Atwal misses cut by seven shots in Honda Classic

Indian golfer Arjun Atwal shot a second straight 75 and missed the cut by seven shots in the second round of the Honda Classic here.

Atwal did superbly to come into the tournament via the Monday Qualifier.

Brendan Steele shot a 3-under 67 on Friday to reach 5-under for the week and took a one-shot lead over JT Poston (69), Lee Westwood (69) and Luke Donald (66) after the second round.

Steele, who missed the cut by 10 shots last year, made a bogey on two of his last three holes but managed to stay ahead.

The cut was 3-over, and many of the biggest names in the field will not be around. The list of missed cut included Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and defending champion Keith Mitchell.

 

While Steele led the field, two of the three players at tied second were Englishmen, Donald (66) and Westwood (69).

While Westwood who won in Abu Dhabi in January, has not won on PGA Tour since St. Jude Classic in 2010, the year he became World No. 1, Donald has not won on PGA or the European Tour since 2012 and his last win was in Japan in Dunlop Phoenix in 2013.

Donald was World No. 1 after his last PGA Tour win at Transitions Championships in 2012 and spent a total of 56 weeks in four stints as No. 1.

Koepka shot a 4-over 74 for the second consecutive day, while 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.

Steele had a chance to take an even bigger lead into the weekend, but the much-feared Bear Trap, PGA National's stretch of holes 15-17, which has always tripped Steele did so again.

The stretch from 15t was eventful, as his tee shot on the par-3 15th went around the back of the hole before lipping out and stopping inches shy of a hole-in-one. He had another birdie on the par-3 17th. But the 16th and 18th ended in bogeys.

Steele missed a chance for a victory in January in Hawaii, falling to Cameron Smith in a playoff at the Sony Open.

US Open champion Gary Woodland put himself squarely in the mix with a 67 and thinks tough courses like PGA National appeal to him. Woodland was tied for fifth at 3 under with Sepp Straka (67), Cameron Davis (67) and Nick Watney (66).