Arnold Palmer Invitational. Tommy & Keegan Lead.

Tommy Fleetwood, England, and Keegan Bradley, USA, share top spot at the Arnold Palmer Invitational after 36 holes at Bay Hill in Florida.

Tommy / getty

Tommy with the low round of the day at -6 under 66 and Keegan -4 under 68 share top place on the Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard after 36 holes.

Tommy without the hindrance of an equipment contract can choose what clubs he wants, and a new one in the bag this week was a Ping 7 wood that got him close on the par five 12th, for Eagle;

“I couldn’t have got a wedge as close as I actually hit it to that back right pin.”

“I’ve played well here. I’ve had some good rounds, I’ve had some poor ones, too.”

“I think it can go either way around this golf course.”

Hopefully, I can continue to play well around here. It was just nice to have a day like that and just constantly feel at ease, really, with hitting good golf shots.”

Six players are then tied in second place, four shots back at -5 under par. Billy Horschel, Jhonattan Vegas, Francesco Molinari, last weeks winner Keith Mitchel, Kevin Kisner, and Roger Sloan from Canada.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy is way back at -2 under par for 36 holes;

“The golf course is hard, two under is in the top 20.”

“Last year it got firm on the weekend. But the weekend’s condition came early, cold weather at the start of the week, and it’s dry.”

“It’s probably more of a test off the tee than the last few weeks. If I hit fairways on the weekend, I’ll feel like I’ve got a good chance.”

Unexpectedly missing the cut here was Phil Mickelson, a 78 today;

“It’s a penalizing course if you don’t hit very good shots, and I hit some terrible shots today.”

“That’s probably the score I deserved.”

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Arnold Palmer Invitational. Rafa Cabrera Bello Leads.

Rafa Cabrera Bello of Spain leads the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Florida.Rafa / getty

Rafa shot a bogey free first round -7 under par 65 to lead the Arnold Palmer Invitational by two shots;

“I really didn’t know what to expect.”

“I know how nice and tough the course is and I think it’s a course with many, many daunting shots.”

“So I feel the more you play it, probably the better. So I wasn’t really having much high expectations as opposed to just getting out there and playing my golf.”

Keegan Bradley is in second place at -5 under after his bogey free opening round of 67.

Five players are then tied in third place at -4 under after rounds of 68, Patrick Rogers, Bubba Watson, Phil Mickelson, Billy Horschel and Graeme McDowell who is from Northern Ireland.

Phil had an interesting day, his tee shot on ten ended up against an out of bounds wire fence, with enough of the ball protruding to make it playable without penalty. As only Phil would do, he elected to play it right handed from the other side with an inverted 9 iron, it ended up out of bounds, costing Phil a double bogey six;

“I was able to get clear, I thought, clean contact on it from a right-handed shot perspective.”

“I thought I hit it pretty good.”

“It didn’t turn out the best.”

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Arnold Palmer Invitational. Rory Romps Home.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland romps home to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational by three shots at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, in Orlando Florida.

API Winner Rory

Rory saved his best round till last -8 under par 64 wins the Arnold Palmer Invitational by three shots at -18 under par his first victory since the Tour Championship on September. 25th, 2016, the day Arnold died;

“I wish I walked up that hill and got a handshake from him, but I’m so happy to put my name on that trophy.”

“I’ve seen Tiger make that enough times to know what it does, so I just wanted to try and emulate that.”

“Didn’t quite give it the hat toss, I was thinking about doing it.”

“But just to be able to create my own little bit of history on the 18th green here is pretty special.”

“Hopefully he’s proud of me with the way I played on the back nine and tried to be as aggressive as I could and tried to take on shots when I needed to, just like he would have.”

Bryson DeChambeau, USA, was second at -15 under par, -4 under 68 in the last round was never going to be enough to win;

“I thought fifteen under for sure would win today.”

 “Rory obviously played some incredible golf. I don’t know what he did on the last nine, but it was deep. I know that.”

Justin Rose, England, claimed third spot at -14 under par with a final round -5 under 67 and could only watch and wonder as Rory rolled in putt after putt;

“Rory played incredible golf and it was fun,  great to see world class players do that.”

 “It’s not great to see him make putts because he was making them against me.”

“But when he is making putts, he’s incredibly hard to beat. So it was fun to watch him play.”

Long time leader Henrik Stenson, Sweden, could only manage a -1 under 71 today, finishing in fourth spot at -13 under par.

Tied in fifth were Tiger Woods, -3 under 69 today and Ryan Moore, -1 under 71, both players at -10 under par, and both from the USA.

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Arnold Palmer Invitational. Henrik Heading For Wire to Wire Win.

Henrik Stenson of Sweden is heading for a wire to wire win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Florida.

Henrik / getty

Henrik needed a monster 30 ft birdie putt on the par four 9th hole to sign for a third round -1 under par 71, which kept him on top of the Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard with a -12 under par tournament total;

“I was looking for a little better, but I’m still in the lead.”

“I’ve been up in the mix and let’s hope for a different outcome tomorrow.”

Bryson DeChambeau, USA,  is in second place, one shot back at -11 under par, after a third round of even par 72. He explained the poor result was due to a bad back;

“It was because my quadratus lumborum wasn’t working. My iliacus, longissimus thoracis, they were all kind of over-working if you want to get technical on that.”

 “But they weren’t working very well, and I overworked them.”

“Pretty much my lower right back was hurting and I rested it. How about that?”

“Unfortunately, just didn’t go my way today, but tomorrow there’s one more day, one back, got a lot of guys behind me that are lurking.”

Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland, has third spot on his own, carding a third round -5 under par 67 for -10 under par on the leaderboard;

“I started the day just outside the top ten and wanted to at least give myself a chance going into tomorrow, so it was a great day out there.”

“I can’t really ask for much more. I’ll hopefully be within two or three of the lead, and I can make a run at it.”

Justin Rose, England, -5 under 67  is sharing fourth spot with Ryan Moore, USA, -3 under 69, to both be at -9 under for the competition.

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Arnold Palmer Invitational. Two at the Top.

Two players are tied at the top of the Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard after 36 holes at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Henrik Stenson and Bryson DeChambeau share the honor in Orlando, Florida.

Henrik / getty

Round one leader Henrik, -3 under 69 today, and Bryson, -6 under 66, share the top spot on the Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard at -11 under, after 36 holes, as darkness caused a suspension of play for the day.

Henrik said good putting helped to make those all important par scores;

 “Putting, more than anything.”

“I scrambled for par after all those holes after hitting some not so good golf shots.”

Bryson is not short on confidence;

“I think every week I’m good enough to win or play my best.”

“It’s just sometimes a kick here, a break here, and that’s just what happens.”

“You don’t always get a sky ship rocketed up to the top of the leaderboard like I have.”

Talor Gooch is alone in third place at -9 under par, he carded a second round -2 under 70, and Ben An holds fourth spot on his own at -8 under par.

Tomorrow is moving day, and St Patricks Day, should be a fun day all round, and the Guinness will be flowing no doubt.

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Arnold Palmer Invitational. Henrik Stenson Leads.

Henrik Stenson, Sweden, leads the Arnold Palmer Invitational after the first round at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, in Orlando Florida.

Henrik / getty

Henrik shot an opening round -8 under par 64 to lead the Arnold Palmer Invitational by just one shot, requiring just 20 putts on the day, with nine birdies, last week he made just one birdie for a missed cut saying his putter would not work;

“It’s better to save them all for one go, I think. There’s no point wasting a few last week when I was heading home.”

“I mean we know 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 a 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.”

Sharing second place at -7 under par following first rounds of 65 were Aaron Wise and Talor Gooch, both from the USA.

At -5 under were Jimmy Walker, tournament host Rickie Fowler and Bryson DeChambeau.

Rickie, as Host, was pleased to play well;

 “I was hoping to back up the host duties with playing well.”

“A little extra pressure, but I feel like that’s where a lot of the guys out here, the best players in the world, I feel like that’s when I kind of rise to the occasion, so it was nice to rise to that, put up a good solid round today, get off to a good start.”

In the big group at -4 under is Tiger Woods, with Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose a shot further back in the group at -3 under.

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Arnold Palmer Invitational. Marc Leishman Wins.

 

Marc Leishman, from Australia, wins the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Florida.

Family Leishman & Trophy /getty

Marc holed a 50 ft Eagle putt on the 16th hole on his way to carding  final Arnold Palmer Invitational round of -3 under 69, to post the winning total of -11 under par’

Marc convinced himself that son Harvey would make the Eagle putt;

“Some weird things go through your head, but I was thinking,  because we have a putting green upstairs, that Harvey could make this putt. You have to make it.”

“It’s such a special year to honour Mr. Palmer how they have. It’s unbelievable.”

“Obviously, it’s sad not to have him up there on 18, but to play how I did and to win any tournament’s huge, but especially this one.”

“The putter was pivotal all week. I’ve been putting well all year and it’s nice to be able to hole putts the last few days.”

“That was key to do that. I gave myself chances for putts and, yeah, it was an awesome day and I couldn’t have drawn it up any better.”

Kevin Kisner, +1 over 73 today and Charley Hoffman, also +1 over 73, tied in second place at -10 under par

Rory McIlroy -3 under 69 today, shared fourth spot with Tyrrell Hatton, -1 under 71, both at -9 under par.

Rory wanted the win, but was happy with his effort the last two days;

“I haven’t had the win that I’ve wanted, but it’s been good consistent play and that hopefully bodes well for the year ahead.”

“I struggled the first two days here. I found it a little bit on the weekend. I’m just happy that I’m out here playing again and I feel good.”

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Arnold Palmer Invitational. Charley and Kevin Have 54 Hole Lead.

Charley Hoffman and Kevin Kisner share the 54 hole lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Florida.

Charley / getty

Charley shot a third round -1 under par 71, which included birdies at the last three holes, while Kevin carded -4 under 68, to both share top spot on the  Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard at -11 under, and will take a three shot advantage into the final round tomorrow.

Charley says he is in a special spot;

“Week-in and week-out you’re trying to win, but to be in position at Arnie’s event is a special spot.”

 “It’s right up there with competing in a major championship, there’s no question.”

“To keep his legacy going and win his event would be something special.”

“Coming down the stretch I’m probably not going to think about that too much. I’m just trying to win a golf tournament, to be completely honest.”

“But if I happen to, it would definitely be a special one to put on the mantle.”

Kevin has a poor record in play-off’s;

“I’ve lost plenty of playoffs out here, so I try to make as many birdies as I can so I don’t have to do that anymore.”

 “These guys are not afraid and they’re going to make a lot of birdies and there’s no protecting leads.”

“I saw I got the lead early and then just tried to make as many birdies as I could on the back nine.”

Three players are tied in third position at -8 under par, Tyrrell Hatton, England, -5 under par 67 today, Marc Leishman, Australia, -1 under 71, and Matt Fitzpatrick, from England, who stood still today at even par.

Rory McIlroy made good progress today, a bogey free -7 under 65, which takes him to -6 under for the tournament, saying he played better and made some putts;

Rory / skysports

“Today it presented us with an opportunity to go low, the golf course played a little bit shorter, so you could take advantage of the par-fives.”

“I just played better. I gave myself a lot of looks and holed some putts, which was nice to see. It’s sort of a score that I was waiting on.”

“I felt like it was in there, it was just a matter of trying to put it all together and today I did.”

“At least I’ve given myself a decent chance tomorrow, if I get off to a fast start, I’ll be right in there. I can take a lot from today.”

“I put it in the right position, I drove it better, gave myself a lot of looks, was smart when I needed to be and if I can continue to do that, then I do have a good chance.”

Get in the Hole

 

Arnold Palmer Invitational. Charley Hoffman Has 36 Hole Lead.

Charley Hoffman has 36 hole lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Florida.

Charley / getty

Charley shot a second round -6 under par 66 to lead the Arnold Palmer Invitational by one stroke at -10 under par;

“I wasn’t in Match Play, and then obviously honoring Arnie is not a hard thing to come here and do.”

“He was what we all wanted to be. Great with the fans.”

“He was the guy who sort of paved the way for us. I didn’t spend a lot of time with him, but just meeting him here and there was always an honor.”

Emiliano Grillo has second place, that one shot back at -9 under par, a second round -4 under 68 giving him that place on his own;

“It was a very up-and-down round out there. I somehow managed to post a good round. I didn’t hit it good off the tee.”

In third position is Matt Fitzpatrick, -3 under 69 today keeping him in touch of the leaders with his -8 under total;

“The bad short game shots were 7 to 8 feet and the good ones were stiff. That’s really important.”

 “I managed to hole a few of those seven to  eight footers for par and a couple for birdie, as well.”

Defending Champion Jason Day, -1 under 71 today is T13 at -3 under par, while Rory McIlroy continues with his struggles, +1 over for  the tournament;

“It wasn’t the ideal start, but I battled back and I just fought. I fought a little bit of everything over the past couple of days.”

 “It’s been a little bit of a struggle, which I didn’t really anticipate coming in here.”

“I know what I’m doing, it’s just a matter of trying to iron that out.”

 

Arnold Palmer Invitational. Two Tied at the Top.

There are two players tied at the top of the  Arnold Palmer Invitational, after the first round, Emiliano Grillo , Argentina, and Matt Fitzpatrick from England.

Emiliano Grillo / getty

Emiliano and Matt both shot first rounds of -5 under 67 in the   Arnold Palmer Invitational at in Bay Hill  in Florida.

Emiliano found it hard to keep warm in the early morning low temperatures, carding a couple of early bogey’s, but also made some good putts;

“The first four holes were really difficult keeping warm.”

. “After that, it was a bit warmer, but if I had my hands out of my pockets for a minute or two I would be freezing.”

“But I was able to keep it in the fairway mostly all day and I was able to make a few good putts on 9 and 17, and that kept me going.”

Matt went round bogey free, in the warmer afternoon rounds.

Three players are tied in third place at -4 under par, after opening rounds of 68, Paul Casey, one bogey, Lucas Glover two bogey’s and Charley Hoffman, one bogey.

This was the first year the tournament has not been graced by it’s host Arnold Palmer, and it was stressful for grand-son Sam Saunders, especially when he reached the 16th tee, where an empty golf cart was parked, which had always been occupied by Arnold;

“I started thinking about all the years that I’ve played in the tournament, and I just started thinking about him driving around in the cart and watching me.”

 “And just to see it sitting there empty ; yeah, that’s hard.”

“I think we all feel that. I had my emotional moment, looked at it, and then got my head where it needed to be to play the next hole.”