Matt Kuchar leads at shortened Barclays

Matt Kuchar heard the news from his walking scorer when he reached the eighth green Friday that the PGA Tours opening playoff event would be reduced to 54 holes because of Hurricane Irene. By then, the defending champion had already left his mark on Plainfield Country Club at Edison, N.J., and closed with a pair of pars for a six-under-par 65 and a 14-under 128 total.That gave Kuchar a one-shot lead over Dustin Johnson and Vijay Singh, and it could loom large.Even now, no one is sure what to expect from Irene. The plan is to start the third and final round Saturday morning and hope to finish before the rain arrives. If not, it will revert to a 36-hole tournament.The best players generally come out winners after 72, so for me, I feel like the more golf we play, the better my chances, Kuchar said. But given the situation, I love being on top of the leaderboard with 18 holes to go.Kuchar, who won the Barclays last year at Ridgewood, played without a bogey in a round so efficient that his most memorable shot was punching under a tree and onto the green for a two-putt par on the eighth.On the other side of the course was Johnson, using his sheer power to overwhelm a soft course. Johnson was blasting driver whenever he thought he could carry the trouble off the tee. Over the final three holes, Johnson missed birdie putts inside 10 feet and still shot 63.Theres no way I can say Im disappointed by any means, he said. I could have done a little better with the short game. But overall, I mean a 63 is a 63. Im going to be smiling. And, yes, he said that with a smile.Singh had only one blemish in his round of 64, which featured eight birdies.