Tiger Woods will skip Arnold Palmer’s tournament, rest for a third straight week
Woods hasn’t played since his 76-77 weekend at Riviera, where he finished 68th in the Genesis Invitational while serving as tournament host.
Tiger Woods is taking a third straight week off by deciding against playing the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
Woods hasn’t played since his 76-77 weekend at Riviera, where he finished 68th in the Genesis Invitational while serving as tournament host. He decided against the World Golf Championship in Mexico City the following week, saying his back was stiff and he needed time to rest and train.
Woods is an eight-time winner at Bay Hill. He has played it only once since his last Arnold Palmer Invitational victory in 2013, including four straight years while going through surgeries on his lower back.
He tied for fifth, eight shots behind Rory McIlroy, when he last played in 2018.
PGA — Brendan Steele made a couple of big mistakes down the stretch, and still was more than good enough to grab the outright lead at the midpoint of The Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Steele shot a 3-under-par 67, 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.
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.
Champions — Brett Quigley, who was born in Fort Devens, Mass., birdied six of the last seven holes for a 9-under 64 and the first-round lead in the Cologuard Classic at Tucson.
The winner a month ago in Morocco in his second Champions start, the 50-year-old Quigley birdied Nos. 12-15 and 17-18 on Tucson National’s Catalina Course.
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