The winds blew, the greens repelled golf balls, the water was inviting and Saturday was a lot of brutality at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Bay Hill was an impossible puzzle for most, especially those near the top after two rounds.
Victor Hovland started the day at nine-under but by the time he pulled his ball from the cup at the 18th, he shot 75 and turned the 54-hole lead over to Billy Horschel and Talor Gooch.
Horschel got the break of the day at the 18th when his second from the right rough came out like a bullet and found the long grass behind the green. Fortune smile on him as his ball was next to a sprinkler head and his relief got him back on the fringe and from there, he sank a 28-footer for a closing birdie and a one-under par round of 71. That got him to seven-under and he’s tied for the lead with former Oklahoma State player Talor Gooch. Gooch hung tough all day and shot even par.
Anything under par was incredible as winds whipped the Bay Hill layout. The greens were hard and it was tough to get a ball near the hole.
Things were going great for overnight leader Viktor Hovland. After a bogey-bogey start, he recovered with a hole-out from at greenside bunker for eagle at the par five sixth then added another at the eight. He was 10-under for the tournament and in control with just nine to play. But Hovland, like so many on this day, took a beating over the final nine holes. Four bogeys coming home dropped him back to six-under par. He’ll play in the next-to-last pairing with Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler tied Chris Kirk for the day’s best round — a four-under par 68. He looked like he took himself out of the running with three straight bogeys to finish his front nine but he came to life and over his final nine holes, came up three birdies and an eagle at the short par five 16th for a 31 coming home – a super-human effort given the conditions.
Gary Woodland was alone at four-under after shooting 70.
Once again Rory McIlroy proved to be an ineffective wind player. He shot 76 and fell all the way back to three-under along with Graeme McDowell (69) and Kirk (68)
