Phil Mickelson wants to run “The Match” back again and again, with a rotating cast of stars. Let’s up the tension with these pairings.
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ORLANDO, Fla. — The leading two players at Bay Hill are no surprise, even if they have next to nothing in common. Rory McIlroy, who hasn’t finished out of the top 10 in any tournament since September, shot a 6-under 66 on Thursday morning in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Related: Leaderboard | McIlroy in familiar position at Bay Hill Matt Every, whose only two PGA TOUR victories in 237 starts were back-to-back at Bay Hill, played in the tough afternoon wind and was one shot better with a 65. Not only was it Every’s lowest round at Bay Hill, it was 20 shots better than his last round six days ago in The Honda Classic, when he shot 85. What a game. Every played bogey-free and put on a clinic with his irons, the strength of his game. He poured it on his back nine with birdie putts of 35, 45 and 30 feet. “I just didn’t want to shoot myself out of the tournament with the way the weather was,” Every said. “The putter was a little shaky. It’s always a little shaky. It was a good day for me.” It wasn’t bad for McIlroy. He avoided a big number early and delivered his best shot late for the best score among the early starters, when the wind only started to get strong at the end. McIlroy had his sixth consecutive opening round of 68 or lower, another great start. It just didn’t feel that way early. Trying to hammer an 8-iron to a back flag on his second hole of the day at No. 11, the ball landed short and left of the green and rolled into the water. He took a penalty drop, hit a pedestrian chip and escaped with a bogey by making a 10-foot putt. “To hole that putt for bogey … making 5 instead of 6 there is a big deal,” McIlroy said. “One over through 2 instead of 2 over is sort of a different feeling. And to turn that nine around and turn in under, I felt pretty good about myself going to the front nine.” He made three birdies and an eagle — a 3-iron from a fairway bunker to 25 feet — and was most satisfied by taking advantage of easier scoring conditions. Scottie Scheffler shot a bogey-free 67 and joined Talor Gooch two shots behind. Scheffler was the player of the year on the Korn Ferry Tour. Christian Bezuidenhout was in the group at 68 along with Keith Mitchell and Graeme McDowell. Bay Hill was plenty tough even before the wind arrived because of the thick rough framing fairways and greens that became firmer and faster under a warm Florida sun. It felt that way for Phil Mickelson in the afternoon and Adam Scott in the morning. Both shot 77. Only 18 players from the 120-man field broke 70. Every, even with his Bay Hill victories in 2014 and 2015, had a round out of nowhere. His 85 at The Honda Classic last Friday is a little misleading. He was on his way to missing the cut when he was determined to hit the proper shot to a back pin on a par 3 over the water. He hit 5-iron four times into the water. He hit 4-iron onto the green and made 11. “I wasn’t leaving that tee until I hit the shot I wanted,” Every said. “And I flushed every one of them, exactly in the same spot in the water.” With two balls left, he went with the 4-iron. And he finished the round and signed for his score. The card he signed Thursday was much better. McIlroy has gone six consecutive events worldwide without finishing worse than sixth, so this was expected. Even after his bogey on No. 11, and missing a 3-foot birdie putt on the par-5 12th, he was never really bothered. “One over through six, there’s still 66 holes left in this golf tournament,” he said. He began turning it around with a 5-iron into about 25 feet for a two-putt birdie on the 16th, and a flawlessly played 18th hole with a 3-wood off the tee and a 9-iron to 10 feet behind the flag. “Sort of had a bit of good pep in my step going into the first tee, and then I played some great golf after that,” he said. It was that 3-iron from the bunker on the par-5 fourth that provided the strongest illustration that this is a player in full flight. His caddie, Harry Diamond, told him it was his best shot of the year. It’s early March. But it was special. “I had 260,” McIlroy said. “I said to Harry, `If I can catch this 3-iron good and maybe pitch 10 or 15 yards short, maybe trundle up the hill’ … but short was always better than long. At it just came out perfectly and got up to pin high.”
A look at the odds/pricing of the leading finishers at this week’s events and a preview of the upcoming action. (AP)
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Jordan Spieth put himself into the mix Saturday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am title, and he lived to tell about it. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Inside the Field: WM Phoenix Open On a day when Seamus Power went backward to allow a half-dozen other players back in the game, Spieth went backward just to make sure he didn’t fall over a 60-foot cliff Even if it might have looked more dangerous than it was, his approach from the edge of the cliff on the eighth hole at Pebble Beach stole the show on a Saturday that typically belongs to Bill Murray, Macklemore and the rest of the celebrities. Spieth had a 9-under 63, his career low at Pebble Beach, to go from 10 strokes behind Power to one shot behind the leading trio of Beau Hossler, Andrew Putnam and Tom Hoge. “That was by far the most nerve-wracking shot I’ve ever hit in my life,” Spieth said to caddie Michael Greller after his shot went just left of the green. His tee shot ran out through the fairway, short of going over the edge. Keeping all the weight on his right leg, Spieth hit the shot and immediately backpedaled to level ground. From the rough, he chipped down the slippery green to 18 feet and made the par putt. It was high entertainment on a Saturday built for such theatrics. And while the celebrities attracted a big gallery that lined fairways on another glorious day, the final round was loaded with possibilities. Hossler had a 65 at Pebble Beach, narrowly missing a second eagle of the round on the 18th hole. He was the first to reach 15-under 200. Putnam started on the back nine at Pebble Beach and ran off five straight birdies with hardly anyone watching, finishing with a par for a 68 at Pebble Beach. Hoge was at Spyglass Hill and shot a 68 to join them. Patrick Cantlay, the reigning FedExCup champion, started and finished his round with a pair of birdies and didn’t do a lot in between. He had a 68 and was one shot behind, along with Spieth and Joel Dahmen (66 at Spyglass). “I’m in great position and I love this golf course and everyone will be playing on the same golf course tomorrow so it should be fun,” Cantlay said. A key figure in all this fun was Power, the 34-year-old Irishman, who set the 36-hole tournament record at 128 and looked as though he could do wrong. He had a five-shot lead to par and a four-shot lead on strokes, but his round at par-71 Monterey Peninsula became a struggle off the tee and round the greens. Power had consecutive birdies to get back to 16 under — even for the day — until bogeys on two of his last three holes for a 74. Even so, he was only two shots behind going into the final round. Spieth went out in 31, highlighted by an approach up the hill to 3 feet on the par-5 sixth for an eagle and his two 18-footers to close out the front nine, the par on No. 8 and a birdie on No. 9. He finished with a tee shot on the par-3 17th that took a hard bounce off the springy green, grazed the flag and settled 8 feet away for a birdie. On the iconic par-5 closing hole, his second shot tumbled onto the green and ran near the hole until it stopped on the fringe, leaving 20 feet and two putts for a final birdie. Jason Day, who tied for third third at Torrey Pines as the former No. 1 player in the world tries to regain his form, kept alive his hopes with a 70 at Spyglass. He was four shots behind. Hossler and Hoge are the only players among the leading seven who have yet to win on the PGA TOUR. Hoge had a chance two weeks ago in the California desert. Hossler was bogey-free, a steady round with very little stress. “Pebble can give and take so quickly, right? I was glad to be on the receiving end today,” he said. “I hit it well, played really conservatively, frankly, even though it might not look like it, and was fortunate to not have any misses really get me in significant trouble.”
