DETROIT – Halfway home and there are lessons to be gleaned in the Motor City.

Taylor Moore set the early pace Friday at Detroit Golf Club, and he was matched late in the afternoon by Canada’s Taylor Pendrith who had the low round of the day with a 64. They both head into the weekend at 13-under, halfway to Tony Finau’s record-setting total from a year ago.

But while Moore and Pendrith will have the last tee time on Saturday, the betting storylines run far deeper. Here’s a look at some of the takeaways from the first two days in the Motor City:

Rickie Fowler isn’t going away.

The biggest pre-tournament liability for multiple oddsmakers is now the outright betting favorite heading into the weekend. Fowler has been on the cusp of his first win in more than four years, nearly breaking through at the U.S. Open before surging into contention last week with a third-round 60 at the Travelers Championship. A missed cut at the PGA Championship is the only time he’s been outside the top 20 since early March, and that streak likely won’t end this week as Fowler sits one shot off the pace at 12 under after a second-round 65 at Detroit GC.

What started as a potential resurgence has turned into a bona fide run of form that harkens back to Fowler’s peak in 2014-15. He’s not shying away from that comparison, either.

“How I’ve played is some of the best, if not the best, I’ve ever felt about my game and on the course, really ever.”

Fowler opened with a 67 despite losing strokes on the greens. He followed with a round highlighted by a chip-in eagle on No. 17, as he missed only three greens in regulation.

Fowler was already the worst-case scenario for BetMGM oddsmakers when he teed off as a +1200 co-favorite, but he’s now down to +375. It’s unlikely the avalanche of action will stop anytime soon.

Collin Morikawa has eliminated Left.

As in the left side of, well, pretty much everything. Known to have one of the prettiest and most reliable fades on TOUR, the two-time major champ recently got stuck dealing with the dreaded double cross.

“It’s just been kind of over the past couple months where I’ve seen some left misses, and they’ve just been uncharacteristic,” Morikawa said.

A quick swing fix during Wednesday’s pro-am – he won’t share specifics but promises to reveal all should he win this week in Detroit – has clicked. He’s fading it with consistency while ranking fourth in the field in SG: Tee to Green and seventh off the tee.

Morikawa sits at 11-under, two shots back, and is priced at +700 at BetMGM. His emphasis has been on his ball-striking solutions, but the key to his weekend success might be on the greens. He ranked 134th out of 156 players in SG: Putting Friday, a far cry from his opening 65 when he was 25th. If that trend continues, he’ll have a tough time keeping up with the torrid scoring pace here – even if he only has to deal with the right side of every hole.

Justin Thomas’ struggles continue.

There were a number of notable players who missed the 36-hole cut in Detroit, including defending champ Tony Finau (-1) and former Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama (-1). But neither was more surprising than Justin Thomas, who came in off a T-9 at the Travelers but exits abruptly after rounds of 76-69.

Thomas entered the week as the third-largest liability at BetMGM, priced at +1600 behind only Fowler and Finau. But he seemed out of sorts from the jump, playing himself out of the mix in his first six holes. His short game was a notable weak spot: Thomas lost -6.026 shots to the field around the greens, ranking dead last in the 155-man field. Only one other player was worse than -2.7 in the category through 36 holes.

Thomas came to Detroit in search of a boost to his season and some points to get him firmly in the Playoff mix. He left with neither, now projected to 70th in the FedExCup with a critical stretch upcoming in the U.K. for a two-time major champ who has missed three of four cuts and (still) seems to be out of sorts.

Ludvig Aberg is coming.

The big Swede is legit. Watching him in person for the first time, I now have better context for some of the praise of a former college standout who is now making waves in his first month as a TOUR pro. Aberg put on a ball-striking clinic Thursday and then picked up right where he left off, ranking second (instead of first) in SG: Tee to Green. A trendy pre-tournament selection for bettors at BetMGM, where his number moved from +5000 to +4000 ahead of the opening round, he’s now one shot back and priced at +700 behind only Fowler and co-leader Taylor Moore.

“My driver’s been behaving quite well this week so far,” Aberg said in one of the week’s larger understatements.

He’ll have a spotlight pairing Saturday, pitted with fan favorite Fowler in the day’s penultimate pairing. It’s unlikely to faze Aberg, who just spent two days showing playing partner Luke Donald why he should be in the mix for the European Ryder Cup team.

Aberg has shown promise in the first few starts as a pro, but this is an opportunity to level up in a big way. He’s facing a course that seems ideally suited for his aggressive style off the tee, and he’s one shot back despite losing strokes on the greens during the second round. A moderate run with the putter over the next 36 holes could land the PGA TOUR U graduate a bit of PGA TOUR hardware.

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