• “The rest of the Spaniard’s putts were from 6 feet or closer.”

• ”I really didn’t know what to expect,” Cabrera Bello said. ”I know how nice and tough the course is and I think it’s a course with many, many daunting shots. So I feel the more you play it, probably the better. So I wasn’t really having much high expectations as opposed to just getting out there and playing my golf.”

• “After making the turn at 3 under and looking every bit the man ready to pounce on the leaders, Mickelson got tangled up in an out-of-bounds mesh fence on the 10th hole when his tee shot wound up under the green, vinyl barrier.”

• “And then Phil went all Phil.”

• “After surveying his options, Mickelson high-stepped the fence with ease despite his 48 years of age. He took his stance in someone’s backyard, flipped over a 9-iron and hit his second shot right-handed.”

• “Dan always rooted for the best stories, which usually meant the best players (the real reason he loved Hogan might have been that Ben once saved him from having to write about Masters runner-up Skee Riegel), though some of golf’s journeymen, the ones with wit and perspicacity, like Ed Sneed, became trusted sources. Dave Marr, a PGA champion but not an all-time great, was Dan’s No. 1 draft choice for dinner.”

• “…Tiger Woods didn’t want to know Jenkins. “We have nothing to gain,” agent Mark Steinberg said, the dumbest thing any agent ever said. During the 2006 Open Championship at Hoylake, Woods’ second-most-amazing tour de force, coach Hank Haney was staying at the Golf Digest house. Every night, after hitting balls post-round, Tiger dropped Haney off and never came in. Perhaps just that squandered opportunity of a beer with Jenkins, or at least the astonishing cluelessness it represented, was the real first cough by Ali MacGraw in “Love Story” (as it preceded Tiger’s come-from-ahead loss to Y.E. Yang in the 2009 PGA). At Woods’ peak, Jenkins wrote, “Only two things can stop him: injury or a bad marriage.” Birdie, and birdie.”

• “It can become problematic. It became a problem in cricket how they started fixing games,” Ernie Els said this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. “They have to watch that very carefully. In golf I don’t know. I would say we still play by the honor of the game. I still feel like guys give their best.”

• “Cricket has been scandalized by several gambling and match fixing allegations in recent years, including a case involving South African cricketer Hansie Cronje in the 1990s that led to a World Cup investigation in 2007.”

• “The Tour is well aware of the hazards of gambling and the circuit’s integrity regulations cover nine pages and is published in English, French and Spanish. The program covers players, anyone affiliated with players [caddies, managers, trainers] and even tournament volunteers, and addresses everything from “contriving an outcome” to “providing insider information.”

• “I want to stress protecting our brand and our competition is paramount. We must all remain vigilant in this area. Our brand is 100 percent linked to our reputation,” Monahan reiterated to players at last week’s meeting.”

• “Day, 31, started his round on the back nine and informed playing partners Rickie Fowler and Ian Poulter on the 16th hole that he would not be continuing. Day was 2 over at the time.”

• “I (aggravated) it last Sunday,” he said, “and then got an MRI Monday, which came back that I had an annular tear in my disc, and then I’ve got facet problems as well. My back was sore when I was practicing from Tuesday to Saturday, and I was going to practice on Sunday, but I woke up and couldn’t really walk or sit in the car.

• “I was on a dose pack to try get the inflammation out of it,” he added, “and that didn’t get any better. I saw a physio here (in Orlando) and tried to do as much work as I possibly could to get ready for this week. I couldn’t play at 100 percent today, so I just wanted to see if I could get out here and (my back) may have loosened up. But, unfortunately, it didn’t, so I had to pull out.”

Full piece.

Full piece.

• From the AAP…”It’s the walk of shame, cruising back to the tee with the tail between the legs. Phil Mickelson [in the group behind] had already teed it up,” Leishman said.

• After a double-bogey seven, even children were sledging the 35-year-old Victorian.

• “Walking to seventh tee I had a kid say to me, ‘How’s the water, Leishman?’ That caught me off guard,” said Leishman, who was then four over after six holes.

• However, he composed himself following a stern talking to from caddie and childhood friend Matthew Kelly and rattled off four back-nine birdies to sign for an even-par 72.