Monday Qualifier McDaniel goes low Sunday

The Florida Swing is in full effect and Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge is the next challenge, the second of four consecutive weeks in the Sunshine State. An invitational field of 123 will try to tame The King’s Par-72, 7,466 yard playground as Bay Hill hosts for the 43rd time. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks | The First Look Dick Wilson laid out the original in 1961 but Palmer started the major renovations in 2009 and regrassed all of the greens with TifEagle Bermuda in 2015. Those massive greens average 7,500 square feet, 1,500 square feet larger than last week at The Concession. Prepped to run 12 feet, the flat stick will definitely have a say in who takes home the biggest prize. Big targets off the tee and into the green reward those who find the short grass. Missing those large targets will come with large penalties, including 84 bunkers and water in play on half of the course. Keeping it off the beach and out of the drink isn’t as easy as it sounds with three inches of over-seeded Bermuda rough. The invitational field, similarly to Genesis, will enjoy an elevated prize pool of $9.3 million with the winner taking home $1.674 million and 550 FedExCup points plus a three year exemption. Even though the field is reduced, the top 65 and ties will need to qualify to play the weekend. The weather forecast this week is a mixed bag, especially on the weekend. Keep an eye on it moving forward because if the wind is up, this place will show all of its teeth! Recent Event Winners Stats 2020: Tyrrell Hatton (-4, 284) Picked up his first TOUR win in his 60th start as he won by one. … Didn’t break 73 on the weekend but won by a shot. … Led by two after Saturday, his first 54-hole lead on TOUR. … Shared the 36-hole lead for the first time on TOUR. … Entered the week leading the TOUR in Strokes-Gained: Approach the Green. … Becomes the fifth consecutive international champion. … Of the last 15 victors, nine are internationals. … Fifth consecutive winner T4 or better Par-3 scoring. … First Englishman to win. … First on TOUR since Geoff Ogilvy (2006 U.S. Open) to play BOTH rounds on the weekend over-par and win. … Won in his fourth attempt. … T6 in his previous start on TOUR (WGC-Mexico Championship). … Picked up T4 in his debut here in 2017. Notables: 2107 champ Marc Leishman (2nd) beat Hatton by a shot on Sunday. … Sungjae Im (3rd) winner the previous week at Honda bettered his 2019 debut (T3). … Bryson DeChambeau (4th) was the only other player under-par for the week. … Joel Dahmen (T5) MC in perfect weather in 2019. … Danny Lee (T5) cashed his best finish in his eighth start. … 2018 winner Rory McIlroy (T5) began the final round just two back but signed for 76. … Keith Mitchell (T5) cashed his second consecutive T6 paycheck. … 2019 runner-up Matthew Fitzpatrick (T9) was the only player on THE WEEKEND to post a number in the 60s (69). … Sung Kang (T9) shared the 36 hole lead before 78-74 on the weekend. … Harris English (T9) cashed his best payday in his ninth start. … Only 10 rounds under par on Sunday. … 2016 winner Jason Day (WD) is one of two players (Fred Couples) to go wire-to-wire. … The last champion to defend, Matt Every 2014-15, opened with 65 to lead after Round 1 but shot 83 (MC) in Round 2. … Hardest course on TOUR in 2020, including majors, as it played 2.106 shots over par. … Saturday played 3.913 shots over par. … Wind gusts played havoc all week, just four bogey-free rounds. 2019: Francesco Molinari (-12, 276) Closed with bogey-free 64 to win by two. … Sat five back after 54 holes. … Posted the low round of the week in Round 4. … Won in his seventh attempt. … Never MC in seven tries. … Led the field Strokes-Gained: Off the Tee. … 51-under lifetime at Bay Hill. … Made an ace in Round 1. … Only made two bogeys on the weekend. … Picked up his third win in last 12 TOUR starts. Notables: Matthew Fitzpatrick (2nd) led by one after 54 holes and was the first round leader in 2017. … Tommy Fleetwood (T3) was the 36-hole co-leader by four. … Sungjae Im (T3) posted all four rounds under-par on debut. … Sung Kang (T6) picked up his first of two consecutive top 10 finishes. … Rory McIlroy (T6) began Round 4 just one back. … Keith Mitchell (T6) won The Honda Classic the previous week and led the field in birdies with 21. … Englishman Matt Wallace (T6) posted all four rounds in the red on debut. … Byeong Hun-An (T10) improved on T14 from 2018. … Luke List (T10) backed up his T7 from 2018. … Adam Long (T10) played the weekend 69-67 on debut. … Cut was 1-over 145. … Wind didn’t factor. … Only nine bogey free rounds. 2018: Rory McIlroy (-18, 270) Started the two year trend of posting bogey-free 64 on Sunday. … Won by three for his 14th TOUR victory. … Began the final round two back. … Posted his career best Strokes-Gained: Putting. … Only needed 100 putts. … 54 from 54 inside seven feet. … Won in his fourth attempt. … Best US result entering the week was T20. … MC week prior at Valspar. … On a Bay Hill run of T6 or better in his last four visits. Notables: Bryson DeChambeau (2nd) shared the 36-hole lead and played in the final group. … Justin Rose (3rd) led the field with 24 birdies. … Orlando resident Henrik Stenson (4th) led or co-led after 18, 36 and 54 holes. … 2017 winner Marc Leishman (T7) closed with 67 in his defense. … Patrick Reed (T7) posted 22 birdies, T2 behind Rose. … Patrick Rodgers (T7) closed 68-69. … Played the easiest of the three years at 72.023. … 14 bogey free rounds. … Talor Gooch (T26) and Aaron Wise (T41) both opened with 65 on their debuts. … Last first-timer to win here was Matt Every in 2014. … Cut was 1-over 145. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. * – Top 10 finish here since 2016 Horses for Courses

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ORLANDO, Fla. – In terms of talent, Will Zalatoris is traveling at the speed of a bullet these days, a man whose strike just sounds different, and a tad more pure, than most others. A slender young man built for tough golf courses and big stages, Zalatoris got off to a fast start in the opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard on Thursday, shooting 4-under 68 in friendly scoring conditions at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. At 25, he has yet to win, but with the TOUR in a current run of first-time winners (four in the last five events), it would seem logical that Zalatoris might be a good candidate to join the club. He had his shot on the West Coast, missing a putt to win on the 72nd hole, and eventually losing in a playoff to Luke List at the Farmers Insurance Open. The good news? Zalatoris would be a young man who tends to view the glass as half full. He didn’t collect a trophy at Torrey Pines, but he hardly departed empty-handed. “Honestly, if you even want to call the failure, I guess, of not winning Torrey, it’s going to propel me to win more, because I learned so much about myself,” Zalatoris said. He went off the back nine early Thursday, the wind down, and, after making bogey at the water-guarded, par-4 11th hole, made birdies on five of his next seven. He made a key save on No. 1 after making the turn, laying up to 65 yards after his drive found thick rough, and getting that up and down for par. If he’s to be the last man standing on Thursday here at Arnie’s Place, he has a difficult man to chase in Rory McIlroy, who Thursday shot 7-under 65. McIlroy, the 2018 API champion, made his day appear rather effortless, making six birdies and an eagle. The course is expected to dry out and get firmer over the next few days. The tougher the test becomes, the more likely that Zalatoris is a name that might be sticking around. “It’s going to be fun,” said Zalatoris, the reigning Arnold Palmer Award winner as the TOUR’s Rookie of the Year. “This weekend is going to be tough. … I love it. I love playing firm, fast, hard, (and) rough is up. This is probably the closest to a U.S. Open, especially for a regular TOUR event.” Of course, Zalatoris burst onto the scene with a T6 in the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. He tied for 10th at Bay Hill a year ago, a nice week that helped to fuel a quality dash – he made seven starts in seven weeks as he tried to break into, and stay in, the world’s top 50. That got him to Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters, where, under the brightest lights, he stuck around to the very end, losing to Hideki Matsuyama by a shot. Zalatoris is a terrific fit for the API because he is one of the very best ballstrikers on TOUR – first in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green – and Bay Hill can be a place where ballstrikers can separate themselves from the pack. Zalatoris is highly effective out of the rough, too, because of his angle of attack and his strength to gouge the ball out of it. Josh Gregory, who coaches Zalatoris with his short game and putting, considers the Texan by way of California to be an old-school throwback. Two of Zalatoris’ mentors at home near Dallas are Lee Trevino and Lanny Wadkins, a couple of Hall of Famers who were elite ballstrikers in their respective eras. “All the young kids today are kind of robotic, super into Trackman, super into numbers, super into (swing) positions,” said Gregory, who has worked with Zalatoris for three years. “That’s not really him. He’s an artist, and he knows how to hit shots. He’s got more of the Tiger mentality back in the day of the ‘nine’ shots. (Woods would practice after rounds hitting shots through nine different windows – low cut, high draw, etc.) He (Will) can hit it out of any different window, he can curve it, he can shape it any way. That’s how he sees and plays the game, as an artist.” He can hit it out of any different window, he can curve it, he can shape it any way. That’s how he sees and plays the game, as an artist. Zalatoris’ runner-up showing at Torrey Pines was sandwiched by a T7 (The American Express) and T26 (Genesis Invitational). (He also tangled with a bout of Covid-19 after Farmers.) Zalatoris said it’s flattering that people expect him to win soon, and he just watched his pal Scottie Scheffler do it (Waste Management Phoenix Open), but he also is mature enough, and smart enough, to stay patient as he chases it. “Every week is just trying to get better with my golf game, whether it’s any aspect of it,” Zalatoris said. “If I keep doing the day-to-day stuff like I have been and keep asking questions of how I can get better, I know I’ll win. The first win will come, and I know that, if I keep putting myself in that position, the more comfortable I’ll be, and I know I’ll get one soon.” Trying to win at Arnold Palmer’s place would be extra special. Zalatoris attended Wake Forest University, Palmer’s alma mater, on a coveted Arnold Palmer Scholarship. As he visited potential schools and first heard he would be offered “the AP,” the former U.S. Junior Amateur champion really didn’t know what it was. When he discovered its importance, his college decision was a done deal. He would be a Demon Deacon. Zalatoris framed the letter that Palmer wrote congratulating him, and it’s on the wall at his parents’ house. A trophy one day from the API? Why, that would be a nice keepsake, too. All a matter of time, those around him say. “He’s so wise. His golf IQ is off the charts, understanding how to play the game, how to manage his game,” Gregory said. “He plays as smart as anybody, hits it to the right spots, hits it hole-high, 15 feet right or left. He doesn’t short-side himself a lot. My goal is to kind of challenge him with his wedging to keep reining in the targets. “When he’s got it, pedal down. I think he shot 61 twice this year. The wins are coming.”

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With plenty of sunlight and no drama, Phil Mickelson finished off a 7-under 65 to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Monday and match the tournament record with his fifth victory. Mickelson had a three-shot lead over Paul Casey with two holes to play when it was too dark to finish Sunday night — no matter how hard Mickelson lobbied to keep going — because of delays from rain and a hail storm. Casey’s only hope was for Mickelson to make a mistake on the closing holes, and there was little chance of that. Mickelson was at his best on a course he loves. He drilled a 7-iron into 8 feet on the par-3 17th and made par, and then played conservatively up the par-5 18th and finished with a 6-foot birdie for a three-shot victory. He matched the low score of the final round while playing in the last group, turning a three-shot deficit into a three-shot victory. Mickelson never came close to making bogey and won for the 44th time on the PGA TOUR. He finished at 19-under 268 and joined Tiger Woods as the only players to surpass $90 million in earnings. Casey finished with a birdie that was worth $152,000 because he wound up alone in second place. He also won the pro-am with Don Colleran, the chief sales officer for FedEx. Even so, it was the fourth time Casey took a 54-hole lead of at least two shots into the final round on the PGA TOUR and failed to win. There wasn’t much he could do to stop Mickelson, who at age 48 looks just as tough as when he won his first PGA TOUR event in 1991 when he was still at Arizona State. MUST READS: Round 4, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Winner’s Bag: Phil Mickelson, 2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Darius Rucker’s ‘crazy night’ with Tiger and the Stanley Cup The story behind Wayne Gretzky’s red Scotty Cameron ‘Gordie Howe’ putter THE PLAYERS Championship: New trophy unveiled Mickelson tied Mark O’Meara’s record with his fifth victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach, the first one also a Monday finish in 1998 because of bad weather, with one big difference — that Monday finish was more than six months later in August. Mickelson argued that he could “see just fine” on Sunday evening, moments after sunset with two holes remaining. Casey said there was no way to finish and they had to return Monday morning. Mickelson, seen shaking his head when the horn sounded Sunday night, said he thanked Casey on Monday morning for holding his ground because it was fair to both of them. “Sometimes I get in my own bubble,” Mickelson said. Scott Stallings finished Sunday night with a 66 to finish alone in third. Mickelson won on American soil for the first time since the Waste Management Phoenix Open in 2013. He won that summer’s The Open Championship at Muirfield and last year’s WGC-Mexico Championship. He will return to Pebble Beach in June for the U.S. Open, where he made his pro debut in 1992. The U.S. Open remains the final piece missing for him to complete the career Grand Slam, though Lefty was quick to caution that this week had no bearing on this summer. Pebble Beach was so soft that balls were plugging in the fairway when they landed. And while the fairway lines already have been brought in to be much narrower than usual, the rough was light. “It’s nothing like the course we’ll see,” Mickelson said. “I’ll deal with that in six months.” For now, he was glowing over another victory that keeps him as relevant as ever. Along with five titles at Pebble Beach, he ties Woods and Billy Casper — all three native Californians — with his 14th career victory in the Golden State.

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