Watson up by one; Day 3 shots off; Spieth cut off

EDISON, New Jersey –  Jordan Spieth lost out on a chance to play the weekend at The Barclays.

He also lost his No. 1 ranking.

Bubba Watson, momentarily distracted by a rare warning for taking too long to play a shot, recovered with a birdie on the 18th hole at Plainfield Country Club for a 2-under 68 and a one-shot lead going into the weekend at the opening FedEx Cup playoff event.

On an otherwise sleepy afternoon at a course where no one could get some separation, two peculiar moments stood out – a bad time for Watson, bad golf from Spieth.

Trying to rally to make the cut, Spieth hit into a hazard on the 12th hole, and a bogey later became a double bogey when he was penalized one shot for stepping on his ball during the search. He had a 73, the first time since the Tour Championship last year that he had consecutive rounds over par.

He missed the cut by five shots. That means Rory McIlroy, who isn’t playing this week, returns to No. 1.

Watson was at 7-under 133.

British Open champion Zach Johnson made five birdies to go with four par-saving putts from outside 8 feet for a 65. He was one shot out of the lead, along with Henrik Stenson (66), Tony Finau (69) and Jason Dufner (68).

Fil-Aussie Jason Day hit another 68 and remained three shots off the lead with 136.