Korda (neck) withdraws from next two events

The first time Brendan Steele ever saw Linkin Park perform, he found himself standing on the side of the stage with a friend who knew the band’s bass player, Dave Farrell. There were about 12,000 of the band’s biggest fans sitting in the stands at Jones Beach that August night. But the vibe backstage at the iconic outdoor amphitheater on the shores of Long Island was decidedly low-key. “It’s funny because it’s a lot like being out here (on TOUR),â€� Steele says. “The families are back there and they’ve just got a little food and there’s nothing like crazy going on.   “But you think it’s going to be mind-blowing. But everybody’s just kind of hanging out and having a good time.â€� The mind-blowing part came a little later when Farrell walked off the stage to grab another guitar. Instead of handing the one he’d been using to his bass tech, though, he gave it to his new-found friend. All Steele – whose says his musical abilities stop at air guitar — could think about was the crowd, those faithful Linkin Park fans who, truth be told, probably didn’t even know he was standing there. “I thought that I was going to ruin the entire show, like, I was going to drop it or something,â€� Steele recalls. “So, that was my first time hanging out with Dave. Pretty good memory.â€� Farrell still remembers what he calls Steele’s “deer in headlightsâ€� look when he put the strap over the PGA TOUR veteran’s shoulder. “He’s holding this magical thing that he doesn’t want to ruin,â€� Farrell told PGA TOUR Entertainment last year. “And for me, I was like, that’s really funny, that’s kinda how I feel at times.â€� Not when he’s performing, of course. Farrell’s been making music since he was a kid. But he loves golf and has been fortunate to play in big-time pro-ams like the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, making his most recent appearance just last week. And Farrell would be the first to tell you he was out of his comfort zone the first time he teed it up in front of a gallery. “It took me probably a good three to four hours on the first day before I was like, all right, this is not gonna change,â€� Farrell recalls. “There’s gonna be people here, we just need to go ahead and try and hit some kind of a golf shot. “Pretend we know what we’re doing, see if that works. Which, it did.â€� After the concert, Steele drove back to New Jersey where he was playing in what is now known as THE NORTHERN TRUST, the first event in the FedExCup Playoffs. Farrell came out to Ridgewood Country Club the next day and followed Steele for several holes. Turns out, the two men live about 20 minutes from each other in southern California. They talked about playing golf together the next time both were in town at the same time, and a friendship was born. “And now, three and a half years later, or whatever it is, he’s one of my closest friends,â€� Steele says. Farrell was a soccer player as a kid but came to like golf as he got older, his dad and his father-in-law leading him to the sport. And it was a perfect fit. Since his job is playing concerts at night, Farrell has lots of time during the day for a quick 18. Farrell also has broadened Steele’s horizons. He had his buddy doing hot yoga the last time Steele was home as well as “some sort of weird swimming stuff. “He’s taken me surfing a couple of times and I don’t surf at all,â€� Steele says. “He’s a really active guy. He likes being outside a lot. “So, I think golf is just an extension of that. It’s one of those things where you’re always trying to get better and you’re never happy with it. …  So it’s that unattainable life-long challenge that I think he enjoys about it.â€� Farrell is a good golfer, too. Steele estimates that Farrell plays to a 4 handicap, and he gives him six strokes a side. Two other buddies frequently round out the foursome. “If he plays good he’ll shoot 73, 74, something like that, and then he’s going to beat me,â€� Steele says. “And if he plays bad, and he shoots 82 or 83, I can beat him.â€� Farrell sees things a little differently. His respect for Steele – who successfully defended his title at the Safeway Open last week — is immense. “I think it’s really common for people, even people who play a significant amount of golf, I think it’s pretty common for them to not realize the degree of excellence that the PGA (TOUR) guys are at,â€� Farrell says. “And not just the guys who are top-10 in the world, but the guys who are 150th in the world rankings, 200th in the world rankings. “The level of golf that they play is so different than like your average club champion at a nice country club or the best guy in your group, the scratch or the plus one who’s a great golfer. We play Brendan, in just fun games around here and stuff like that, we’ve make him play to a plus six, and he still mostly annihilates me. “So there is a different level, a different gear that those guys have for sure.â€� Steele says Farrell has had a significant impact on his game — and nowhere was that more evident than the statistical research he did on the pro’s putting last year. Ferrell, who went to UCLA and is something of a math geek, discovered his friend needed to improve in the 8- to 16-foot range. “I thought he was a little crazy when he brought out this book and said, I’ve got something to show you but it’s going to be a little weird,â€� Steele recalls. Farrell wasn’t talking technique or fundamentals, though. His friend was intrigued – even though Steele admits it was “pretty funny that you have a rock star that’s taking the time to chart all your puttsâ€� —  and he took Farrell’s numbers to his coach, Chris Mason, who designed some putting drills. “The numbers all made sense,â€� Steele said. “He had data from like, OK, when you finish top 10, here’s what your numbers are. When you finish top 5, here’s what your numbers are, when you miss the cut, here’s where your numbers are. Here’s where the numbers are of the guys on TOUR who are winning tournaments. “He said, when you finish top 10, you’re at 30 percent or a little above 30 percent. When you’re missing the cut, you’re at, like, 15-20 percent from that one range. So, he’s like, if everything else is equal then this is the only thing that’s determining where you’re finishing.â€� The hard work paid off at the 2016 Safeway Open when Steele ranked first in putting from 10-15 feet and won his second PGA TOUR event, his first title since 2011. And Steele again ranked first in that category last week in Napa when he won for the second straight time at Silverado. Farrell says some of his friends started needling him once they realized what he was doing. Help me with my putting, they pleaded. But Farrell knew better than to talk technique. “I’m not a guru or anything in golf and I’d never want to present myself as anything like that,â€� Farrell says. “I think he’s an awesome dude and a great friend of mine. I want to see him do well. “And I love talking about it with him and as ridiculous as some of this might be, we have a good time just crunching through some of the stuff and and dialoguing about it.â€� Although Farrell is a numbers guy, Steele will be the first to tell you the bassist has also made an impact on his game in a less measurable ways. “He’s a great guy. He’s really smart. He’s really kind,â€� Steele says. “He’s helped me a ton with not only with kind of the stat side of my golf game and stuff but just like the mental side of it and dealing with failure, which we get a lot out here. “So it’s really nice to have somebody to lean on like that who understands what you’re going through. It’s a totally different job but there are a lot of similarities so we’ve been able to bond over it.â€� Just don’t expect Steele to pick up that guitar any time soon.

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With the sands to the 2020-21 PGA TOUR season quickly tumbling downward in the hourglass, this is crunch time for those on the bubble in the FedExCup standings. At the 3M Open this week outside Minneapolis, the race to finish in the top 125 to qualify for next month’s FedExCup Playoffs opener at Liberty National (THE NORTHERN TRUST) is very much front and center. RELATED: Leaderboard | Dustin Johnson looks to find form at 3M Open A handful of players on both sides the bubble have arrived at 3M and responded with some of their best golf of the season. With only three weeks remaining in the regular season – which includes next week’s break for The Olympics – count Chez Reavie (119th in the FedExCup standings) among those shining when he most needs to shine. Despite a sloppy bogey-6 at the par-5 18th – a hole he had eagled in the opening round – Reavie followed his opening 66 with a second-round, 4-under 67 to move into contention for the weekend at 3M. He is at 9-under 133. At one point this season, Reavie, who turns 40 in November, missed 10 cuts in 12 starts. In fact, you have to travel back to 2009 to find a season in which he has had as many weekends off as this one (14). Luckily for him, Reavie, eighth in the FedExCup final standings only two years ago, is experienced enough to know that if he kept his head down and kept working hard, eventually his game would turn for the better. It has. He arrived at 3M having missed only one cut in his last six starts, with top-20 finishes at Congaree and John Deere. “It was just more annoying than anything else,” Reavie said of his poor play to start the year. “Wasn’t playing bad, missed a lot of cuts by a shot and golf seemed really tough at the time. You know, I just kind of fought through it, and here we are playing well. I’ve played well the last few weeks, and that’s what I’m going to focus on.” Reavie was flawless through 17 holes on Friday, making five birdies and no bogeys. At the par-5 18th, he drove the ball into the native area down the left side and was only able to advance his second shot about 70 yards. He reached the green with his fourth shot and barely missed his 13-footer for par. Through two rounds, Reavie has been very encouraged by his quality of putting, which bodes well for a solid weekend. “Even like on the last hole, didn’t go in but I hit a great putt and it had every opportunity to go in, so that’s just what I want to focus on for the weekend,” Reavie said. Every player from Nos. 114 through 127 in the FedExCup standings ventured to Minneapolis to try to improve his positioning for the stretch run, trying to find some late-season magic. On a day with temperatures in the 90s and the heat index soaring near 100, the early scoring was proving just as sizzling. Bo Hoag (125th) came through with a 66 Friday, and names on the bubble such as Scott Stallings (117th), Brice Garnett (121st) and Rickie Fowler (124th) were responding well to the pressure of their situations as the second wave of players teed off on Friday afternoon. Fowler, 32, never has missed the Playoffs in his 11 seasons on the PGA TOUR. Hoag, 32 and in his third PGA TOUR season, shot 67 on Thursday and said it was important to keep the pedal down on Friday. He made six birdies, and like Reavie, encountered his lone bogey on his final hole, with Hoag settling for 5 at the challenging 511-yard ninth, where he drove his ball into left-side native area and had to chop out to get back into play. As for the torrid pace of scoring at TPC Twin Cities, which was softened by rains on Thursday? Hoag said he embraces it. “You only have one option,” said Hoag, who has been lifted by recent solid showings at the Memorial (his hometown event in Ohio), where he was T13, and last week’s Barbasol Championship (T11). “You know you’re going to have to shoot a good round or else you’re going to get left behind. There’s no real guessing game. Just got to be pretty aggressive with the scoring clubs in your hands and try to make some birdies out there.” With Friday’s afternoon wave still on the golf course, four players shared the lead at 9-under 133: Roger Sloan (69); Reavie; Hoag; and Jhonnattan Vegas (69). Others on the bubble who finished in the early wave on Friday and made needed moves: No. 118 Camilo Villegas, who played his last seven holes in 4 under (including an eagle at 18) to shoot 69; No. 123 Chesson Hadley (at 3-under 139 after shooting 72); No. 126 Chase Seiffert, who rallied with a bogey-free 67 after shooting 73 Thursday; and No. 131 Michael Thompson, the tournament’s defending champion, who shot 67 to move inside the cutline at 3 under. “There’s a lot to play for this week,” Thompson said.

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MEDINAH, Ill. – Neither Gary Woodland nor Jason Day want to settle for being captain’s picks on their respective Presidents Cup teams. “The goal is not to be in that predicament,â€� Woodland said. “I would like to earn my way on,â€� Day added. Yet the reality is this: Unless they can go low in the final round of the BMW Championship, it appears each one will remain on the outside looking in when the eight automatic spots for the U.S. and International teams are confirmed Sunday night. Entering the week, Woodland and Day were each ranked ninth in points. Woodland was about 350 points behind No. 8 Patrick Cantlay in the U.S. standings that are based on a FedExCup points calculation. The Australian Day was less than four points behind Korean C.T. Pan in the International standings that are based on world rankings. Projections through three rounds at Medinah still have each one outside the top eight. Tony Finau, who started the week ranked 10th in the U.S. standings, has leapfrogged Woodland and is projected to fill the opening left by Bryson DeChambeau, who has slid out of the top eight projections. In fact, Woodland is projected to 10th now. Day, tied for 36th through three rounds, needs to finish solo 19th or better to pass fellow Aussie Cameron Smith, who is not in the field this week. An additional factor is No. 10 Jazz Janewattanond of Thailand, who is one stroke off the lead through 54 holes at this week’s Asian Tour event. If Janewattanond wins, he could also gain enough points to move inside the top eight. In the end, though, it likely will not matter for either Woodland or Day if they fail to automatically qualify. Odds are that both will be at Royal Melbourne this December, even if U.S. Captain Tiger Woods and International Captain Ernie Els have to wait a few months before making it official when their picks are announced in early November. Woodland is this year’s U.S. Open champion, and in Presidents Cup history, just a handful of Americans have failed to make the team in the year of their major victory, the last one being in 2011 when Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship. As for Day, it’s hard to imagine Ernie Els leaving one of Australian’s best players and a former world No. 1 off the International team that is hoping to use its home-course advantage at Royal Melbourne. In fact, both Els and assistant captain Trevor Immelman sent Day good-luck texts this week. Automatic spot or captain’s pick? Day and Woodland both said their focus is more on showing good form than fretting over scenarios. Related: Leaderboard | Projected FedExCup standings | Tiger needs miracle to get to East Lake “I’m not really worried about that as much as I need to go out and play some good golf,â€� said Day, who shot a 3-under 69 Saturday to move to 6 under for the week. “If I can go out and shoot a low one tomorrow, hopefully that will take care of it.â€� Day has missed the cut in two of his last three starts, including last week’s THE NORTHERN TRUST when he dropped from seventh to ninth in the International standings, and followed by announcing his split with caddie Steve Williams after six starts. Since the Masters when he finished T-5, Day has made eight individual stroke-play starts and has just one top 10. But he feels something good is just around the corner. “I feel like I’m very close to shooting a low one,â€� Day said after his round Saturday. “It’s very, very close. It’s right on the border. Just got to be patient with it. I’ve been saying that pretty much the whole year, it feels like. “Sometimes when you’re trying to work and get back to the good form, you have to be patient. That’s all you can do. I’m still trying my best.â€� Woodland, meanwhile, definitely seemed at his best Saturday when he shot a bogey-free 8-under 64, just one shot off the Medinah course record set by Hideki Matsuyama in the second round. Woodland had a 7-foot putt on the 18th hole to tie the record but missed. “Would’ve been nice to knock that in but it wasn’t a bad putt,â€� Woodland said. “Not going to complain about 64.â€� It’s his lowest round since shooting a 63 in the final round of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open last November. It also eclipsed the 65 he shot in the second round at Pebble Beach in June that set him for his weekend run to the U.S. Open title. Since then, Woodland has made four starts, missing two cuts. Wife Gabby also delivered their twin girls earlier this month, and Woodland said Saturday that it was tough emotionally. But he seemed to find his groove in the second round at Liberty National, making the cut by shooting 4 under in his final nine holes that Friday. “Playing four rounds last week was huge for me,â€� said Woodland, 9 under through three rounds. “I’m getting some things worked out on the golf course. It’s a little hard to do it on the range.â€� But he did find something on the Medinah range Friday night, successfully carrying that to the course Saturday. He hit 10 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens. “It’s as good as I’ve hit it in a long time,â€� he said. No doubt that’s good news for Captain Woods. It’ll make it easier to add Woodland to the team no matter what happens Sunday. “The way I played today,â€� Woodland said, “if I continue to do that, everything should be all right.â€�

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