Spieth shoots 63 to take lead in Travelers debut

ORLANDO, Fla. — Henrik Stenson had a hot putter, a much quieter crowd and a one-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. One week after Stenson returned from his winter break and spent two days with Tiger Woods and his raucous crowds, he made birdie on half of the holes at Bay Hill for an 8-under 64, his lowest round ever on the course Arnold built. PGA TOUR rookies Aaron Wise and Talor Gooch each had 65. Wise missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole. Woods again brought out big crowds in the unseasonable chill Thursday morning and gave them quite a show. He hit a tee shot that was out of bounds by inches. He atoned for that with a 71-foot birdie putt. And he wound up with a 68, his best opening round since he returned this year from a fourth back surgery. “I feel like I’m not really thinking as much around the golf course,” Woods said. “I can just see and feel it and go.” Each week is a little better for Woods, and Stenson saw the progress last week. The 41-year-old Swede typically takes a month off between the Middle East swing and the Florida swing, and he returned last week to a grouping of Woods and Jordan Spieth. That didn’t bother him as much as his poor putting. Bay Hill provided a change in both areas. “It’s great to see him back competing, but it was a little loud out there last week,” Stenson said. “But that comes with the excitement of having him back and seeing him play well, so I thought it was great. … I guess it’s nice to get a little bit of a breather at times, though.” It really helps to be putting well, especially on pure greens at Bay Hill that already had a yellow hue to them. He spent the weekend at home in Orlando working with Phil Kenyon, his putting coach, and it seemed to help. Stenson took only 20 putts, tying his personal best for fewest putts in a round on the PGA TOUR. He ran off five straight birdies around the turn, and he followed his lone bogey at the par-3 14th with two birdies and a 10-foot par save. Woods had no complaints, and about the only thing that went wrong — except for the tee shot on No. 3 that went OB — was his prediction before he left Bay Hill. He was happy with anything in the 60s and said, “There won’t be a lot of rounds out there that will be in the 60s. The golf course is playing difficult.” There were 13 more rounds in the 60s in the afternoon, including Ernie Els and Rory McIlroy at 69. Only one of them was pleased with it. Els, who has gone more than a year since his last finish in the top 30, dropped only one shot, on the opening hole. McIlroy had five birdies through 10 holes and then hit out of bounds on the 18th hole for a double bogey. Coming off a runner-up finish at the Valspar Championship that raised expectations of a victory being closer than ever, Woods started and finished strong, with one mishap in the middle. His drive on No. 3, his 12th hole of the round, sailed to the right and went off a cart path and toward the houses. Only when he reached the ball did Woods find it had rolled into the bottom of a mesh fence. It looked like it was in play, except the poles on the waist-high fence were the boundaries, and his ball was inches outside of them. He went back to the tee, sprayed the next tee shot under a tree and made double bogey. And then came the big finish — two birdies on the par 5s, including a bold flop shot from a tight lie over a bunker at No. 6, and the 71-foot putt he was hoping would be close. Woods immediately pressed his hand down, asking for the ball to slow down, and then watched it drop for a most unlikely birdie. “I was trying to lag it down there and just make my par and get out of here,” he said. “It had to crash at the hole — which I’m not complaining — and it went in.” He closed with a 12-foot putt to save par from the bunker. Former PGA champion Jimmy Walker, Rickie Fowler and Bryson DeChambeau were at 67. Walker was on the other side of the golf course finishing up at the same time as Woods. He holed a wedge from 132 yards on the 18th for an eagle, matching his best score at Bay Hill. It was especially gratifying because he wasn’t even planning to play this week. He had a trip to Augusta National planned with some friends and club members and thought it was this weekend. Instead, it was meant to be Monday and Tuesday. Walker’s wife, Erin, has a horse-jumping show in West Palm Beach. The kids are with their grandparents skiing in Utah. “I figured I might as well play,” Walker said. He had two days at Augusta National, didn’t have a practice round at Bay Hill and felt right at home. “It’s just golf,” he shrugged. “Just hit the shots. I’ve done so many Monday qualifiers earlier in my career where you never see the golf course. Sometimes it helps because you’re not overdoing it.”

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Bookend moments 15 years apart stand as testimony to the incomparable pro golf landscape into which Ernie Els was born. Already a major champion, Els on Oct. 17, 1996 turned 27 and was seemingly on his way to the top of the golf mountain when three days later, 20-year-old Tiger Woods won his first PGA TOUR tournament, the Las Vegas Invitational. Els’ world and that of every other professional golfer, would never be the same again. Left bookend: The big South African was asked to measure his predicament in the summer of 2000 when he finished second to Woods at the U.S. Open, then second to him at the Open Championship. He had been beaten by a whopping 15 at Pebble and a hefty eight at the Old Course, deficits that had one writer telling Els that Woods had broken a record that belonged to Old Tom Morris for more than 100 years. “Old Tom Morris?� Els said with emphatic indignation. “Old Tom Morris? If you put Old Tom Morris with Tiger, Tiger would probably beat him by 80 shots right now.� Right bookend: The Woods’ legend had been cemented – 79 PGA TOUR wins, 14 majors – only things were spiraling badly for him in February of 2015. He had missed the cut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and withdrawn from the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, and both Woods’ health and frame of mind seemed fragile. At Pebble Beach the next week, Els shook his head and expressed compassion for his friend and rival. It had been a great rivalry, a reporter opined, only Els stopped, smiled, shook his head, and respectfully edited that comment. “He kicked my ass for 15 years,� he laughed. The sheer volume of numbers in Woods’ favor – 14 majors to Els’ 4; 683 weeks as No. 1 to Els’ 9 – would support that consensus. But the greater truth is, Els was a formidable foe, arguably the second-best player on the world stage during his prime. In fact, he won three majors during the Woods’ era and got the better of his younger rival a number of times. Els digested that, nodded approvingly, and said: “I take great pride in that.� Conceding that their grandest head-to-head matchup was the unforgettable stalemate of a playoff at the 2003 Presidents Cup, here’s a look at five other memorable tournaments where the ending involved each of these two icons: 1998 Bay Hill Invitational — Els had a six-shot lead over a trio of players, one of whom was Woods, who liked the fact that he was in his first final-round pairing with the South African. But Woods started bogey, bogey, bogey and Els’ day was that much easier. With a 73, Els won by four, while Woods crashed with a 77 and finished T-13. 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic — Els was trying to hold off Nick Faldo in the final round in Thailand, hardly worried about Woods, who was eight back. But Woods shot 65 and waited two hours for Els to finish. A bogey at 17 put Els one back, then he birdied 18 to tie. Woods’ 14-foot birdie roll on the second playoff hole left the ecstatic Thais in a frenzy. 1999 Nissan Open — Els and Woods were tied through 54, two shots behind third-round leader Ted Tryba. But Els seized control in the middle of the final round with five birdies in eight holes. Even with bogeys at 16 and 18, Els shot 68 to beat Woods by two. 2000 Mercedes Championship — They’re still buzzing on Maui about this one. Tied at 14 under to start the final round, Woods and Els were still tied playing the 18th hole. There, Woods unleashed a brilliant second to 12 feet at the par-5 that measured around 600 yards. Els’ shot was even better as he hit it inside of Woods. Each made his eagle putt. Back to 18 for the first playoff, Woods and Els again hit the green and this time had matching two-putt birdies. Second time around, again at 18, Woods drained a 40-foot birdie putt to win, leaving Els crushed, but with a priceless perspective. “I think he’s a legend in the making,� he said. “He’s probably going to be bigger than Elvis.� 2006 Dubai Desert Classic — Els was two behind Woods, the co-leader, through 54 holes but came home in 67 to get into the clubhouse at 19 under. Woods birdied the 17th and 18th to tie Els, then won on the first playoff hole with a par.

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