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McKINNEY, Texas (AP) -- Jake Knapp is spending his weekends much differently now as a rookie on the PGA Tour, just more than two years after working security at a restaurant in his hometown that was also a late-night hotspot.
A first-time Tour winner earlier this year, Knapp went into this weekend leading the CJ Cup Byron Nelson after a second consecutive 7-under 64 on Friday. At 14-under 128, he was a stroke ahead of Troy Merritt (62) and first-round leader Matt Wallace (66), and two ahead of Kelly Kraft (66).
"Even when I was doing any of that stuff, I always knew this was what I wanted to do, and felt like it's where I should be. Just wasn't there yet," Knapp said. "Just kept working away and sticking at it."
Merritt closed is season-low round with an eagle at the 531-yard ninth hole, where he hit his approach to 16 feet and made that putt. He had birdied four of the previous six holes.
Wallace finished on the same par 5 later in the day, and saved par after driving into a native area and then chunking a shot from there to under a bridge.
Hometown favorite Jordan Spieth, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 20, shot a 70 to finish at 4-under 138 and miss the cut by two strokes. On the 16th, his wayward drive ricocheted off the elbow of a male spectator back into the fairway. He still bogeyed the hole, then parred his last two.
Defending champion Jason Day closed his round with a 35-foot par putt for a 70, and was just on the cut line at 6-under 136.
Kris Kim, a 16-year-old from England, made the cut in his PGA Tour, shooting 68-67 to enter the weekend 7 under. His South Korean-born mother played on the LPGA Tour in the 1990s. He is the first amateur sponsored by South Korean Company CJ Group, the first-year sponsor of the Nelson, and is playing on a sponsor exemption.