Tony Finau found a way to get up after falling down at the Masters

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Experience is supposed to count at TPC Sawgrass but someone forgot to tell the Spanish duo of Rafa Cabrera Bello and Jon Rahm. Cabrera Bello has just one previous appearance (where he missed the cut) and Rahm is on debut at THE PLAYERS Championship. Yet the two have given themselves a great shot at joining Sergio Garcia as Spanish champions of the PGA TOUR’s signature event. With help from three birdies in his final four holes Cabrera Bello shot a 2-under 70 to grab a share of the morning wave clubhouse lead at 5-under while Rahm’s 72 has him just a shot back at 4-under. The 22-year-old Rahm, a winner at the Farmers Insurance Open, and a runner up at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play comes off a fourth place finish at the Wells Fargo Championship. At fourth in the FedExCup standings, the 22-year-old Rahm’s confidence is sky high. He remained positive after notching four birdies to counter four bogeys on Friday. “I’m not a perfectionist, but I expect a lot of myself,” Rahm said. “… I try to have full confidence in my abilities and that’s probably partly why maybe when I haven’t been playing my best golf I’ve still been able to score because I have full confidence in I myself and try not to doubt it.” Cabrera Bello is looking to be just the third player to make his first PGA TOUR title come at THE PLAYERS – joining Craig Perks (2002) and Tim Clark (2010). ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT WORKS WONDERS A more open-minded approach paid dividends for Webb Simpson during the second round of THE PLAYERS Championship. As a result, the former U.S. Open champion finds himself firmly in the mix after making some changes in his putting earlier in the week. First, though, he needed a bit of an attitude adjustment. “I’ve been more open minded to changing, to tweaking,” Simpson said. “I’ve always been open minded with the full swing so I thought, why do I get so closed minded with the putting, why not try a few different things, kind of a ‘who cares’ mentality. “We tweaked a few things with setup, with the grip, with the routine even and found something that’s been good.” Simpson entered the week ranked 186th in strokes gained putting. He ranked 26th among the field that now numbers 144 after the first round, though, and was in the top 10 when he finished the second. Four birdies in a five-hole stretch as he made the turn vaulted Simpson up the leaderboard. He chipped in at the seventh hole, then made putts of 25, 10 and 14 feet at Nos. 9-11 to get to 5 under. The real key, though, and perhaps the most satisfying part of the round for Simpson, were the putts he made on Nos. 13-18. He saved par with putts of 11, 12, 6, 8 and 10 and made a 10-footer for bogey at No. 14. “It proved to me that the 6-, 8-footers are huge, because if I miss a couple of them in the middle of the round, I lose momentum,” Simpson said. “But I made them and I kept going.” Simpson, who lost in a playoff earlier this year at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, has never had a top-10 finish at THE PLAYERS in seven previous starts. In fact, Friday’s 69 was just the fourth time he’s broken 70 in 22 rounds on Pete Dye’s diabolical layout. DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN For the second straight week, world No. 1 Dustin Johnson finds himself near the cut line at even par after rounds of 71-73. Johnson can only hope to have the same kind of success as he did last weekend at the Wells Fargo Championship. After consecutive rounds of 67 at Eagle Point, he was waiting in the clubhouse for a potential playoff that could have given him a fourth win in as many starts. Then Brian Harman drained a dramatic 30-footer on the 72nd hole to leave the man who ranks first in the FedExCup one stroke shy and in a tie for second. Johnson said Friday that he felt that if THE PLAYERS lead stayed around 6 or 7 under he’d have a chance this weekend. “I’m going to have to play two really good rounds on the weekend,” he said. “But tomorrow I’ll probably be teeing off pretty early and (I can) go out and post a good number and get myself back in the golf tournament.” HEARN BACK IN CONTENTION David Hearn is no stranger to the leaderboard at THE PLAYERS Championship and 2017 is no exception. A 69 on Friday left the Canadian veteran tied for the early lead with Rafa Cabrera Bella. Hearn has never missed the cut in five starts at TPC Sawgrass and posted his best finish, a tie for sixth, in 2014. A year later Hearn was tied for the lead after the first round and trailed by two after the second and third. A final-round 78 sent him tumbling down the leaderboard but did nothing to temper his enthusiasm for the course. “I think that I enjoy playing this golf course because I think it’s a mental test from beginning to end,” said Hearn, whose caddy lives in nearby St. Augustine. “There’s no real gimme holes on this golf course. … “I think a lot of guys think this golf course can play really, really hard but I enjoy that challenge. So it’s been a good two days for me and I’ve had some good success here in the past so I’m looking forward to another good weekend.” ODDS AND ENDS Chez Reavie looked to have thrown away his decent start to the tournament with three bogeys in his first six holes Friday but he fought back late with three birdies in his final four holes to grind out a 72 and stay at 4-under… Sergio Garcia aced the island green 17th on Thursday but on Friday he needed a little bit of luck to stay dry. His club selection of pitching wedge nearly cost him as his ball barely reached the green, bouncing hard off the railroad pillars and ricocheting to the putting surface… When Anirban Lahiri came to the 18th tee he sat just five shots off the lead at even par. Sadly the Indian star then hit three balls in the water on his way to a 10, just one short of Andre Stolz’s record 11 from 2005.

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Round 3 of The Honda Classic begins Saturday as PGA National and The Bear Trap welcome some of the PGA TOUR’s top pros. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action, including Featured Groups for PGA TOUR LIVE and newly expanded and extended coverage on ESPN+. Click here for more details. Leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12–6 p.m. ET. Saturday, 1–6 p.m. Sunday, 1-6:30 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR PGA TOUR LIVE PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+ • Main Feed: primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course • Marquee Group: new “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group • Featured Groups: traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups • Featured Holes: a combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes FEATURED GROUPS Bill Haas, Billy Horschel Rickie Fowler, Nick Taylor Ian Poulter, Trey Mullinax MUST READS Daniel Berger setting the pace at hometown Honda Classic Rickie Fowler switches putters in search for confidence Cameron Young’s ‘Sliding Doors’ moment Koepka’s best shoe moments Q&A: Feherty talks Tiger, World Golf Hall of Fame ceremony

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AVONDALE, La. – Among the many elements making the Zurich Classic of New Orleans’ team format so distinctive is an intangible not usually present at individual stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR. Chemistry. With 80 two-man teams to start the week, the dynamic between partners can be a determining factor on which team holds up the new Fleur-de-lis crystal trophy after the final putt drops Sunday at TPC Louisiana. “I think chemistry helps,â€� said Billy Horschel, the defending champion along with teammate Scott Piercy. “Do you need it to play good team golf? No. But I think if you do have a good strong chemistry with somebody and get along and there’s a good mojo between you two, I think it can only enhance the teamwork-type deal…we all want to play great for our teammates.â€� That’s especially true on Friday and Sunday when Foursomes are played in the second and final rounds. Under the alternate-shot format, no player wants to leave his partner in a bad spot by hitting a poor drive. And certainly no player wants to miss a short birdie attempt after his partner just stuck an approach inside 5 feet. Without the right chemistry, without confidence in each other, a partnership can be strained if players are constantly having to bail out each other. Although they’ve yet to win, the tandem of Kevin Kisner-Scott Brown has played about as well as any since the team format was instituted in 2017. They lost in a playoff two years ago to Cameron Smith-Jonas Blixt, and last year were the 54-hole leaders before stumbling to a 77 in the final round. In their previous seven rounds before that, they were 47 under. It helps that they’ve known each other for 25-plus years. They were traveling roommates when starting their pro careers on the mini-tours and then the Web.com Tour. They’re practice partners in the off-season back home in Aiken, South Carolina, and they also spend plenty of time together off the course – or, as Brown described, “We hang out all the time.â€� That chemistry is one of the primary reasons they entered Thursday’s first round of Four-balls as one of the favorites. “Tons of camaraderie,â€� Kisner explained. “That helps out there when you’re trying to win a tournament or just from a teammate or partnership. It’s nice to know each other’s games so well.â€� Added Brown: “More so than anything, the bad shots don’t make us very upset at each other because we’ve seen each other’s bad shots on an everyday basis when we’re at home. We just kind of go out there and do our things like we do at home.â€� As for the defending champs, Piercy was born and raised in Las Vegas and attended college in San Diego; Horschel, meanwhile, is a Florida native. While they didn’t grown up together like Brown and Kisner did, they have become close friends since turning pro. Piercy didn’t play the Zurich Classic in 2017, while Horschel partnered with fellow University of Florida alum Matt Every and missed the cut. When Piercy put Zurich on his 2018 schedule, they decided to hook up. Their chemistry strikes a perfect balance – the emotional, talkative Horschel and the laid-back casual vibes of Piercy. It even extends to TPC Louisiana. Horschel loves the course, having won in 2013 when the Zurich Classic was an individual stroke-play event. Piercy, meanwhile, had missed the cut six times in his eight starts prior to last season. But now that he’s part of a team, he has a much more positive outlook since he can avoid some of the shots that have previously given him trouble. “I’ll say as an individual stroke-play event, this hasn’t been my favorite course,â€� Piercy said. “But a lot of the shots that I haven’t liked, Billy hits – and they’re mainly on odd holes. “For me, the chemistry that I feel from Billy’s vibe here, because he likes it so much, I’ll say that it picks me up and it makes me feel good.â€� Said Horschel: “I love being here. I have good vibes whenever I step on this golf course.â€� Added Piercy: “He’s riding cloud 9 around this place. He loves it. So it’s nice to get on that cloud with him.â€� While some teams have established chemistry, others are trying to build chemistry. In fact, that’s one of the big goals this week for International Team Captain Ernie Els. Not only is he playing with fellow South African (and assistant captain) Trevor Immelman, Els had a hand in determining some of the teams involving players who may be on his 12-man roster for the Presidents Cup in Australia this December. Not included the Els-Immelman tandem, there are 13 teams in which both players represent International Team countries. Els hopes whatever chemistry is developed by some of those teams this week at TPC Louisiana will carry over for the rest of the year. Getting accustomed to the Foursomes and Four-balls formats is also key to that chemistry building. At the 2017 Presidents Cup at Liberty National, the International Team trailed 14-1/2 to 3-1/2 after the completion of all Foursomes and Four-ball sessions, as the Americans nearly clinched victory prior to Sunday’s Singles. The International Team had a 7-1/2 to 4-1/2 advantage on a final day in which the outcome essentially was already determined. “We cannot win the Cup if we don’t play these disciplines very well,â€� Els said. “Foursomes and Four-ball is very important to winning the Presidents Cup in December. “Now, saying that, not all our players are here. We’re trying out some selections. Some of the guys just want to play together…we’ll see how it goes. We’ve got another plan when we get to December.â€� That plan, no doubt, will rely heavily on the chemistry built this week.

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