This would appear the proper weekend to show the aggressive energy of the PGA Tour. A closing spherical on the Arnold Palmer Invitational which is able to see Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Max Homa among these jousting for victory feels acceptable.
Confirmation that the PGA Tour will transfer to no lower, restricted area situations for first rate chunks of 2024 has drawn widespread and assorted evaluation. At Bay Hill, the advantages of a greatest versus greatest system are taking part in out.
“That’s what we’re trying to do here,” mentioned McIlroy. “It’s great. You had Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm in Phoenix. You had Rahmbo and Max Homa in LA. You’ve got a ton of big names here. It’s great to see the big names playing well and playing well all at the same golf courses in the same tournaments. I think, for a player, for us to get that thrill of getting up, going up against each other week after week, that’s really cool.”
Scheffler is searching for a profitable defence of the title. McIlroy received right here in 2018. Hatton was the 2020 champion. Scheffler, who completed his third spherical with a trio of consecutive birdies, sits alongside Hovland only one shy of the 54-hole chief, Kurt Kitayama. A 40ft-birdie putt on the final sealed Kitayama’s place. Spieth, taking part in alongside Kitayama, missed his alternative from a fifth of that distance.
Hatton is 2 adrift. McIlroy, courtesy of a bogey-free 68, sits at minus six alongside Harris English. “I think you find a knack for playing this place if you come back year after year,” added McIlroy. “It’s a bit like a US Open. That’s how it feels with the thick rough, the firm greens and the really tricky conditions.”
Thomas and Spieth are 5 beneath. Homa is 4 beneath. Spieth’s two over par 74 was the outlier on a day the place scoring was spectacular regardless of the backdrop McIlroy appropriately described. The match, which affords $3.6m to the victor, is splendidly poised.
“Around this golf course, as you see today, there’s guys that have gone from very far behind to in the lead,” mentioned Scheffler after his 68. “If this was Sunday, Viktor and I would be close to going into a playoff and he started pretty far behind. Around this place if you can get hot you’re never too far out of it. I just tried to keep reminding myself of that.”
Indeed, Hovland’s 66 was matched solely by Orlando resident Hatton and Pierceson Coody. Charles Coody, the 1971 Masters champion, is Pierceson’s grandfather.
Rahm, who led after a gap spherical of 65, has slumped to back-to-back rounds of 76 for an mixture of 1 over. On a turbulent Saturday, the world No 1 posted simply six pars and bogeyed 5 holes in a row from the 7th.
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