03/06/26 06:11:00
Printable Page
03/06 18:09 CST Daniel Berger handles the 'US Open in spring' by building
5-shot lead at Bay Hill
Daniel Berger handles the 'US Open in spring' by building 5-shot lead at Bay
Hill
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) --- Daniel Berger loves playing in Florida in March. For
most everyone else Friday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Bay Hill made it
feel like a spring preview of the U.S. Open.
Berger was on his game again in the most demanding conditions, leaning on a
steady diet of fairways and greens and feeling just as good about his lag putts
as he did the five birdies he made in a round of 4-under 68 that gave him a
five-shot lead.
"You've just got to stay patient and take what the course gives you," Berger
said. "And when you have an opportunity, you've got to take advantage because
there's not many of them out there."
Berger was at 13-under 131.
Akshay Bhatia posted the low round of a balmy afternoon with a 66 to get within
five of the lead. Ludvig Aberg (71), Collin Morikawa (71) and Sahith Theegala
(67) were another shot back.
Staying patient was a challenge.
"It felt like Sunday afternoon greens, but it's only Friday," Harris English
said after a hard-earned 72. "I might have fixed three ball marks today because
you can't find them. It's the U.S. Open in spring."
Morikawa came up with a color chart for the greens, which already were yellow
by Wednesday.
"They're getting brown and they're going to be very, very brown --- if not
purple --- by Sunday, and that's just part of this week," he said. "Yeah,
that's the color scale we tend to see."
Ben Griffin was one inside the cut line of 2-over 146 when he faced a 30-foot
par putt on the 18th. He ran that nearly 15 feet by the hole, missed it and was
cleaning out his locker.
Scottie Scheffler was stunned when his bunker shot on the 15th rolled out by
the hole and never stopped rolling until it went off the green 30 feet away. He
chipped that in for par. But on the 18th, his 30-foot birdie putt that he
barely touched raced some 10 feet by for a bogey and a 71, leaving him 10 shots
behind.
He turned and slung his golf ball into the water to vent, and after signing his
card was asked how much tougher it would be on the weekend.
"They're already dead. I'm not sure how much deader they can get. Like 15 is
completely dead," he said. "When it hit the green, I thought I hit it to 3
feet. And then it bounced crazy forward. I don't know how that happened."
He turned to his caddie, Ted Scott, and said, "How did that ball bounce
forward?"
"Same way the ball bounced backward on 9," Scott replied.
"It's been like this before," Scheffler said. "Typically here if you go late
Friday, they're pretty much already dead. It's not anything unusual. It's a
good test. It's hard."
This is what Bay Hill has become in recent years. The cut at 2-over 146
actually was lower than it has been the previous two years when the Arnold
Palmer Invitational became an elevated event.
Xander Schauffele finished with two straight bogeys to ruin an otherwise solid
round of 71. Rory McIlroy played in the morning and had only one bogey in his
round of 68 to move up the leaderboard, only for Berger to match his score.
McIlroy was nine shots back.
"If we don't get any rain the next couple days --- which it looks like we won't
--- it's going to be really difficult," McIlroy said. "It's difficult even if
you hit the ball in the fairway. You're hitting good iron shots to 35, 30 feet
all the time, and then you're not going to make a lot of those."
All of that makes the task of catching Berger a little more daunting.
He opened with a 25-foot birdie putt, and his three birdies on the back nine
where in the 6-foot range. But he was rarely under much stress on the long
putts that he lagged reasonably close, no small task on greens with so little
grass.
Berger is among those who has not earned a Masters invitation, so this could be
a big week. A win gets him in. Even a runner-up finish would get him in through
the world ranking.
In front of him are 36 holes on a course that doesn't allow anyone to get too
comfortable.
"It's a place where you can't really force it, you can't really try to make
things happen. It's just going to happen," Aberg said.
It happened to Justin Thomas, who is competing for the first time since the
Ryder Cup in September because of surgery on his lower back. This was not an
easy re-entry. The two-time PGA champion opened with a 79 and followed with
another 79.
"I'm trying as hard as I can to give myself a little bit of grace of how long I
haven't played and how difficult this sport can be," Thomas said. "But at the
same time, I expect more out of myself. I don't think there's any situation
where I feel like I should shoot 14-over par for two days."
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
|
