Bruises, bumps and scrapes – all for an alpaca sweater at Arnie's Place

ORLANDO, Fla. – Sundays at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard can make for an interesting weekend cocktail. Often they can produce the hot sparks and flying metal one might see in Turn 3 of the final lap of the Daytona 500 – all played to a soothing Mozart concerto, of course.

Sundays at Arnie’s Place are, well, different. Play hard and play boldly, the late tournament host might have advised, and let’s all meet at the 19th hole to see who had the best day. It could be rather crowded in there on Sunday. There are 10 players within four shots of third-round leader Kurt Kitayama, a 30-year-old who will be trying to win for the first time on the PGA TOUR.

Kitayama struggled through nine holes on Saturday, then bounced back with four birdies over the back nine, making a birdie at the last for a second straight day. With a round of level-par 72 and positioned at nine-under 207, he holds a one-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland, two golfers who finished 1-2 here a year ago.

Sundays are great, but you don’t get to Sunday without paying $200 to advance to Saturday first, and Saturday at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club & Lodge was eventful, too. It had its more demanding moments, but overall, the day was a tad fuzzy and friendlier than usual. The sun was beaming, beers were flowing, winds weren’t as harsh as they’d been a day earlier, and some of the best players in the world actually were able to produce a handful of scores in the 60s. Consider it the proverbial calm before Sunday’s impending storm.

Hovland shot 66. Scheffler took a while to get going, but found something over his final nine and shot 68, finishing birdie-birdie-birdie. Tyrrell Hatton is in the thick of it, also shooting 66 on Saturday. Isn’t Hatton always in the thick of it inside the Bay Hill gates? Don’t forget Rory McIlroy, who knows what it’s like to wear the champion’s red alpaca sweater, an Arnold Palmer staple. He returned to contention with a third-round 68. Fresh-faced Pierceson Coody, studying in a classroom at Texas this time last year, even raised his hand, shooting 66, climbing from T-53 to T-7.

Kitayama, a global player by way of Chico, California, has been solid through three days, and he is no stranger to a trophy hunt. In the last 10 months he has run second to some big names: Jon Rahm (Mexico Open at Vidanta); Xander Schauffele (Genesis Scottish Open); and Rory McIlroy (THE CJ CUP in South Carolina). Can Sunday be his day? Or will somebody catch him?

“He’s got a really solid game,” said Jordan Spieth. “Flushes it. Be really tough to beat tomorrow.”

The line of challenges is a long one. Even players who felt they played their way out (Spieth, perhaps, after a 74) are still in the portrait. You want challengers? For starters, we give you Scheffler, who won at Bay Hill a year ago with a score of 5-under 283. Scheffler was 1-over par through five holes Saturday, but knows better than to give in. He is one tough Texan. A chip-in from 20 feet at the par-5 12th got him going, and he took over from there.

“There're a lot of talented guys on the leaderboard,” Scheffler said. How fast has his star risen? A year ago, Scheffler came into the API with one TOUR victory. Should he win on Sunday, he’ll have six. “I'm not going to be too focused on anybody else other than myself going into tomorrow.”

Smiling Viktor Hovland is back in the hunt at Arnie’s Place. Norway's Hovland is such a light-hearted, fun-loving sort that he giggles at funerals. He took advantage of a tasty stretch on the back nine, making birdies at four of five holes starting at the 12th. When you’re hot, you’re hot, and Hovland holed out for the third time this week from off the green, this time at the par-3 14th, from a bunker, for a rare 2 there.

Hovland thrilled the festive crowd with the unexpected birdie, his third straight, but that did not thrill the fans quite as much as one day earlier, when Hovland knocked a shot with a 7-iron into the hole at another par 3, the 183-yard seventh. In moments, Hovland went from pleading for his ball to cover the right bunker to hoping he had enough cash on him to cover a bar tab. Life happens fast at Bay Hill.

Then there is Sir Tyrrell Hatton, the walking bonfire from Marlow, County Buckinghamshire, England, who has been a fixture on API leaderboards the last few years. (Note: When you win at Bay Hill, once home to the King, it's something worthy of royal designation.) He shot six-under 66 on Saturday, bogey-free, a beautiful body of work. Hatton, now an Orlando resident, already owns one of those classic, itchy red sweaters. Whenever he sees it hanging in his closet, it gives him a warm feeling. (Scheffler one-ups that, as his winner's sweater hangs next to a Masters green jacket.)

Hatton was the last survivor on one crazy Sunday in 2020, when he made pars on the last seven holes, shot 74 and walked off with his first PGA TOUR title. Hatton made a sloppy double-bogey that year at the 11th hole and figured he was out of the tournament; three holes later, he was strolling up the 14th hole, glanced over to the giant leaderboard, and saw he was ahead by two. Sundays here have no shortage of surprises.

Hatton also can count finishes of T4 in his first visit (2017) and T2 (to Scheffler) a year ago. Hatton can be viewed as a head-hanger at times – he's the first to admit as much – but has more fight in him than people think. A year ago, he answered a discouraging third-round 78 with a closing 69, and gave himself a chance, losing by one.

Saturday at Bay Hill wasn’t cuddly for everyone. Jon Rahm, the World No. 1, shot 76 for a second consecutive day. Xander Schauffele shot 75, one better than his buddy, Patrick Cantlay. Max Homa was four-under par through four and returned a 71. Justin Thomas (72) made one birdie after making eight a day earlier. U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick, who enjoys tough tests, signed for 76. Weekend carnage at its best. Average score: 72.83.

“It’s playing more like a major championship than a regular TOUR event, I can promise you that,” NBC’s Paul Azinger noted during the telecast.

Back to Hatton. Reminded by a reporter that Bay Hill is a course that requires a great deal of patience, he answered thusly: “You’re saying it doesn’t suit me?” he quipped.

Funny guy. At Bay Hill on Saturday, everyone needed a good laugh. They might on Sunday, as well. No, the course suits you quite nicely, Tyrrell. Hatton played better shots than most between the flying expletives.

Who will have what it takes to prevail at Bay Hill on Sunday? That player will have to be patient, have to be tough, have to persevere, have to putt well on brownish, crispy greens, and maybe even have a little luck. Oh, and don't forget a sense or humor. Anyone in the market for a red alpaca sweater? It may cost a player some minor scrapes and bruising, and an afternoon of self-doubt and wondering why he even took up this game.

Sunday night, though, that sweater will belong to somebody.