Tag: Brendan Steele

2024 LIV Golf Adelaide prize money payouts for each player and team

It pays to play well in the Saudi-backed league. Just ask Brendan Steele.

It pays to play well in the LIV Golf League, just ask Brendan Steele.

The 41-year-old won for the first time on the Saudi-backed circuit on Sunday after a 4-under 68 in the final round at the Grange Golf Club to claim the league’s sixth event of the 2024 season, LIV Golf Adelaide.

For his efforts, Steele will take home the top prize of $4 million. Louis Oosthuizen, who finished a shot behind Steele at 17 under, banked $2,250,000 while five players finished T-3 and earned $920,000: Charl Schwartzel, Jon Rahm, Andy Ogletree, Joaquín Niemann, Dean Burmester.

Check out how much money each player and team earned at 2024 LIV Golf Adelaide.

Individual prize money

Position Player Score Earnings
1  Brendan Steele -18 $4,000,000
2  Louis Oosthuizen -17 $2,250,000
T3  Charl Schwartzel -16 $920,000
T3  Jon Rahm -16 $920,000
T3  Andy Ogletree -16 $920,000
T3  Joaquín Niemann -16 $920,000
T3  Dean Burmester -16 $920,000
8  Mito Pereira -15 $525,000
T9  Abraham Ancer -14 $385,500
T9  Brooks Koepka -14 $385,500
T9  Matt Jones -14 $385,500
T9  Jinichiro Kozuma -14 $385,500
T9  Danny Lee -14 $385,500
T14  Martin Kaymer -13 $275,000
T14  Lucas Herbert -13 $275,000
T14  Marc Leishman -13 $275,000
T14  Tyrrell Hatton -13 $275,000
T14  Thomas Pieters -13 $275,000
T14  Anirban Lahiri -13 $275,000
T14  Cameron Smith -13 $275,000
21  Cameron Tringale -12 $230,000
T22  Caleb Surratt -11 $206,250
T22  Richard Bland -11 $206,250
T22  Patrick Reed -11 $206,250
T22  Carlos Ortiz -11 $206,250
T26  Adrian Meronk -10 180,000
T26  Matthew Wolff -10 180,000
T26  Talor Gooch -10 180,000
T26  Bryson DeChambeau -10 180,000
T26  Charles Howell III -10 180,000
T31  Pat Perez -9 160,000
T31  Paul Casey -9 160,000
T31  Dustin Johnson -9 160,000
T34  Kevin Na -8 146,250
T34  Lee Westwood -8 146,250
T34  Bubba Watson -8 146,250
T34  Peter Uihlein -8 146,250
T38  Sebastián Muñoz -7 138,750
T38  Phil Mickelson -7 138,750
T40  Sergio Garcia -6 130,500
T40  Branden Grace -6 130,500
T40  David Puig -6 130,500
T40  Kalle Samooja -6 130,500
T40  Sam Horsfield -6 130,500
45  Eugenio Chacarra -5 125,000
T46  Graeme McDowell -4 123,750
T46  Scott Vincent -4 123,750
48  Harold Varner III -3 120,000
49  Jason Kokrak -2 $60,000
50  Kieran Vincent -1 $60,000
51  Henrik Stenson 3 $60,000
T52  Hudson Swafford 4 $50,000
T52  Ian Poulter 4 $50,000
54  Anthony Kim 6 $50,000

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=451198867]

Brendan Steele wins 2024 LIV Golf Adelaide, Cameron Smith’s Ripper GC claim first ever team playoff

For the first time in 28 tournaments a LIV Golf event came down to a team playoff.

After 28 tournaments a LIV Golf event finally came down to a team playoff.

Ripper GC, the all-Australian team led by Cameron Smith, beat the South African Stinger GC squad on the second playoff hole on Sunday to win 2024 LIV Golf Adelaide at the Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia.

“This is unreal,” said Smith after the playoff alongside teammates and countrymen Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Lucas Herbert. “It’s a dream come true for us.”

In LIV’s team playoff format, the lowest cumulative score wins, all four players compete and each score counts.

“You couldn’t have staged a better place to do the first playoff,” said Oosthuizen. “Probably couldn’t script it better with the Rippers winning. We had chances. We had two putts on the first hole. And I hit a good putt on the second playoff hole as well. Some days they go in, some days they don’t.”

On the individual side, 41-year-old Brendan Steele took home the trophy, and the $4 million first-place prize, after a 4-under 68 to win by one shot at 18 under over Stinger captain Louis Oosthuizen.

“Really surreal,” said Steele of his first win since the 2017 Safeway Open on the PGA Tour (now the Fortinet Championship). “I’m pretty overwhelmed, but to win this event is really special. I can’t say enough good things about the fans and the golf course and the whole experience this week.”

According to LIV, more than 90,000 fans attended the tournament over the three days of play.

Oosthuizen (65) finished at 17 under just ahead of five players T-3 at 16 under: Andy Ogletree (65), Jon Rahm (64), Charl Schwartzel (64), Dean Burmester (67) and Joaquin Niemann (66).

The league heads to Sentosa Golf Club next week, May 3-5, for 2024 LIV Golf Singapore, where Talor Gooch and RangeGoats GC will look to defend their individual and team titles.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4 category=451198867]

LIV Golf Tulsa first round draws one of largest crowds in league’s short history: ‘Just shows we’re doing something right’

“I think this is probably the best one we’ve had in America, to be quite honest.”

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — There’s no questioning LIV Golf had its most successful event fan wise three weeks ago in Adelaide, Australia.

However, there may be a new top event in the United States.

Fans came out in droves for the first round of LIV Golf Tulsa. They braved rainy conditions at some times, as well. Golf fans in Oklahoma are one of the reasons LIV Golf decided to come to the state, and they turned out Friday to Cedar Ridge Country Club.

“I think this is probably the best one we’ve had in America, to be quite honest,” first-round leader Branden Grace said of the crowds. “In Australia it was fantastic. Singapore was really good, as well. We came out there with a warm welcome, and you come to Tulsa, the guys are really loving it out here. They’re sport hungry, or event hungry, if I can put it that way.

“I’ve heard for the first time in America where — the U.S. where you see where the guys are going to go this week; are they going to support the PGA Tour or come out to LIV, and I heard a hell of a lot more people saying they’re coming out to the LIV and seeing what it’s all about. Just shows we’re doing something right.”

LIV Golf Tulsa: Photos | Merchandise

There’s no official attendance, but LIV officials estimated at least 10,000 fans were going to be at the tournament each day. The number was that and possibly more during the first round.

Now, compared to the 2022 PGA Championship, which was held about 10 miles away at Southern Hills Country Club, the LIV Golf Tulsa crowd is minuscule, and it’s not quite fair to correlate the 14th event in the league’s history to a major championship. It does, however, compare more to the Senior PGA Championship that was held at Southern Hills in 2021.

It’s a sign of growth and interest, even with all of the commotion and controversy surrounding the league.

“The crowds were amazing, and the energy was great,” Brendan Steele said. “So exciting that everybody showed up and is having a great time out here because we think we have a great thing going, and I love to see people in new places come out and check it out.”

[pickup_prop id=”33399″]

Playing only 3 ½ hours north of the PGA Tour event in McKinney, Texas, this is the closest the two tours have competed near each other since LIV began play last June. But the location, being in a golf-crazed state like Oklahoma, is pivotal for LIV having one of its largest crowds yet.

Every player who talked with media after the round spoke about the crowds, including former Oklahoma State star Talor Gooch, who has won the past two LIV events.

“For the American events so far, Miami last year might have been the only one that felt like it was bigger than today from a crowd perspective,” Gooch said. “I was happy that Oklahoma turned out today.”

Added Dustin Johnson: “I think the crowds were great today. A lot of fans out there. There was a lot of support.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=]

Here’s what you missed overnight from the cold and wet first round of the 2022 Zozo Championship in Japan

A three-time winner holds the early lead after making four consecutive birdies to finish his first round.

Like most of America, chances are you were sleeping during the first round of the PGA Tour’s 2022 Zozo Championship.

With the event being held at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Japan, the broadcast aired from 11 p.m. ET Wednesday night to 3 a.m. ET Thursday morning, so we can’t really blame you for resting your eyes and missing out on the early action.

We can, however, get you up to speed on what you missed while you were sleeping. The fans showed out for defending champion Hideki Matsuyama while Keita Nakajima, the world’s former No. 1 amateur, made his pro Tour debut in his native Japan. One three-time winner on Tour made four consecutive birdies to take the lead, while another player did the same but just to get back to even par on the day.

Here are some of the highlights from the first round of the Tour’s annual stop in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Brendan Steele in ideal place to make amends, leads Sony Open in Hawaii by 2

With 18 holes left in Honolulu, 16 players are within five shots of the lead, 22 within six shots. Weather has moved up Sunday tee times.

Brendan Steele is in position to take care of some unfinished business.

Steele led last year’s Sony Open in Hawaii by three shots with two holes to play but couldn’t close it out and eventually lost in a playoff to Cameron Smith. A year later, he’s right where he wants to be to exorcise that haunting defeat.

Steele posted a bogey-free, 9-under-par 61 in Saturday’s third round at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu and will take a two-shot lead into the final round. The 61 is the lowest round of the week (Kevin Na finished an hour earlier than Steele with a 61 as well). Steele obviously likes the iconic Seth Raynor design hard by the sea and has 22 birdies against just four bogeys in 54 holes.

“The first practice round we played was on the back nine and I was remembering some shots, some good and some bad, kind of kicking myself a little bit,” Steele said. “You hope that you come back and you play well and erase whatever negative memories there are, but all the memories are pretty positive.

“Playing great here last year was good, and I’m excited for the challenge tomorrow. I’m swinging really well and my course management is very good. The putts are really feeling good even if they don’t go in. I’m very happy all the way around.

“I know it’s going to be really tough. Guys are coming after me. But I’ll just do my best and hopefully it will be enough.”

Sony Open in Hawaii: Photo gallery | Leaderboard

Steele is right; a lot of guys are coming after him. He was one of six players who held at least a share of the lead in the third round. The final round could be similar as the leaderboard is stacked.

He is two shots clear of Na and Joaquin Niemann (63), who lost in a playoff to Harris English in last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Five players are three back at 15 under – Peter Malnati (64), Charley Hoffman (64), Chris Kirk (third consecutive 65), Russell Henley (65), and Stewart Cink (65), who won the season-opening Safeway Open.

Four back at 14 under are third-round leader Nick Taylor (68), Keith Mitchell (63), Daniel Berger (64) and Marc Leishman (65).

Four players are at 13.

In all, 16 players are within five shots of the lead, 22 within six shots.

“I know I’m going to have to go shoot a great round,” said Steele, who is looking for his fourth PGA Tour title and first since the 2017 Safeway Open. “I know it’s going to be really hard. There should be a lot of birdies out there even with the wind picking up a little bit. I know I’m going to have to shoot one of the best rounds I’ve ever shot to go win it. So that’s what I’m going to go try to do.”

After three glorious days at Waialae, conditions could be very different in the final round and it could be a soggy sprint to the finish. Tee times were moved up two hours because of the potential for late afternoon showers. As well, as Steele said, the winds are expected to strengthen.

“If it’s soft, you can be more aggressive out here,” said Hoffman. “Obviously the wind is the protector on this golf course. If the wind is blowing, par is a pretty good score. If it’s just raining and soft, I expect a lot of birdies.

“I don’t think the forecast is for too much wind, so I expect guys to still keep making birdies out here, and you’ve got to go low tomorrow and keep it going.”

[vertical-gallery id=778083613]

[lawrence-related id=778083994,778083968,778083912,778083922]

Russell Knox, after missing FedEx Cup Playoffs by 2 strokes, comes out of the gate with 63 at Safeway Open

With a new coach and renewed purpose, Russell Knox came out of the gate hot with a 9-under 63.

NAPA, Calif. – Russell Knox looked up from his cell phone and told his caddie, “Good gracious, you find out how many friends you have when you have a good day.”

To which Bradley Whittle, never breaking stride, retorted, “Better than having them cheer you up for a bad one.”

Well, there was plenty of reason for friends of Knox to text words of congratulations after shooting 9-under 63 at Silverado Resort & Spa’s North Course to grab the early first round lead at the Safeway Open.

Knox, 35, missed the FedEx Cup Playoffs by a matter of two strokes, finishing No. 127 in the regular-season points standings after struggling following the resumption of play in June. (He missed 10 straight cuts between AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February and the 3M Open in July.)

“I mean, I deserved to not make it,” he said.

Safeway Open: Leaderboard | Tee times, TV

But Knox didn’t sit at home and stew. Instead, he made a significant change, hiring a new coach, Mark McCann, and attempting to dig it out of the dirt.

“I don’t see myself as a golfer who should be missing the Playoffs, but I just had a weird year, weird couple years, got into a little funk. It’s hard, you’ve got to fight out of it,” he said. “I’ve worked as hard as I ever have the last two weeks before this event. So, it’s really nice to see something good happen immediately. I definitely feel like my game is heading in the right direction.”

Knox’s bogey-free round included playing 4 under on a three-hole stretch starting at No. 4, an eagle at the par-5, fifth hole. The Scot drilled 3-hybrid from 229 yards to 14 feet and rolled in the putt. Knox turned in 31 and tacked on four more birdies on the inward nine, including a 31-foot birdie putt at 12 and birdies at two of the last three holes.

 

“When you have a good round like this, putts like that go in,” Knox said of the lengthy putt at 12.

Knox isn’t attempting to chase distance – he’s been down that road, he said – but rather get back to what he does best.

“I got away from kind of my DNA, I guess, of what’s made me be able to play on the PGA Tour. I’ve just tried to tighten it up and get back to hitting it straight, hitting on the fairways and then allowing my iron game to take over, which has fortunately always been kind of there for me. Then if I make a few putts, then I can have a good round,” he said. “I can’t worry about the big boys sending it. For me, I’ve just got to get it in play and take it from there.”

Brendan Steele is simply getting back to one of his favorite stomping grounds. The two-time Safeway Open winner (2016, 2017) posted a bogey-free 7-under 65.

“It kind of reminded me of my first round, I shot 63 maybe in 2016 in the opening round and it was very stress free, felt very comfortable, hit a lot of good shots,” he said.

So, what’s his secret to success at Silverado?

“People have been asking me that for years,” he said. “I really have a good sense of where you can be aggressive out here, where you need to be conservative, where you can miss it to different pins. I just kind of understood it right away, which is nice. And being from California, I’m comfortable on the greens.”

Steele trails Knox, who tabbed himself a notoriously slow starter at tournaments and couldn’t remember if he’d ever held a first round lead in his nine years on Tour. It turns out he was co-leader of the 2013 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“I’ve struggled first rounds for so long I feel like, so one of my main goals this season was to get off to a better start,” he said. “I didn’t quite expect this, but nice to shoot a good score.”

And nice to get congratulatory texts from all your friends, too.

[lawrence-related id=778065376,778065225,778065219]

Lynch: A $3,500 rental car, a 2,700-mile road trip and a 2-year-old — escaping the Players

A $3,500 rental car, a 2,700-mile road trip and a 2-year-old — getting home from the Players was no easy task for Brendan Steele.

For some PGA Tour players, the cancellation of the Players Championship after one round was a minor travel inconvenience, one easily resolved with a call to the pilot or a short road trip home down the coast to Jupiter. It was a little more troublesome for one player with a rented Ford Expedition, a two-year-old passenger and a home in Irvine, Calif.

Brendan Steele was in a hotel room with his wife, Anastassia, and their daughter Victoria when he received a text from the Tour that Thursday night saying the Players was being called. The couple scrambled to book flights home to California, and by Friday morning they were on I-95 to Orlando airport bound for Los Angeles. After 15 minutes on the road, doubts crept it.

“We were thinking this doesn’t feel right. We didn’t really know anything about the virus at that point and Orlando and L.A. are two of the major international airports in the world,” Steele said.

They texted Val Curran, a physicians assistant and the wife of fellow Tour pro Jon Curran. What she would do in their position, the Steeles asked?

“I would drive,” she replied.

“It was left to Orlando and right into the unknown. We figured that we’d drive and feel more comfortable,” said Steele. “We didn’t have a rush to get home. We trucked it all the way in about four days.”

But the 37-year-old, three-time Tour winner admitted he wasn’t far into the 2,700-mile odyssey when he had second thoughts. “Early the first day we had a moment of, ‘Oh my God, we’re still in Florida!’ he remembered with a laugh. “Driving across the panhandle, it’s a long way.”

He texted his manager, Jeff Koski, who called a private jet service. “He got us a good price, but we were doing fine so we kept going.”

[protected-iframe id=”25dabf69ffa4386cb666a92a2c9c8076-120918734-30999219″ info=”https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1rXzo5Boz67rUhNEbHWYgc9alF9oIEMBl” width=”640″ height=”480″]

And going. He and Anastassia split time behind the wheel, making stops in Baton Rouge, La., Ozona, Texas (population: 3,225) and Tucson, Ariz—a route Steele admits he wouldn’t follow if he were driving across America for pleasure. There was just one detour, to visit the hipster artsy town of Marfa in the wilds of west Texas.

“We thought this is our only chance to get to Marfa. It was a bucket list thing for us,” he explained. He added a wry laugh. “It wasn’t that great. It’s a weird little town.”

Steele had been piloting the rented SUV for three weeks since the Honda Classic and at one stage had consulted his app to check the cost of returning the vehicle in California. “It said there would be a $150 charge. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s really reasonable,’” Steele said. But by the time he actually tried to confirm a new drop-off he was already just about in Alabama and the cost was $3,500. (Avis later reached out and  refunded the difference.)

Good thing you played well at the Honda, I offered. (A T-4 there earned him $280,000.) “The funny thing was, flights for the three of us had totaled about $800,” he cracked.

That Honda performance, and a playoff loss to Cameron Smith at the Sony Open in January, was evidence that Steele has found a vein of form after struggling last season, which only adds to the frustration of an enforced layoff. “I feel like I’m really going the right direction,” he said. “Coming out of this, we’ll see. Who knows? I don’t think it’s something I can’t hang on to.”

Eager as he is to compete, Steele admits to being hesitant about the PGA Tour’s proposed June 11 restart at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth. “I need to hear more from the Tour about what the process looks like, and I know they’re working on putting all that together. There’s so many moving parts,” he said. “Where are we going to stay? Where are we going to eat? What is the interaction like with your caddie? I would hope they’re going to put charter flights together for us to make things easy. We’re going to be this traveling circus of 700 people flying around and it could get pretty out of control.”

For all the unknowns, this much he does know: his usual road companions Anastassia and Victoria are staying home. “I can’t see them traveling with me at least until the fall. Ideally I’d love to get them to Napa because we always have a great time there,” he said with an admirable gift for understatement. (He won the Safeway Open in Napa in 2016 and 2017.)

So if he elects to play the Tour’s first event back in Texas, what are the chances he’ll drive the 1,400 miles to Colonial Country Club from Irvine?

“Probably not very good,” he said. “But it would feel pretty easy to go just to Fort Worth.”

[jwplayer ao5T1imW-vgFm21H3]

Tommy Fleetwood leads British invasion at Honda Classic

Tommy Fleetwood is one of three Brits among the top four contenders after 54 holes of the Honda Classic. He leads by 1 after shooting 67.

The leaderboard through 54 holes at the Honda Classic would have sent Paul Revere into a frenzy.

There are three Englishman among the top four contenders, led by Tommy Fleetwood, who birdied four of the final six holes to shoot 3-under 67 and grab his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour.

Fleetwood, 29, leads American Brendan Steele, who shot 71, by one stroke at 5-under 205 at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Champion course at PGA National Resort & Spa. He leads fellow Brits Lee Westwood and Luke Donald by two.

“It’s just an all-around very, very difficult test, and it tests everyone,” Fleetwood said of the layout. “It tests every part of your game.”

More: Photos | Updates | Leaderboard

The wind blew and the greens got crusty and the course played so tough that Fleetwood was the only player in the final eight twosomes under par in the third round. Only 13 players are under par through 54 holes.

“It feels like a major championship toughness-wise,” local product Daniel Berger said after shooting 69.

Or as NBC commentator David Feherty put it, as only he can, “This golf course is kicking you know what.”

Fleetwood kicked back with a ferocious finish as his putter warmed up. Winner of five titles on the European Tour and making his 64th career PGA Tour start, Fleetwood has four runner-ups, including at last year’s Open Championship, and 16 top-10 finishes, but nary a win to show for it on U.S. soil. He’s ranked No. 12 in the world and is the highest ranked player without a victory on the PGA Tour. Fleetwood said there’s nothing he’d like more than to nab that first Tour title on Sunday.

“For a guy who has never won, he sure looks ready,” NBC’s Paul Azinger said.

Fleetwood said he hadn’t made many mid-range putts this week, but his putter came alive beginning at No. 13, where he canned a 14-foot birdie. One hole later, he was simply trying to lag one close from 45 feet and it dripped in for another birdie. He gave a stroke back at 15, but called the 11-foot bogey putt he holed crucial to keeping the momentum of his round going. On 17, he drilled another bomb, this time a 49-footer from the fringe for birdie, and he capped the day with a two-putt birdie at 18, after becoming just the seventh player to reach the 18th hole in two on Saturday.

“I sort of fancied that one, but it’s always nice to pull it off when you’re trying,” Fleetwood said of his 258-yard cut 5-wood from a downslope.

Steele, the 36-hole leader, jumped out of the gates with birdies on two of his first three holes, but made back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 4 and 5 then 10 and 11 to fall out of the lead. He drained a 12-foot birdie at 17 to climb within one stroke heading into Sunday and will play in his second final group of the season (Sony Open in Hawaii).

Westwood from Worksop, who spent a combined 22 weeks as World No. 1 in 2010-11, and Donald from Hemel Hempstead, and World No. 1 in 2011-12 for a combined 56 weeks, both had up-and-down days but salvaged rounds of 1-over 71 to remain in the hunt.

“I didn’t have my A-game today, struggled with my swing a little bit. But I didn’t do too much damage,” Westwood told Golf Channel after the round. “I don’t feel like two shots [deficit] is much around this golf course. My confidence levels are high. The good thing is I’m driving the ball well.”

Berger is joined at 2 under by South Korea’s Sungjae Im and South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel.

Canadian Mackenzie Hughes made the biggest move of the day. After making the cut on the number, he shot 4-under 66 and improved 51 spots into a tie for eighth at 1 under with a group that includes former Honda champions Russell Henley and Rory Sabbatini.

“Anything under par is pretty good,” said Schwartzel, the former Masters champion who missed nine months last season with a wrist injury and shot even-par 70. “As you can tell by the scores, no one is really going anywhere, and I don’t really see anything different happening tomorrow.”

[jwplayer MrkriXN4-9JtFt04J]

Brendan Steele misses out on bagging a Honda, but grabs 36-hole lead

Brendan Steele nearly aced his nemesis hole, No. 15 at PGA National, and fired a 3-under 67 for a 1-stroke lead over a trio of players.

[jwplayer ln1xsZ89-9JtFt04J]

The Bear Trap at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Champion course at PGA National Resort & Spa has owned Brendan Steele for the better part of his career. He arrived at the 15th, the first of three consecutive menacing holes, 26 over par for his previous 31 attempts at the infamous stretch, and 12 over on the 15th alone.

But this time would be different. Steele gazed at the water-laden par-3, playing 178 yards on this day, and thought, “Great number,” he said. “It was just kind of as hard as I could hit an 8-iron.”

Steele, 36, launched a beauty that landed just shy of the hole and turned left for the cup. It looked to be an ace, but horseshoed out of the hole, stopping within kick in distance for a birdie that extended his lead. A hole-in-one would have won him a Honda, but nothing could deflate Steele as he signed for a 3-under 67 and a one-stroke lead over three players at the midway point of the Honda Classic.

“I wish it would have gone in, but I was happy to tap in and move on,” Steele said of his near ace at 15.

Despite a bogey at 18 after going for the green in two and finding the water, Steele grabbed his second solo 36-hole lead of the season and his 36-hole score of 5-under 135 is 17 strokes better than he fared through two rounds in the Honda last year.

“I felt this good at Sony and it paid off, and I’m feeling that way again,” said Steele, who lost the Sony Open in Hawaii in a sudden-death playoff to Cameron Smith last month.

J.T. Poston followed up 67 with a 69 on Friday morning and is tied for second with the English duo of Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, a pair of 40-somethings at 4-under 136. Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who made his Tour-best 33rdconsecutive cut is two strokes farther back after a 68.

That’s three Union Jacks bunched together and all bidding for a Tour title this weekend that would be a long time coming. Westwood, who was victorious earlier this year at the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship, hasn’t won on U.S. soil since the 2010 FedEx St. Jude Invitational, while Donald’s last triumph was the 2012 Valspar Championship. And Fleetwood? He’s seeking his maiden victory on the PGA Tour.

PGA National, where the winning score of the Honda Classic has been in single digits in seven of the last nine years, is its typical torture chamber. But the unusually chilly temperatures and breezy conditions haven’t given Donald, Westwood and Fleetwood fits.

“A cold morning like this morning doesn’t really faze us too much,” Westwood explained. “We’re definitely not getting the snoods out and the beanies.”

Westwood, who turns 47 in April, is playing this week on a sponsor’s exemption that he requested from the tournament director last May at the PGA Championship. Westwood credited his resurgence to the work he’s done on his swing with swing instructor Robert Rock and with instructor Phil Kenyon on his putting.

Westwood started controlling his ball flight better since working with Rock in September, and Kenyon got Westwood to switch to the claw grip at about the same time. Westwood also has worked with a psychiatrist and adopted a more carefree attitude to the game.

“I’m not sure it’s ever been this enjoyable,” said Westwood after shooting 69 on Friday. “You know, I’ve always almost treated it too seriously. It’s nice to go out there and not really care.”

“Lee has obviously proven that age is just a number,” said Donald, 42, who tied for the low round of the day with a 66. “Obviously I’ve had a little bit of a lean period the last couple years, but just seeing those guys continue to grind and continue to fight and do well, you know, it’s nice to see, and certainly it motivates me.”

Younger, longer, more athletic players have emerged and knocked Donald and Westwood, two former World No. 1s who never managed to win a major, from the ranks of the Tour’s elite, but they’re proving they’re not done yet. Westwood told a colorful tale of what it is like for him to play with these young stars who are often half his age.

“They’ll say, ‘How long have you been out here? And I say, ‘This is my 28th season,’ and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, right,’ and then I look at them, and I can see that they’re thinking, I’m only 24. Or, ‘When did you turn pro? 1993. How old are you? Oh, yeah, same age as my dad.’ That’s always a good one. I like that one. I just put a bit extra into the next drive and try to knock it past them.”

An already light field, with only one of the top-10 ranked players in the world electing to play this week, was dealt another blow when World No. 3 Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Louis Oosthuizen and Justin Rose were all dismissed after missing the 36-hole cut. Only eight strokes separate first from last among the 69 players that will make the weekend.

“I’m looking forward to the grind this weekend,” Steele said. “I know it’s going to be really hard around here. There’s really no easy shots, so you’ve got to be ready.”

[opinary poll=”what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-proposed-p-rHaSoW” customer=”golfweek”]

[lawrence-related id=778028849,778028835,778028540]

Golfer and hockey fan Brendan Steele had a great day at the American Express

Brendan Steele the hockey fan and Brendan Steele the golfer had a great day at The American Express.

[jwplayer ygiURYm5-9JtFt04J]

Growing up in Southern California, it’s a tad surprising that pro golfer Brendan Steele’s second favorite sport is hockey.

An L.A. Kings-aholic, Steele once told Golf.com that he believes he’s either the biggest NHL fan on the PGA Tour or equal to it, but “the other guys right there with me are Canadian.”

It was his parents, who still live in Idyllwild, that got the puck rolling on his love of the game.

“You know my parents have always been big hockey fans, and I grew up watching the Kings and remember when Gretzky got traded, so that was obviously a huge moment in hockey and Southern California hockey,” Steele said Saturday. “I just always loved the game and loved how the guys played. I’ve gotten to meet quite a few current and former players and they just all love golf.”

On Saturday at The American Express, Steele was doing some nice work in his primary sport. He shot a 5-under 67 in the third round at the Stadium Course to move up into a tie for 20th at 13 under for the tournament.

“Been feeling really good this week. Had a good week last week (losing in a playoff at the Sony Open) and carried some momentum into this week,” Steele said. “Didn’t get off to as good a start as I wanted to at La Quinta Country Club, but the last two days I played really well. It’s going to be a lot to try to win the tournament from this far back, but there’s only two guys going crazy right now, so a good round tomorrow could do a lot.”

Steele, who had a large group following him and his playing partner Steve Stricker, said he still gets a kick out of playing in the desert where he sees larger galleries than the average tournament. This is his 10th time playing in this tournament. He’s made the cut eight times and his best finishes are a tie for second in 2015 and a tie for sixth in 2017.

“I do love playing here, tons of friends, people that I get to see only a few times a year these days with how much I travel, and it’s fun to have them come out and still support me after all these years,” Steele said.

But back to favorite sport No. 2. Steele must have pinched himself Saturday morning when he saw who his amateur playing partners were. One of them was none other than NHL Hall of Famer Brett Hull, named one of the 100 greatest players of all time. Steele was beaming when talking about Hull — not a bad golfer by the way — and said he did pick Hull’s brain about the sport.

“He told us a couple stories, I’m trying to remember them all, but one thing is he told us the best advice his dad ever gave him,” Steele said of Hull’s father Bobby, also an NHL Hall of Famer. “His dad told him ‘The farther away you are from the play, the closer you are to (scoring.)’ He said ‘It took me a few years to understand it, but basically when there’s four guys scrumming it in the corner, you don’t need to be in the corner. So I went to the slot instead and that’s where I scored a lot of goals.'”

Steele made sure to exchange phone numbers with Hull just in case a chance to golf again — or talk about hockey again — comes up.

More good news for Steele. He was surprised but excited to hear about the new American Hockey League team coming to Palm Springs. In 2021, Palm Springs will be home to the minor league affiliate of the NHL expansion team coming to Seattle. Steele loved the idea of being able to see some hockey in the desert.

“No way, that’s amazing. I didn’t know that, that’s really cool news,” Steele said. “Really? That’s exciting.”

[lawrence-related id=778021089,778021037,778020992,778020985]