."

Watson's long-time rival, 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus, is now a behind-the-ropes fan and raised his arms in celebration next to wife Barbara when son Gary, playing in his first Senior Open, birdied his final hole for a 71 that left him at 1-under 139 and also playing this weekend.

There were 41 golfers under-par 140 after two rounds with the 36-hole cut coming at 2-over 142. After yielding 41 sub-par rounds Thursday, Warren surrendered 39 Friday.

DETROIT – For the first time in 18 months, Smylie Kaufman is playing the weekend.

The former spring break star won on Tour in 2015 as a rookie and played in Sunday’s final pairing at the 2016 Masters. But it’s been downhill ever since, as Kaufman has struggled with confidence and injury while losing control of his game. He entered this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic on a run of 21 straight missed cuts or mid-tournament withdrawals, a stretch that combined starts on the PGA, Asian and Korn Ferry tours. Last month he finished dead last at the AT&T Byron Nelson, four shots behind former NFL quarterback Tony Romo.

But Kaufman got off to a hot start Thursday in Detroit, briefly grabbing a share of the lead, and after rounds of 69-70 he made the cut for the first time since the Desert Classic in January 2018.

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Granted, it wasn’t a stress-free afternoon for Kaufman at Detroit Golf Club. Two early bogeys left him flirting with the cut line, and it wasn’t until he buried a 12-foot putt on No. 8, his 17^th hole of the day, that he knew for sure he’d make the weekend.

“Being able to hole a putt on 8, it seemed like I’d had this scenario like all year, just haven’t been able to finish it off. It’s just nice to know that I’m able to do it,” Kaufman said. “That was fun to see today, so I’m really excited. Just kind of needed this in my game, just to start playing more. These two-day tournaments are starting to get pretty old.”

Kaufman is currently playing on a major medical extension that stems from an elbow injury that caused him to sit out the latter half of 2018. He has two starts remaining after this week and plans to stay busy, playing both the 3M Open and John Deere Classic. After that, he’ll head to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in August to try to earn a PGA Tour card for 2020.

But for now, he’s savoring a chance to stick around for a couple more days.

“It’s huge. In the grand scheme of things, I practice as hard as I can and I give it all that I can. If it’s not enough, it’s not enough,” Kaufman said. “I just really feel like I’m starting to trend in the right way, so I think today was big in that I get more opportunities to play more golf, to try to get more confidence which is what I need.

“When you’re just sort of searching for confidence, you try to grab onto anything. But it’s nice to go out and do it in competition.”

DETROIT – Charles Howell III has been one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour for nearly two decades, racking up hefty paychecks with incredible regularity. He just usually doesn’t shine when the temperatures heat up.

Howell has 34 top-10 finishes on Tour dating back to 2012, including his drought-breaking win last fall at the RSM Classic. But 33 of them have come in the fall or early portion of the season, as the veteran has only one recent top-10 in the months of June, July, August or September: his playoff loss to Kyle Stanley at the 2017 Quicken Loans National.

“I’ve tried it all. I’ve tried taking more weeks off some years, some years I’ve tried taking less weeks off,” said Howell, who joked that he “even tried surgery one summer on my neck” to solve his mid-year drought. “I don’t know why it is, I really don’t. But I’m more than aware of it.”

Howell appears in position to put an end to his summertime swoon this week at the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic, where he heads into the weekend alone in third place after rounds of 65-67 left him at 12 under, two shots behind Nate Lashley. His second round included six birdies against one bogey, highlighted by a hole-out from the greenside bunker on No. 15.

Howell admitted that in years past part of his summer struggles likely stemmed from an effort to chase position in the season-long points race, as he viewed qualifying for the Tour Championship as his best avenue to gain entry into the majors, including the Masters. But after celebrating a birthday last week, he’s hoping that a more stress-free approach will yield better results during a typically dry portion of the calendar.

“The funny thing about turning 40 is, you just quit worrying about that stuff. It used to keep me up at night, and I used to grind over that stuff,” Howell said. “You come to a point where you realize, ‘I’ll work as hard as I can, I’ll get the proper help that I need, and then we’re just going to play and whatever happens is going to happen.’ But I think you can only really arrive at that point after a certain amount of years and time, and maybe a certain amount of disappointments if you will, to get there.”

DETROIT – Cameron Champ played one of the best stretches on the PGA Tour this season, matching the lowest nine-hole score and the longest birdie-eagle streak.

Champ had an 8-under 28 on the front nine thanks, shooting under par for six straight holes.

"The hole looked pretty big for a while," he said.

The rookie cooled off on a steamy day with a 1-over 37 on the back nine, closing with a bogey after pushing a 4-foot putt just to the right and past the cup for a 7-under 65.

Nate Lashley took advantage of the opportunity to put his name on top of the leaderboard for the second straight day. Lashley shot a 67, putting him at 14-under 130 for a one-shot lead at scoring-friendly Detroit Golf Club.

"A lot of the weeks the courses are really difficult, so it's a nice change coming here," said Lashley, who is ranked No. 353 in the world.

Charles Howell III (67) was two shots back. J.T. Poston (63) and Ryan Armour (69) were another stroke back.

Dustin Johnson, the world's second-ranked player, and U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland finished at 2 under to miss the cut by three strokes.

"It just seemed like every time I hit a bad shot, it was in the wrong spot and made bogey," said Johnson, who had four of five bogeys on his back nine.

Woodland opened with a 72 in his first start since winning his first major and bounced back with a 69, an up-and-down round with eight birdies and five bogeys.

He and Johnson will have an extra couple of days to prepare for the British Open.

"Yeah, I need to get ready, but I'm excited about Portrush," Woodland said. "I've heard great things. But I've got some work to do, just tighten some things up. I wasn't prepared as much as I probably should have been this week. But two weeks off, I'll have plenty of time and I'll be ready to go."

Chez Reavie, who won the Travelers Championship last week, and Bubba Watson also failed to make it to the weekend.

Reavie was tied for fourth entering the day and was 6 under on his 13th hole of the second round. He closed with a bogey, double bogey and triple bogey to plummet to 1-under 143. Watson shot a 75 after opening with a 68.

The 36-year-old Lashley slipped into the tournament as an alternate Wednesday.

"The way I'm playing, yeah, I feel like I should be out here every week," he said.

Lashley is No. 132 in the FedEx Cup standings.

"I need a good week and move up into that top 125," he said. "To do it this week comfortably would be great. To be able to kind of relax the last few events of the season would be really nice."

Lashley's only top-10 finish during his two-year PGA Tour career was in February, when he tied for eighth at the Puerto Rico Open.

The 24-year-old Champ won the Sanderson Farms Championship in October and added a pair of top-10 finishes in November. In his last 10 tournaments, though, he has missed seven cuts and withdrawn once with a finish no better than a tie for 54th.

Champ, who is from Sacramento, California, leads the tour in driving distance at 316.6 yards and ranks 187th in accuracy.

After a ringing phone distracted him on the 17th tee, he sent a 320-yard drive to the left into the rough behind a tree 251 yards to the pin. Champ originally planned to use a 3-iron before choosing a 4-iron for his second shot and sent a low line drive under branches that left him 91 feet away.

"I was just looking to see if I could get a 3-iron out of that lie," he said. "There was no chance."

His chip set him up for a 9-footer for birdie, his only one on the back nine.

"The back side I really didn't play terrible, I just hit a few shots that kind of limited my ability to get it close to the hole," he said.

ROGERS, Ark. – Inbee Park had five straight birdies in a 9-under 62 to take the first-round lead Friday in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Seeking her 20th LPGA Tour victory and first since early last year, the South Korean star began the birdie run on the second hole of the round that started on No. 10. She also birdied the par-5 18th to make the turn at 6-under 29 and added three birdies on the second nine.

"It's always great to see the ball rolling in the hole," Park said. "I haven't been seeing that for such a long time. For a couple of years or so I have been missing a lot of short putts. ... I was just trying to be patient and trying to wait for the day that's to come. I know I have a good feel on the putter, and it just wasn't going in the last couple of years or so. I was really waiting for this moment and, hopefully, I can keep this going."

Park is trying to win for the second time at Pinnacle Country Club after taking the 2013 title.

"I have played this golf course so many times, so it helps me playing through this week," Park said. "I love playing this golf course."

Paula Creamer, Carlota Ciganda and Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong were a stroke back.

Creamer won the last of her 10 LPGA Tour titles in 2014. She was 8 under after 12 holes, then played the final six in even par with a bogey on the par-3 sixth and birdie on the par-5 seventh.

"I hit the ball really well," Creamer said. "I don't think I missed one fairway today. I had 6-, 7-, 8-footers pretty much on all the holes. I made them. I was putting really well and it was kind of one of those days where I felt like I was going to hit a good shot and make the putt."

Ciganda matched Creamer with nine birdies and a bogey.

"I really like this course," Ciganda said. "I think you can go out there and shoot a low score. ... I hit my irons really good today, my wedges and then I made some good putts. Very happy with the round."

Ariya Jutanugarn, Annie Parkand Maria Torres shot 64.

Top-ranked Jin Young Ko opened with a 65.

Former University of Arkansas star Stacy Lewis had a 68. She won the 2014 event.

Maria Fassi, the 21-year-old Mexican player who won the NCAA title last month for the Razorbacks, opened with a 70.