Win probabilities: Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Brendan Steele made a couple of big mistakes down the stretch, and still was good enough to grab the outright lead at the midpoint of The Honda Classic. Related: Leaderboard | Koepka and Fowler miss cut at 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. Steele had a chance to take an even bigger lead into the weekend. The famed Bear Trap, PGA National’s stretch of holes 15-17, has never been overly kind to Steele — who was 26 over on those three holes in 31 rounds on that triumvirate before Friday. But his tee ball on the par-3 15th went around the back of the hole before lipping out and stopping inches shy of an ace, and he followed that up with another birdie on the par-3 17th. Thing was, the 16th and 18th got him. A bogey on the par-4 16th was the first miscue, and then his approach sailed over the green at the finishing hole to lead to another dropped shot. Still, the three-time winner on the PGA TOUR — the last of those coming when he went back-to-back at the Safeway Open in 2018 — left more than satisfied. “I think a course like this always suits me a little bit better,” Steele said. “I feel like I can make birdies on this course maybe more than other guys can, and I don’t necessarily feel that way a lot of weeks. … That gives me some confidence, and I definitely feel like harder is usually better for me.” Steele missed a chance for a victory in January in Hawaii, falling to Cameron Smith in a playoff after taking a three-stroke lead into the final round at the Sony Open. U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland put himself squarely in the mix with a 67 and thinks there’s a simple reason why tough courses like PGA National appeal to him. “I think it’s definitely mental,” Woodland said. “I probably focus a little bit more. You’ve got to hit shots out here. You’ve got to work the golf ball both ways. You’ve got to ride the wind. I love playing in the wind. But this golf course is as demanding as we see, so you’ve got to be ready from the get-go.” Woodland was tied for fifth at 3 under with Sepp Straka (67), Cameron Davis (67) and Nick Watney (66). Donald got into the mix as well, looking for his first win in the U.S. since 2012 and the first anywhere since 2013. Donald had the best round of the day at 66, tied with a pair of South Korean players — Byeong Hun An and Sungjae Im. “It’s probably been a little bit of a lean stretch,” Donald said. “But yeah, I feel like I’ve been making progress in the last four months with my swing and feeling more comfortable on the golf course.” Zach Johnson briefly got to 5 under, then posted consecutive bogeys — and hit real trouble on the par-4 11th. His second shot went into the water, ending up in a muddy spot just at the edge of some long grass. Johnson elected to play his third from there, trying to knock the ball skyward toward the green — but only managing to bury it further into the mud. Johnson had to retreat about 125 yards back up the fairway, played another approach and two-putted from 45 feet for a triple-bogey 7. Just like that, he went from tied for sixth and one shot back to tied for 23rd and four shots off the lead. He finished with a 75, going to 2 over for the week.

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ALBANY, Bahamas – There’s one thing we can be certain of when it comes to Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf – the hype is insane. Having opened as a 100-1 shot to win next year’s Masters Woods dropped to 50-1 before competitive play this week at the Hero World Challenge, and was 25-1 after Round 1. Now the 79-time PGA TOUR winner has firmed to 15-1 after his second round 4-under 68 left him tied fifth and five shots off the lead just seven months after a fourth back surgery. All this from just two rounds of golf in an 18-man exhibition event on a relatively wide-open course. Honestly, discussion around the globe between golf fans is going a little something like this. I’ve combined the multiple arguments I heard on course and on social media into one fictional, but ultimately real, conversation. (Handles are fictional) @TigerWoodsFan79 – Oh my God!! Did you see Tiger today! He shot 31 on the front nine. He’s so back. He’s going to win three majors next year and the FedExCup! @GolfIsHard – Settle down buddy. It’s just one round. He shot 1-over on the back nine as well. He’s playing at an easy course against just 17 other players. @TigerWoodsFan79 – He shot 69 yesterday, 68 today and these 17 guys are some of the best in the world! He’s ahead of the FedExCup champion Justin Thomas among others. Plus, it’s really windy at Albany. @GolfIsHard – It hasn’t been THAT windy so far. And come on, those other guys have had really long seasons. Heck, they’ve started the new season. They’re tired. @TigerWoodsFan79 – Tired? Give me a break. They’ve had time off. And three of the guys above Tiger have been playing lately. Justin Rose has played all over the globe, Tommy Fleetwood also and Jordan Spieth just flew back from the Australian Open! They have momentum. Tiger has to deal with rust! @GolfIsHard – He’s rusty all right. He hasn’t won anything since 2013. @TigerWoodsFan79 – Well Tiger says he can win this week. I saw one media guy asked him if he could win and he said, “What do you think?â€� and he had that Tiger grin. @GolfIsHard – What’s he going to say? No? And I also saw he said this when asked about silly dummies like you who are claiming he’s already going to sweep the majors next year despite having a fused back. “I guess they’ve got to come up with some kind of story. I just wanted to go out there and just play, compete. I didn’t know what to expect because I hadn’t played, I hadn’t competed, I haven’t had a fused back before in my life.â€� In other words, he’s telling you to settle down. @TigerWoodsFan79 – I saw that comment also. And you’ve conveniently cut it off when he starts talking positively again. “These are all new things. As you can see that even with the fused back, I still have some speed out there and these are all things I’ve had to learn and will continue to learn. This is a new body that I’m getting used to.â€� @GolfIsHard – Yeah he might have some speed and power out there, I’ll give you that. But he still has hit only 16/26 fairways this week… and at Albany the fairways are 400 yards wide. @TigerWoodsFan79 – Now you’re being unfair. He barely missed most of those. And he was punished for it. Took an unplayable yesterday and had to lay up out of a footprint today. His driving has been awesome. @GolfIsHard – Well what about the chipping? He chunked a few of those yesterday. There are still some demons in there for sure. He can’t compete in a full field event on TOUR and get away with that. @TigerWoodsFan79 – His chipping was awesome today! He even chipped one from on the green, through the collar and almost holed it. Not one bad chip at all in Round 2. It was just rust on Thursday, plus it’s into the grain like he said and that’s hard for everyone. You stubbed three of those last weekend! @GolfIsHard – He had hammer hands on some of those putts today. He’s lucky he made some of the comebackers. And these greens are slow compared to some on TOUR. And Augusta… forget about it. @TigerWoodsFan79 – 11 putts on the front nine Friday. Only one 3-putt in two days. You’re starting to clutch at straws here. Tiger said the speed changed with the set up anyway: “I think it was successful because I went out there and shot 31 on the front nine. I built upon what I did yesterday, I cleaned it up. Only thing I really struggled with today was speed of the greens. Henrik and I were talking about it all day is that they seemed to be like a foot faster. I really did struggle getting the speed and I blew most of them well past the hole and made a few coming back. I also missed my share, too.â€� @GolfIsHard – Look. Let’s just see how he goes over the weekend and how he recovers. Four back surgeries are a lot. A fused back is intense. And we have to see him in a full field event, at a tough track like Torrey Pines with the rough. Remember he made a lot of birdies in the Bahamas last year… and once he got to Torrey it all went pear shaped. @TigerWoodsFan79 – No way! I’m all in this weekend. Tiger says he’s in it. The leaderboard proves he’s in it. Does this sound like a guy who is just going through the motions? “I felt like today I could have easily gotten to double digits under par. That would have put me probably one or two back, but I think I’m still in it. We’ve got two more days and I think it’s supposed to blow a little harder tomorrow. If that’s the case, I think a good solid round should get me up in there.â€� @GolfIsHard – I can see I’m not talking you off this ledge… And I guess you’re not alone. Even the leader Charley Hoffman wants Tiger to win! Crazy! The Hoff said this… for real! “To be completely honest with you, I said at the beginning of the week I hope he wins. It’s great for the game of golf.â€� @TigerWoodsFan79 – You see! Get on the Tiger train! Just imagine if he did win… @GolfIsHard – Okay… that would be pretty awesome… It would be his sixth Hero World Challenge win… but you wouldn’t be changing your handle again just yet as it’s unofficial. @TigerWoodsFan79 – I’ll take it! And Sam Snead’s 82 TOUR victory record is falling for sure. I know it. Heck, even Jack’s 18 majors is in the crosshairs again. @GolfIsHard – *Palm Hitting Face* *Shakes Head* Woods returns to action on Saturday at 12:53 p.m. ET and is paired with defending champion Hideki Matsuyama. Check out PGATOUR.COM and all PGA TOUR social channels for the action.

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