CROMWELL, Conn. — Nobody ever knows, when it will come or where it goes, but when the feeling hits, a golfer’s got to latch on to it.

Collin Morikawa rolled in a 13 1/2-foot putt for birdie on the first hole Friday and it was on. Six birdies on the front nine, a ridiculous 29. Then as the heat of the day set in and Morikawa’s surge slowed, one birdie on the back nine. The game’s unpredictable quality has played out in his first two rounds at the Travelers Championship; on Thursday, he got off to a slow start, then scorched the back nine.

“Sometimes it’s a feel, trusting your gut,” Morikawa said. “It’s just a little … belief. It’s hard to have it every day. Today was one of those days, going to try to keep it the next two.”

The solid second-round 63 Friday lifted Morikawa, who arrived in Connecticut this week with the news he’d made the U.S. Olympic team, into contention within 2 strokes of leader Tom Kim, who had a similar day, five birdies on the front nine, one on the back.

“Right now it’s just all mental,” Morikawa said. “I can’t get lazy the next two days, the scores are going to keep getting lower, probably going to double from where we are right now, and the biggest thing for me if I want to stay in contention is just not letting my mind kind of wander. It’s been a long stretch, it’s hot, but I want to win and I’m going to stay as sharp as possible.”

With his two major championships within two years of joining the PGA Tour, it’s easy to think Morikawa is older, more of a veteran than he is.

The Travelers has a certain meaning for the 27-year-old who got a sponsor’s exemption to make his third pro start at the TPC River Highlands in 2019, finishing in a tie for 36th. He missed the cut here in two subsequent appearances, 2020 and ’23.

“You always remember that first summer,” Morikawa said. “You owe a lot to those kind of starts that you had as a pro when you come out of college, so, yeah, (the Travelers) has always been special, it always will be. Haven’t played well, but hopefully we can change that this week.”

This year, there are no cuts in the Signature Event format and Morikawa, whose average score at the Travelers was 69.5, has checked in with 66 and 63 the first two rounds.

He was the top-ranked amateur before he finished at Cal-Berkeley and was ticketed for stardom when he turned pro and the Travelers offered its opportunity. He made the cut in each of his first 22 tournaments, a streak ended at the 2020 Travelers and second only to Tiger Woods’ 25 in a row at the start of his career. Morikawa has won seven times, including the two majors, the PGA in 2020 and The Open Championship in ’21. He is currently ranked seventh in the world, and will join Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Wyndham Clark on the U.S. team in Paris. All four are in the crowd of top golfers chasing Kim, who is 13-under par.

“I know where the ball’s going, so that helps,” Morikawa said. “Obviously I want to be able to get the win and that’s kind of what’s stopping me from being on a great run. It’s a big mental mindset. When you know where the ball’s going it’s a lot easier to play golf, and I’ve kind of been able to trust that. But just kind of going through the rounds, not getting too frustrated about a bad shot, because I know the good ones are really good right now. I’ve been driving the ball decent and it helps when you’re in the fairway.”

Morikawa’s best work of the day Friday came with a beautiful, 296-yard shot off the third tee. Morikawa ended up with a birdie, hitting a 16-foot, 5-inch putt.

“I wouldn’t say there are ways to get (that belief),” he said. “It’s just doing the right steps to seeing where the ball’s going, trusting the shots. But when it’s there, it’s great because you’re able to step up and execute the shots that you see. But this is a course that guys aren’t going to take their foot off the gas and you got to stay on that. Every hole out here is essentially a birdie hole if you hit the fairway, so I’ve just got to continue that.”

With the long awaited downpour halting play late Friday afternoon, the greens will be getting softer for the final two rounds, so the scores will be getting lower. Morikawa and Akshay Bhatia are both 11 under, and the top two in the world, Scheffler and Schaufele, both 10 under when the rains came, very much in striking distance.

Morikawa’s putter went cold on the final day at the PGA, when Schauffele won his first major. He tied for 14th at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. But Morikawa left the TPC Friday with that good, confident feeling. This was a good day,

“It’s been really steady,” Morikawa said. “I haven’t made too many errors and when I have missed greens I’ve been able to have stress-free pars and goods looks for pars at least. But, yeah, shots are going where I want, putting the ball in the fairway, and that’s key out here, especially with some kind of nasty rough. Just got to continue that for the next two.”

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