Bulle getting comfortable at The Open

ORLANDO, Fla. – Arnold Palmer was watching a pro-am round at Bay Hill Club and Lodge a number of years ago when Phil Mickelson launched a short iron to the heavens at the par-4 first hole, only to watch in pure disbelief as the ball bounded high off the green, 8 feet high, as if it had caromed off a trampoline. Not sure Palmer, the late tournament host of his namesake PGA TOUR stop, ever flashed a bigger smile as he sat in his cart along the side of the fairway. Palmer loved to create a test of golf that was firm, and tougher than a $3 steak, where pars meant something, and every birdie carried away was as valuable as a gold brick. When scores soared on Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, he is one that would have enjoyed the show. Somebody will walk away on Sunday with a winner’s check for $2.16 million (gulp!), but it’s going to take an honest week’s work. You win at Bay Hill the old-fashioned way. You earn it. Welcome to that new yearly suspense thriller, titled “Weekend at Arnie’s.” Billy Horschel (1-under 71) and Talor Gooch (72) were the best Saturday survivors, considering they played late in the day, when conditions were toughest, and will enter Sunday sharing the lead at 7-under 209. That’s two shots to par backwards than it was 24 hours earlier. Viktor Hovland, who had a four-shot lead at one point, faded with a 40 on the back nine to slide to 75 and lose his grip on the tournament lead. He is one shot back, with Scottie Scheffler (68) two behind and Gary Woodland (70) three. The day did not go so well for many others. World No. 1 Jon Rahm, playing here for the first time, made one birdie all day. Seasoned Lee Westwood, a runner-up at Bay Hill a year ago, shot 33-43. Cameron Young, a hot stick of late, finished his front nine with a double bogey and back nine with a triple. He shot 76. The greens were glassy, and players had difficulty just getting the putter to settle behind the ball. Scheffler, who teed off two hours ahead of the last group and tied the day’s low round of 68, paused to think about the last time he had such a challenge just getting his putter to sit still as he readied to putt. Let’s see … Oh, it would be two years ago, right here. “Brutal” became a well-worn word muttered inside the scoring area. Billy Horschel, who grew up in Florida not far from Orlando and Bay Hill, often would visit the tournament to watch the stars play as a youth, hoping that he might make it inside those ropes one day. Winning here would be extra special for the Florida Gators alum. It just won’t be easy, that’s all. Saturday’s rough conditions (scoring average: 74.06) was not everyone’s cup of tea, but that doesn’t mean that some men cannot enjoy the challenge. “This is awesome golf,” Horschel gushed as dusk settled in after a long and demanding round. “It’s testing and it wears you down, but this is the golf that I think – I can’t even say we all ‘enjoy’ all the time, but we do enjoy, because it does reward fairly good golf shots on a regular basis. “It rewards people who think their way through a shot, and how it needs to be played to really turn out properly.” How tough was it? Horschel stood on the tee at the 163-yard 14th hole, wind helping, with a pitching wedge in his hand, just praying that he could hit a shot that stayed on the green. Mind you, the 14th green isn’t an island, either. “How many times are you happy to just hit the green with a pitching wedge for a PGA TOUR pro?” Horschel asked. Rory McIlroy had promised that Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was going to be a wild ride. More prescient words never were spoken. The Northern Irishman has a great feel for this place, was the tournament’s champion in 2018, and seemed very much in control two days earlier when he opened with 65. On Saturday, he was 11 shots worse, and relieved that a round of golf only lasted 18 holes. “Yeah, look, it’s so tough out there,” said McIlroy, who tumbled to 3-under 213, and will start Sunday four shots out of the lead, hoping to chase. “It’s so tricky. It’s just on a knife edge, like you’re literally talking like feet. Two feet here, two feet there from 200 yards can make a huge difference in where the ball ends up.” McIlroy wasn’t whining, just giving an honest assessment. His back nine on Saturday appeared like an EKG graph: A double bogey, three bogeys, three birdies and even a couple of pars. It added up to 76. There were only seven players who shot in the 60s, and most of them turned in those scores earlier in the day, before the hardest winds kicked up and players flipped the switch to survival mode. Nick Watney barely made the cut (74-72), but a 69 on Saturday rocketed him all the way to a tie for 12th. “I guess, the last few years, we sort of know what to expect coming here,” McIlroy said. “It just seems to be this way over the weekend. It’s just hard. It’s hard not to get frustrated.” Max Homa was 2 over for his day – not all bad, truthfully – when he reached the par-3 14th on Saturday afternoon. He floated a nice high cut with a pitching wedge, the ball traveling the direction of the flagstick, and soon it vanished into the hole for an ace. A well-earned bright spot. Take that, Bay Hill! Scheffler was playing alongside Homa, and after his round, was asked if Homa, Mr. Ace himself, had offered to buy him a drink. “I think he owes all of us a drink,” Scheffler said. “Isn’t that how it works?” After Saturday’s round, players at Bay Hill appeared ready to line up behind him. The test had been brutal. Just the way Palmer liked it.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. — Harold Varner III, Tom Hoge and Roger Sloan each shot 8-under 62 on Thursday to share the first-round lead at the Wyndham Championship, the PGA TOUR’s final regular-season event before the FedExCup playoffs. Varner started the go-low parade at at Sedgefield Country Club with an eight-birdie, no-bogey round that matched his career best on the PGA TOUR. RELATED: Leaderboard | Simpson, Todd feed off friendly energy in Round 1 | FedExCup update Hoge and Sloan, playing together, followed suit later in the round, Hoge also matched his career low on TOUR, while Sloan’s score set his personal best. There were 33 players on the course who had not finished when the round was suspended due to bad weather. Hoge looked like he might have a shot at 59 after he went eagle-birdie on the 15th and 16th holes to reach 9 under. But Hoge, who first played on the PGA Tour in 2015 and has never won, missed a 10-footer for birdie on the 17th before his only bogey on No. 18 to drop into the tie. Sloan had birdies on the 16th and 17th holes and had a chance at 9-under to take the lead alone, but came up short on a 15-foot birdie try on the final hole. The strong start was especially crucial for the 33-year-old Canadian, who came into the TOUR’s last regular-season event at 178 in FedEx Cup points — well out of the 125 cut off to make next week’s first postseason event, THE NORTHERN TRUST in Boston. Sloan is projected to rise into the top 50 should he maintain his position. “Honestly, I don’t have to do anything,” he said. “I’m very blessed that I have status on the PGA TOUR next season. That’s important. I’m going to get starts, I think that frees you up.” All three leaders are seeking their first TOUR wins. The trio were two shots in front of Harris English (64). A large group was at 5-under led by former Masters champion Patrick Reed. Past U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson led another pack at 4-under 66. Paul Casey, who tied for second last week at the PGA Championship, was at 67. Some other PGA Championship contenders last week were not as fortunate. Both Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose, each in the mix in the final round of the year’s first major, could not keep that going in this one. Koepka was 10 shots behind after a 72. Justin Rose finished a stroke worse at 73. Koepka said he was flat after playing several weeks in a row. “A bit tired, to be honest with you, so definitely came out flat,” he said. “But I’ve got to play, I’ve got no other option.” Koepka said even moving up a spot or two in FedExCup standings is helpful to advance, so that’s why he passed up a week off to compete. PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa is off. Varner had eight birdies, including four in a row midway through the round, without a birdie his first 15 holes. He finished with three pars. Varner, who went to high school in Gastonia about two hours away and college at East Carolina, was disappointed he couldn’t play in front of friends and family due to the ongoing pandemic. “It’s unfortunate this year because I enjoy the cheers and stuff,” he said. “But we’ll get through this year and figure it out. Yeah, it’s just good to be close to home.” Hoge started crunching the numbers after he reached 9-under with two holes left. “I thought we could birdie the last two, but you’ve got to put it in the fairway,” he said after his tee shot on No. 18 went into the rough leading to bogey.

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