Steele leads by a stroke at Honda Classic
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Brendan Steele made a couple of big mistakes down the stretch, and still was more than good enough to grab the outright lead at the midpoint of The Honda Classic.
Steele shot a 3-under 67 on Friday, getting to 5 under for the week and putting himself a shot clear of J.T. Poston (69), Lee Westwood (69) and Luke Donald (66) after the second round at PGA National.
This is Steele’s ninth time playing the Honda and the first time he’s ended any round at PGA National with the lead. He missed the cut last year by 10 shots, but most of what he’s doing so far this year has worked — that is, until he made bogey on two of his last three holes Friday.
“My first few years here I couldn’t quite figure it out,” Steele said. “I thought maybe it wasn’t a good course for me. … I don’t feel like it’s a course you can just jump out your first time and have it nailed. You have to see it in all the different winds and conditions that you have.”
The cut was 3 over, and most of the biggest names in the field aren’t sticking around for the weekend.
Among them: Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and defending champion Keith Mitchell.
Koepka shot a 4-over 74 for the second consecutive day and missed the cut by five shots.
Fowler (68) missed an eagle putt at the par-5 18th that would have gotten him to the weekend and fell a shot shy, Rose (74) was 6 over and missed by three shots, while Mitchell (72) missed by five shots.
“You can rack up some big numbers pretty quick,” Koepka said.
U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland put himself squarely in the mix with a 67
Woodland was tied for fifth at 3 under with Sepp Straka (67), Cameron Davis (67) and Nick Watney (66).
In other golf news:
• LPGA major winner Pernilla Lindberg of Sweden has missed the cut at the New Zealand Golf Open at Queenstown after becoming the first woman to play in the 101-year-old men’s professional tournament.
Lindberg shot 1-over 73 to follow her first round 9-over par 80, finishing in a tie for 151st in the 156strong field. While she missed the cut, she surpassed her goal for the tournament — to “beat just one man“— by beating four.
The 11-year LPGA Tour veteran, who won the ANA Inspiration in 2018, played the tournament on a sponsor’s invitation.
“I was going to be here anyway and it is my favorite country,“Lindberg said. “I couldn’t say no. Any chance to tee it up at these beautiful courses I could not say no.“
Korean teenager Joohyung Kim retained a one-shot tournament lead at 11-under par.
• Brett Quigley birdied six of the last seven holes for a 9-under 64 and the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Cologuard Classic at Tucson, Ariz.
The winner a month ago in Morocco in his second Champions start, the 50year-old Quigley birdied Nos. 12-15 and 17-18 on Tucson National’s Catalina Course.
Robert Karlsson was second, making five backnine birdies in a 65. Steve Stricker, John Day, Glen Day and Rod Pampling shot 67. Hall of Famers Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer were another stroke back along with Ken Tanigawa.