Nine birdies and an eight-under par 64. Typically that takes all the headlines.
But Henrik Stenson wasn’t attracting much attention Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The grounds were still buzzing from the opening 68 by Tiger Woods when Stenson teed off in the afternoon wave.
Stenson put together a sensational round that featured a whopping nine birdies. He had a career-low 20 putts and his 64 was good enough for a one-shot lead over little-knowns Talor Gooch and Aaron Wise.
Stenson gave no indication that this sort of round was coming. He played just two rounds last week at the Valspar and missed the cut, making just one birdie in 36 holes at Innisbrook Resort.
“it’s a funny game. My putter was not working at all last week. I actually hit the ball quite all right throughout the two rounds that I played, but I just couldn’t make a birdie, really. I had to go and do a bit of work on my putting and got that going for sure. It felt good with a bit of work on my setup and posture and I hit some good putts in practice Tuesday, Wednesday and yeah, today was beautiful out there on the greens, really, I hit a lot of solid putts and I think the stats said 20. I mean I probably had three or four just on the fringe so it was maybe not that low of a number in real terms. I hit a lot of good iron shots, set up some short birdie putts and kept it tidy on the par fives and rolled in a couple of mid-range putts. So yeah, very pleased with that start, of course.”
There was someone for everyone on the leaderboard.
Stenson lives at nearby Lake Nona, so he’s the local guy.
Gooch and Wise are the Cinderellas.
Jimmy Walker, the 2016 PGA Champion and tournament host and ever-popular Rickie Fowler were just three back at 67.
Then there was the human crowd machine — Tiger Woods.
Woods comes into the week as the sentimental favorite to win at Bay Hill for a record ninth time and he didn’t disappoint with an opening 68.
