Brendan Steele leads by one at The Honda Classic

AVONDALE, La. — Peter Malnati and Billy Hurley III topped the Zurich Classic leaderboard at 14-under 130 on Friday when darkness suspended second-round play in the team event at TPC Louisiana. Malnati and Hurley played 36 holes Friday, shooting a best-ball 9-under 63 in the morning in the rain-delayed first round and a 67 in alternate-shot play in the afternoon in the second round. Play was delayed for more than seven hours Thursday, with only half of the 80 two-man teams teeing off. “You play well in a day that doesn’t feel as long,” Malnati said. “But I’ll tell you what, I’m going to call it maybe our 28th or 29th hole, as we were making the turn, my legs were tired. I know Billy and I both, most of the guys out here, are into our conditioning and it’s important, but you’re not prepared to be on your feet walking for what we were today, 10 hours or more, with warmup more than that. It’s a long day.” They played bogey-free in alternate shot, also the final-round format after the best-ball third round. Because of the wet conditions, players were allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the fairways. “We’d love to have a couple of putts back late on our second nine today,” Hurley said. “But playing 36 holes and stuff, the greens definitely got kind of scruffy a little bit and harder to make putts, so we’re super thrilled with pretty much every shot I think we hit today.” First-round leaders Brian Gay and Rory Sabbatini were a stroke back with Russell Knox-Brian Stuard, Scott Stallings-Trey Mullinax and Kevin Kisner-Scott Brown, with only Knox and Stuard finishing two rounds. Gay-Sabbatini and Kisner-Brown had 14 holes left in the second round, and Stallings-Mullinax had nine to go. Knox and Stuard shot 62-69 in their 36-hole day. “I think we kind of got a bit of a break not having to come out yesterday and then getting it all in today,” Stuard said. “It’ll be nice to relax for a little bit.” Gay and Sabbatini opened with a 60. Major champions Henrik Stenson and Graeme McDowell topped the group at 12 under after rounds of 65 and 67. “We had a long day today. We have a bit of a lay-in tomorrow,” Stenson said. “It’s been a disrupted week for everyone one way or the other, and possibly the conditions for the guys who played yesterday and finished up this morning were a little easier. But we didn’t have to sit in the clubhouse all day yesterday. So there’s been pluses and minuses for everyone.”  

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Cantlay gets 1st PGA Tour win in Las Vegas

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ORLANDO, Fla. – Arnold Palmer was watching a pro-am round at Bay Hill Club and Lodge a number of years ago when Phil Mickelson launched a short iron to the heavens at the par-4 first hole, only to watch in pure disbelief as the ball bounded high off the green, 8 feet high, as if it had caromed off a trampoline. Not sure Palmer, the late tournament host of his namesake PGA TOUR stop, ever flashed a bigger smile as he sat in his cart along the side of the fairway. Palmer loved to create a test of golf that was firm, and tougher than a $3 steak, where pars meant something, and every birdie carried away was as valuable as a gold brick. When scores soared on Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, he is one that would have enjoyed the show. Somebody will walk away on Sunday with a winner’s check for $2.16 million (gulp!), but it’s going to take an honest week’s work. You win at Bay Hill the old-fashioned way. You earn it. Welcome to that new yearly suspense thriller, titled “Weekend at Arnie’s.” Billy Horschel (1-under 71) and Talor Gooch (72) were the best Saturday survivors, considering they played late in the day, when conditions were toughest, and will enter Sunday sharing the lead at 7-under 209. That’s two shots to par backwards than it was 24 hours earlier. Viktor Hovland, who had a four-shot lead at one point, faded with a 40 on the back nine to slide to 75 and lose his grip on the tournament lead. He is one shot back, with Scottie Scheffler (68) two behind and Gary Woodland (70) three. The day did not go so well for many others. World No. 1 Jon Rahm, playing here for the first time, made one birdie all day. Seasoned Lee Westwood, a runner-up at Bay Hill a year ago, shot 33-43. Cameron Young, a hot stick of late, finished his front nine with a double bogey and back nine with a triple. He shot 76. The greens were glassy, and players had difficulty just getting the putter to settle behind the ball. Scheffler, who teed off two hours ahead of the last group and tied the day’s low round of 68, paused to think about the last time he had such a challenge just getting his putter to sit still as he readied to putt. Let’s see … Oh, it would be two years ago, right here. “Brutal” became a well-worn word muttered inside the scoring area. Billy Horschel, who grew up in Florida not far from Orlando and Bay Hill, often would visit the tournament to watch the stars play as a youth, hoping that he might make it inside those ropes one day. Winning here would be extra special for the Florida Gators alum. It just won’t be easy, that’s all. Saturday’s rough conditions (scoring average: 74.06) was not everyone’s cup of tea, but that doesn’t mean that some men cannot enjoy the challenge. “This is awesome golf,” Horschel gushed as dusk settled in after a long and demanding round. “It’s testing and it wears you down, but this is the golf that I think – I can’t even say we all ‘enjoy’ all the time, but we do enjoy, because it does reward fairly good golf shots on a regular basis. “It rewards people who think their way through a shot, and how it needs to be played to really turn out properly.” How tough was it? Horschel stood on the tee at the 163-yard 14th hole, wind helping, with a pitching wedge in his hand, just praying that he could hit a shot that stayed on the green. Mind you, the 14th green isn’t an island, either. “How many times are you happy to just hit the green with a pitching wedge for a PGA TOUR pro?” Horschel asked. Rory McIlroy had promised that Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was going to be a wild ride. More prescient words never were spoken. The Northern Irishman has a great feel for this place, was the tournament’s champion in 2018, and seemed very much in control two days earlier when he opened with 65. On Saturday, he was 11 shots worse, and relieved that a round of golf only lasted 18 holes. “Yeah, look, it’s so tough out there,” said McIlroy, who tumbled to 3-under 213, and will start Sunday four shots out of the lead, hoping to chase. “It’s so tricky. It’s just on a knife edge, like you’re literally talking like feet. Two feet here, two feet there from 200 yards can make a huge difference in where the ball ends up.” McIlroy wasn’t whining, just giving an honest assessment. His back nine on Saturday appeared like an EKG graph: A double bogey, three bogeys, three birdies and even a couple of pars. It added up to 76. There were only seven players who shot in the 60s, and most of them turned in those scores earlier in the day, before the hardest winds kicked up and players flipped the switch to survival mode. Nick Watney barely made the cut (74-72), but a 69 on Saturday rocketed him all the way to a tie for 12th. “I guess, the last few years, we sort of know what to expect coming here,” McIlroy said. “It just seems to be this way over the weekend. It’s just hard. It’s hard not to get frustrated.” Max Homa was 2 over for his day – not all bad, truthfully – when he reached the par-3 14th on Saturday afternoon. He floated a nice high cut with a pitching wedge, the ball traveling the direction of the flagstick, and soon it vanished into the hole for an ace. A well-earned bright spot. Take that, Bay Hill! Scheffler was playing alongside Homa, and after his round, was asked if Homa, Mr. Ace himself, had offered to buy him a drink. “I think he owes all of us a drink,” Scheffler said. “Isn’t that how it works?” After Saturday’s round, players at Bay Hill appeared ready to line up behind him. The test had been brutal. Just the way Palmer liked it.

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