– The cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational turned into a ‘little cut’ yesterday, as only eleven players have been left out. And yet, how much it contributes, now that they seem to be called to extinction in too many big dates on the calendar. We will always have the Majors; if ever, in an uncertain and stinky future, the majors were to go the same way it would be time to lock oneself in a dark room and wait for the end with dignity. There will be those who think that the fact that guys like Morikawa, Fitzpatrick, Fleetwood, Rose, Hojgaard or even Kitayama, the defending champion, have been left out does no good to the tournament… Others, naive and romantic, will value (we will value) as a special and emotional event that something like this has happened and that Matthieu Pavon, for example, was able to sign a 68 yesterday to stay alive, wriggling and in the fight.
– Forgive us hardworking golfers, but many of us fervently wish that Bay Hill will get even tougher today, as it seems it will, especially if it doesn’t rain and the greens can continue to gain firmness. And if the wind takes on a greater role, as the forecast also announces. Survival golf? It doesn’t seem that the matter will go that far, but if it does, welcome this scenario, even a handful of weeks a year. Besides, we will always have LIV Golf to lower heart rates, relax and put everything into perspective with hardly any effort…
– We had already noted in the grass roots of Friday that Shane Lowry, one of the leaders of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Bay Hill had played a thousand tricks on him over time, to the point that the Irishman tried, even, not to include this event in his calendar. Well, of the six leaders we have up there after two rounds, it turns out that Lowry’s case is not unique, rather it is very popular. Wyndham Clark, for example, has suffered significant tumbles, like those two cards of 80 and 82 strokes with which he closed his debut on this course, back in 2020, with a total accumulated of +20. Clark says he remembers himself in the parking lot, getting the courtesy car, thinking that he would never return to this place…
Brian Harman has also suffered a lot: he had played this tournament twelve times before this year and missed six cuts, including those of his last three appearances, and never finished in the top ten. “This place has whipped me a lot in the past, so it didn’t arouse much interest in me…”, he confessed yesterday. He also pointed out that having won a Major has given him more confidence to face these kinds of challenges. Very interesting. It is very possible, even likely, that something similar has happened to Clark.
Finally, Matsuyama has not shone in Bay Hill as he would like, although his trajectory is more solid in this corner of Florida (he was sixth in 2016 and has only missed one cut, last year’s). However, he will not forget those cards of 80 and 77 strokes that he handed in on Saturday and Sunday in the 2020 edition, when he faced the weekend as a candidate for everything.
The exception is Scheffler. Until this week he had played the tournament three times with a balance of a 15th place in 2020, victory in 2022 and a fourth place in 2023. The world Number One’s average strokes at Bay Hill, counting this year’s two rounds, is 70.85 strokes, a real savagery on a course with such severe playing conditions, especially in the latest editions.
– We stick with Scheffler and hole 15 of Bay Hill. Yesterday he sunk a very long birdie putt on this hole, undoubtedly one of the most complicated on the course, and it was not the first time that the Texan had done his thing on this hole. In 2022, on Sunday, playing for the win in the final stretch, he sank a putt of about seven meters to save a decisive par. But in 2020, also on Sunday, he holed it for birdie from the sand. His accumulated on the 15 in fourteen rounds is PAR, another small feat.
– Rory McIlroy is having a hard time climbing steps this season, after that blistering start in the two Dubai events, where he finished second and first. Yesterday, however, he looked very patient on the course and ended up bending the resistance of Bay Hill (round of 70 and accumulated of -1). Today he goes out to play with Jordan Spieth, another great star who is in a similar situation, as he does not end up getting all the benefit from his good overall game. They go out more than two hours before the star match (they will do it at 16:50, Spanish peninsular time) and it is mandatory to watch what they can do… Will Rory or Jordan be able to sign a card of 69 strokes, let’s say, and thus get fully into the fight for the win on Sunday?
– This Arnold Palmer is selling itself. The PGA Tour was not getting too many ‘nice’, round tournaments, but this week’s event at Bay Hill is like an avalanche of incentives… Starting with those six leaders after 36 holes, a circumstance that had not occurred since the Valero Texas Open in 2011. And what leaders, all of them winners of a Major in recent years, except Russell Henley.
– Will Zalatoris is not in that group of illustrious co-leaders, but he appears just one stroke behind with a total of -6. And he has already chained 29 holes without a bogey at Bay Hill this week, which is a small wonder that must be taken into account, much more if you look at the evolution of his results in 2024: he missed the cut at the Sony Open, finished 34th at the American Express, then was 13th at the Farmers and then signed a second place at the Genesis… Will is back to stay with a revamped swing and less harmful to his health.
