Loaded leaderboard, lots of drama await Bay Hill finish

ORLANDO, Fla. – Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard was all about control – or at the very least, the illusion of ever having it in one’s hands. Bay Hill Club & Lodge can be a real tease in that sense, serving to humble players as quickly as it can dole out small slivers of hope.

Will Zalatoris, one of the game’s elite ball-strikers, was cruising along on an afternoon that presented itself as gentler than expected at Bay Hill, stretching out to a five-shot lead at one point, and playing beautifully. Through 13 holes, he was 5-under. That’s when one of the toughest venues on the PGA TOUR took out its weathered wooden ruler and asked Zalatoris to show his knuckles.

Thwack!! He made double bogey at 15, where he three-putted from 36 feet. He made double bogey again at 18, where he drove into the rough and three-putted again, this time from 40 feet. This from a man who had wielded his long putter most of the round as if it were Harry Potter’s magic wand.

That quickly, Zalatoris went from floating solo in the middle of the pool to looking around and seeing that it had become awfully crowded. A pack of players had fought back from varying adversity and re-emerged strongly in an epic tussle at the House that Arnie Built. As daylight faded, it was Scottie Scheffler, World No. 1 and the 2022 winner of Arnold Palmer’s trademark red cardigan sweater, standing atop the board alongside Irishman Shane Lowry, winner of the 2019 Open Championship, at 9-under 207.

Sunday should be good theater in Bay Hill’s second go-around as a Signature Event on the PGA TOUR schedule. The idea of the new system was to get the strongest players together more often, hoping that in turn, it would produce powerhouse leaderboards. This one is a blockbuster. Eight players – three of them major winners – will start Sunday within four shots of the leaders.

The group chasing Scheffler and Lowry includes world No. 2 Rory McIlroy, a past Bay Hill winner who roared home in 30 Saturday to shoot 68; No. 7 Wyndham Clark (71) and No. 8 Max Homa, whose 71 left him four shots out heading to Sunday. Half of the players in the top 10 own major championships.

A quick glance at the board, and it would appear that Saturday was a pretty docile day. Two 68s by McIlroy and Harris English, a runner-up at Bay Hill last year, and a bunch of solid enough rounds of 70, 71 and 72. Easy peasy, right? But the day was all about how all these players got to where they finished. The board was shifting and turning faster than the swirling winds.

Zalatoris made his two doubles late; Clark sandwiched his pair of doubles on his first and ninth holes, framing a front-nine 38. Odd fact: No winner at Bay Hill has made two doubles in a round since 1983 (Mike Nicolette).

Scheffler came home strongly, answering a short miss at the 11th with four birdies on his next five holes. But his 70 included four bogeys, the most he had made in a single round since THE PLAYERS Championship last year (which he won). Surely he would be the man for others to catch on Sunday, coming off finishes of first and T4 in his last two runs at the place. He won in 2022 from behind, starting Sunday two shots out of the lead. Lowry will play in the final pairing in the final round for a second consecutive week, having tumbled at last week's Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.

“You could argue it could be fun,” Scheffler said, looking ahead to Sunday. “I think sometimes I like that style of golf a lot more than just a birdie fest. Here, you really got to think your way around, you got to stay patient, you can make some mistakes, and it's all about how you bounce back from 'em.”

Scheffler has been trying to get his putting to match up with his world-class ball-striking and has transitioned to a mallet putter this week. He knocked down some clutch putts to get his momentum going on the back nine. He made from 9 feet at 13; 13 feet (for par) at 14; and 16 feet for birdie at the par-4 15th.

Things can and will happen quickly at Arnie’s Place. Just as Zalatoris briefly led by five, Scheffler at one point had fallen six shots out of the lead. He just had to keep fighting, that’s all. That's the event's true exam. At Bay Hill on Sunday, players will just have to pick their spots. The rough is thick and the greens are growing firmer, and Sunday should create a chess match between some of the top golfers in the world.

McIlroy, for one, can’t wait. He had drifted out of the tournament with a lackluster front nine on Saturday, two closing bogeys leaving him with a 2-over 38. When he ripped a drive onto the putting surface at the par-4 10th, covering 365 yards off his tee shot, it might have been an unwise gamble. Then again, maybe not. He pulled off the shot, made birdie, and soon was charging, Palmer-like.

He made six birdies against no bogeys on his incoming nine, and now he has a shot at victory. He will start Sunday four shots behind the co-leaders. He is accustomed to contending here. Since 2015, McIlroy has played the Arnold Palmer Invitational seven times, and finished outside the top 10 only once (a T13 in 2022).

This week’s event reminds him a little of the Dubai Desert Classic that he won earlier in the year on the DP World Tour. There, McIlroy shot one blistering round (9-under) and went 3-under for his first nine on Sunday, then cruised. He basically won the tournament in those hot 27 holes.

“I didn't really do much else,” McIlroy said. “When the golf course is playing as tough as this, that's all, you sort of only need like two really good nine-hole stretches, and then you can sort of play conservative and make a lot of pars the rest of the way.”

He does know that on Sunday he cannot afford to take too many risks, instead just taking what Bay Hill will allow him. It can be a tricky tightrope to walk.

Zalatoris, who attended Wake Forest on an Arnold Palmer Scholarship, said he will try to shake it off and come back stronger after Saturday's rough finish. There were lots of good things he saw in his round of 71. He is pleased with the way he is driving the ball, and he continues to turn his putting, once a glaring weakness, into an asset.

A stumble to the finish line at Bay Hill? He just has to swallow hard and regroup. There is a great deal at stake on Sunday, and his two late three-putts will be long gone by morning. Nobody said vying for a winner’s bounty of $4 million was supposed to be easy.

“Putting on glass and the wind's blowing 30 (mph), you're just going to hit some putts that just are going to snipe off,” Zalatoris said. “I had a couple that got blown in today.

“That's just Bay Hill.”

That’s just Bay Hill. One more day. Best to buckle up.