You needn’t wander far at Bay Hill to uncover words of wisdom from the late Arnold Palmer. The golf icon’s second home hosts the tournament that bears his name. Palmer may no longer be around to present the trophy but his influence remains.
“Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character,” reads a message, attributed to Palmer, emblazoned on a wall adjacent to the locker rooms. How perfectly apt this felt on a very difficult Saturday, whereby standing still allowed the best golfers in the world to make headway. Were this a monthly medal, the competition scratch score could well have been 76. Bay Hill and the Arnold Palmer Invitational delivered a strong antidote to the theory of PGA Tour events proving too easy. No player broke 70; there were two 82s and an 83. Kudos to Max Homa, the only member of the 69-man field who broke par.
Gusting winds, dicey pin positions, thick rough and firm, fast greens proved a brutal combination. Brooks Koepka, who knows a thing or two about playing this game, signed for an 81; his worst score as a professional. “I’m a big boy,” said Koepka. “I can handle it.” Good on him; and, indeed, for gladly posing for a post-round selfie with Kyoung-Hoon Lee, Koepka’s star-struck playing partner. Lee had just outscored the multiple major winner by nine.
There was a time when Rory McIlroy stood accused of not much fancying battles such as this. Changed days. On a third-round afternoon where patience really was a virtue, the world No 1 was perfectly in control until an aberration from a poor lie on the final hole. McIlroy found a rock outline, short of the green, with his second shot; a subsequent penalty drop meant the Northern Irishman dropped from holding a share of the lead. McIlroy’s 73 matched his score from Friday. “It’s a nice change from the norm,” said McIlroy . “I’ve talked about trying to really embrace challenge these days when I would have shied away from it in the past. I’m really trying to embrace the tough conditions.”
In summing up the madcap nature of proceedings Danny Lee, playing in the group behind McIlroy and hitherto a joint leader, limped to a six on the final hole. And then there was one; Tyrrell Hatton took to the 18th tee holding a one-stroke advantage, at just five under par. The Englishman displayed a level of maturity with his birdie three ensuring he will take to Sunday at the leaderboard’s summit.
McIlroy and Marc Leishman – who have both won here – are two adrift of Hatton, who is seeking a maiden victory in the United States. And how notable such a success would prove, a week after Paul Azinger ruffled feathers with comments about European golfers on the PGA Tour. “I don’t think anyone enjoyed today, it was just so hard,” said Hatton. “The lead is nice but today proved two shots can go extremely quickly.”
Patrick Reed, who had been in contention after successive rounds of 70, was still firmly in the mix after a birdie at the 10th. Disaster followed for the 2018 Masters champion. Reed took a triple-bogey seven at the 11th – where he found water twice – and double bogeyed the 15th. His 80 shunted him back to four over and surely now playing for the top 10.
Rickie Fowler articulated the treacherous backdrop after his 77. “This golf course is a good test without any wind and without much rough,” Fowler said. “Obviously we have got a decent amount of rough this week and the greens are definitely baked pretty good. It’s just hard, there’s no real other way of explaining it. It’s hard.
“You’ve got to drive the ball on the fairway, then it’s hard getting the ball close to the hole and even keeping it on some greens when you’re down or cross wind. So it’s not easy. I think a lot of people are sitting at home saying what they would do out here, but I wouldn’t wish it on any average or normal player to go try and play what we did out there.”
