Saunders endures a tough day
knew his first competitive round at Bay Hill without would be a rollercoaster.
The golf would be easy. Managing his up-anddown emotions would be the challenge for the late Palmer’s grandson. Playing partners and helped keep Saunders’ mind on the next shot.
“They’re both so thoughtful and I think they knew it would be a tough day for me,” Saunders said. “They held me in conversation most of the day. I was able to think mostly about the job at hand.”
Saunders executed according to plan much of Thursday’s opening round. A birdie on the par-5 12th hole moved him to 2-under par and into a tie for fifth place — and four shots ahead of the struggling McIlroy, the world’s third-ranked player.
From there, Saunders limped to the finish. He played the final four holes in four-over par. His round ended with double-bogey on the par-4 18th hole and a score of 2-over par 74 to fall into a tie for 58th with a host players, including McIlroy.
“Until that point, I had played about as solid golf as you could play,” Saunders said of his closing holes.
Saunders did show his share of resilience.
The 29-year-old dumped two balls in the on par-5s — holes Nos. 6 and 16 — that led to bogeys. But he then nearly dunked his tee shot for an ace on the par-3 17th hole, but the ball hit the flagstick and he missed the 12-foot birdie putt.
No golfer in the field knows Bay Hill’s layout better than Saunders. He estimates he has played the course as many as 2,000 times, just not in tournament conditions.
“Thankfully the course is playing so difficult that with a good round tomorrow, you can get right back in this thing,” he said. “I didn’t shoot myself in the foot.” chance to defend his 2016 Masters win looked unlikely given his recent play.
Willett now will have one fewer week of preparation for the season’s first major, scheduled for April 6-9.
Willett withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational, citing illness.
“I’ve been up all night with a terrible sickness,” Willett tweeted, adding he did not want to take up a spot. will replace
Willett.
Willett tweeted for fans to show up Sunday: ‘im sure there’ll be a great champ again.” A snowstorm kept
from the first Arnold Palmer Invitational without its namesake.
Palmer’s longtime press secretary also missed a big announcement — the naming of the Doc Giffin Media Center.
Giffin, 88, was stuck in Latrobe, Pa., Palmer’s hometown, due to weather conditions when longtime Arnold Palmer Enterprises chairman
delivered the news.
“From now until infinity and beyond, the facility in which you are sitting will forever be known as the Doc Giffin Media Center,” Johnston said.
Giffin was in public relations for the PGA Tour when Palmer approached him at the 1966 Citrus Open at Rio Pinar and offered Giffin a job. The arrangement lasted more than 50 years.
Johnston believed Golf Channel was televising the announcement, but actually was showing a replay of “Morning Drive” and cutaways to the press conference.
Longtime Associated Press golf writer
contacted with the news.
“I’m thrilled — overwhelmed, really,” Giffin told AP. “The media center has been my life, not only with Arnold but as a press secretary for the Tour before that and as a newspaper guy.” Giffin