Honda Classic 2020: Brendan Steele Takes Lead After Shooting 2nd-Round 67

Halfway through the 2020 Honda Classic, Brendan Steele leads the field with a 36-hole score of five-under par. 

Steele started the day at PGA National Golf Club in eighth place after a 68 in the first round. He continued to play well Friday with a three-under 67 to take sole possession of first. 

J.T. Poston, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood are in a three-way tie for second place at four-under par overall. Donald's 66 tied with Sungjae Im and Byeong Hun An for the lowest score of the day. 

Tom Lewis and Harris English, Thursday's co-leaders, opened the door for the rest of the field by struggling. English fell back to even par overall with a four-over 74. Lewis had an even worse day with a five-over 75 to finish one-over par heading into the weekend.

Here's the top of the leaderboard from PGA National Golf Club in Florida, via PGATour.com:

1. Brendan Steele (-5)

T-2. J.T. Poston (-4)

T-2. Luke Donald (-4)

T-2. Lee Westwood (-4)

T-5. Gary Woodland (-3)

T-5. Sepp Straka (-3)

T-5. Nick Watney (-3)

T-5. Cameron Davis (-3)

T-9. Sungjae Im (-2)

T-9. Jamie Lovemark (-2)

T-9. Tommy Fleetwood (-2)

T-9. Shane Lowry (-2)

T-9. Richy Werenski (-2)

T-9. Charl Schwartzel (-2)

Even though Steele will be happy with his spot on the leaderboard, he came within an eyelash of having an even better score with this near-ace on No. 15:

Steele had his struggles late in the round after that. He sandwiched a birdie on No. 17 with bogeys on the par-four 16th and par-five 18th. The final hole turned into a solid save job by the 36-year-old after his second shot landed in the water on the far side of the green.

The shot of the day belonged to Charl Schwartzel, who hit an eagle from 206 yards out on the 16th hole:

That was a potential tournament-changing shot. Schwartzel was at two-over par for the round and one-over for the tournament through 15. The South African star played the final three holes at three-under par thanks to the eagle and a birdie on No. 18 to get his overall score to two-under. 

Donald put himself in a tie for second place with a terrific closing stretch. Starting on the back nine, he looked to be in for a long day with three bogeys through his first five holes and a one-over par 36 making the turn. 

The front nine gave Donald new life that he took full advantage of. The 2011 PGA Tour Player of the Year carded a 30 thanks to six birdies. Putting was his greatest strength in the second round with 3.06 strokes gained on the green.

This hasn't been a tournament of consistently low scores, so the field is wide-open with two rounds still to play.

Steele didn't seem to have much momentum coming into the event with back-to-back missed cuts at the Farmers Insurance Open and Phoenix Open. He's been the most consistent player in the field so far and is trying to finish out his first victory since October 2017.