– “That’s Bay Hill for you, you have to know it and take your chances when you can.” “It’s a course that’s not far off what you see at a US Open.” “I like knowing that you’re not falling behind if you’re not making many birdies, knowing that pars are good and that if you miss a few birdie putts you won’t go far.” “I knew that if I finished the round with a score around par for the day, I would have a good chance for Sunday.” “On hole 9 I let my emotions get the better of me: I had missed the fairway by three yards and found myself in a horrific position. I should never have made a double bogey there, it should have been just a bogey.”
– These are sentences that were heard yesterday from the protagonists, once the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational was over. And it almost doesn’t matter who said them, because the story and the feelings were more or less similar. We are left, in any case, with this one from Will Zalatoris, who signed a 71, one less on the day, after coming out of hole 11 with a partial of five less and a streak of 42 holes without a bogey at Bay Hill (quite a feat), provisional leader of the tournament with a three-stroke lead over the next: “You play here 42 holes without a bogey… I was playing very well, but obviously I didn’t have the back nine finish I wanted. That’s Bay Hill. My drives on 15 and 18 went to the sand and in both cases I found the ball sunk. In four years playing here I have found 19 balls sunk in the sand… Needless to say, these bunkers are not my favourites.”
So, Zalatoris keeps count at Bay Hill, over the years, of fried eggs and more or less sunk balls in the fairway bunkers. Curious. “I’m not the only one who keeps this count, many guys do it here,” specifies the Californian. Even more curious. And it’s true, on this course you see this type of situation much more often, and obviously it’s not a coincidence, it has to do with a preparation taken to the limit, also in the bunkers. It’s not strange because Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus were always in favour of making things a little harder for professionals when they fall into a sand trap, especially in recent years, the last decades.
– You can also clearly see the difficulties of these players to hit efficient chips around the green, so thick and ‘sticky’ is the rough. The case of Theegala, who has holed three in three rounds, is certainly not the usual. And, of course, you get tired of seeing drives that were not horrible, as they barely miss the fairway by a few metres, that leave the ball in more than compromised positions.
– As for the greens, let’s say they spared them the passage of two rollers in view of the third round, on Friday afternoon and the same Saturday morning, as a preventive measure, as more wind was expected. But they have continued to gain in firmness, without reaching ridiculous or unacceptable situations. We will see if today it does not rain and, as the wind is not going to blow so much, they still give them a last twist with a roller…
– The big old question is: is this type of golf course preparation fair for competitors? The USGA has been trying to answer this for decades…
The point is that, let’s not fool ourselves, this thin line that separates drama from comedy, crying from laughter, hooks the fan. One way or another it catches him, even those bon vivant lovers only of the birdie and the eagle. They will tell you: man, it’s not bad once or twice a year. Others will think (we will think) that one more week wouldn’t be bad either…
On the other hand, justice or injustice in high-level sport are excessively blurred concepts. And subjective, especially subjective.
Zalatoris renounces the bunkers, it’s true, but he also acknowledges that he ended up in the sand traps after hitting bad shots. And he loves the fact of having the certainty that the difficulties are there for everyone: “you know that if you hit good shots you will be rewarded and that mediocre shots will penalize you”. Probably that’s the key: to make sure in some way that good shots will be rewarded… At least almost always, because chance also has its weight in the sport of the fourteen clubs, more than in any other.
The big old question was also answered yesterday, in a way, by Scottie Scheffler. “You could argue that this golf is fun. I think sometimes I like this style of golf much more than just a birdie festival. Here you really have to think your way, you have to be patient, you can make some mistakes and it’s about how you recover from them,” said the Texan. We won’t be the ones to contradict this formidable World Number One.
– And today, Sunday, more of the same. The wind will blow a little less than yesterday, but if on Saturday it came from the north, northwest, today it will hit from the south, southwest, so the matter will also have its joke because the course will change a lot. The drama is assured, but also the glory. Above all the glory.
