England’s Eddie Pepperell cruising despite prank at Bay Hill

England’s Eddie Pepperell shot a second-round 68 to get on the first page of the leaderboard at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Then he had everyone in stitches talking about it. Pepperell is well-known in Europe for his candor and sense of humor, and after reaching 4 under for the day, and the tournament, he entertained at Bay Hill, as well. There were several funny moments, among them his confession that he’s just gone back to his old coach, Mike Walker, for “only the fourth time.â€� But Pepperell reached new heights when he started talking about his unfamiliarity with American customs. This is the third API without Palmer himself, and Pepperell, alluding to the week-long homage to one of the game’s all-time greats, has been impressed. He was also, at least momentarily, confused.     “I came on to the putting green yesterday,â€� he said, “and there was one flag in the putting green right in the middle and I started to putt to it, setting up a drill, and I took the flag out thinking, well I can take the flag out, which I can. But I had (putting coach) Phil Kenyon come up to me and say, ‘Eddie, that’s Arnie’s flag, that’s–that has to stay in every year in his memory.’ “And so I’m like, I think he’s winding me up,â€� Pepperell continued, “because I know what it feels like, we have that kind of relationship. … I had to ask Charles Howell, I said, ‘Charles, can you just tell me something? Should that flag be in? Is it in memory of Arnie?’ And he said, ‘No, no, he’s messing with you.’ So, yeah, that is a tradition that doesn’t exist. But I wasn’t surprised that it might have existed, which maybe goes to his legacy.â€�

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