PGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2018/arnold-palmer-invitational-presented-by-mastercard/leaderboard.html
Weather forecast https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/arnold-palmer-invitational-presented-by-mastercard/weather.html
Bay Hill's greens are rivaling Augusta in speed as we enter play this Sunday March 18, combine that with one of the sunniest hot springs in years, killer rough and of course water everywhere and it doesn't take many strokes to make up or lose ground.
Yesterday Henrik Stenson (71) -12 and Bryson DeChambeau (72) -11 stalled which has let Rory McIlroy (67) -10 and Justin Rose (67) -9 in particular right back into this race. There are others as well, Charlie Hoffman -8, Rickie Fowler -8, Ryan Moore -9, Ben An -8
Even Tiger with his 69 -7 total is not out of it should his putter arrive at the course today as hot as the weather in Tampa. There won't be a cloud in the sky again today although the breeze from WNW will creep up to 10km/p.
Tiger is off at 1.30 with Bud Cauley and if his history here repeats itself will post a good or maybe great score, what has he got to lose, right.The last of his 8 wins here was in 2013.
Then Rory will be playing with his Ryder Cup pal Justin Rose at 2.10 in the penultimate pairing, and I must say having watched this little guy for all his years, I just have a feeling about him today. He hasn't been dominating or anything near that so far this year, but this week he has very quietly shot 69 70 67 -10 and importantly has been holing putts, which of course is his nemesis when playing poorly. Tiger is stealing all the limelight, and don't you dare think Rory in his own way is saying " ok folks let's just see"
Of course Henrik and Bryson get to see all that is happening before them and a stat that stood out for me yesterday is that since 2012, although he has never won, Stenson has shot more rounds in the 60's here than anybody, and his trusty 3 wood off the tee is better than anyone else's in today's game, which is perfect for Bay Hill. The -8 64 he posted on Thursday was the low round of the week.
So the stage is set, tune in around 4pm when the plot will begin to unravel right until the final curtain. Arnie is having one of his "ice teas" right now in anticipation.
Bryan Angus
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