The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fleetwood, Bradley tied at Bay Hill, four clear of field
Bay Hill provided a few dramatic turnarounds, good news for Henrik Stenson, not so much for Phil Mickelson.
Through it all, Tommy Fleetwood and Keegan Bradley kept a steady march of solid golf Friday and wound up tied for the lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, four shots clear of anyone else going into the weekend on a course that has been tough all week.
Fleetwood used two new clubs to produce two eagles, which carried him to a 6-under 66. Bradley, with the renewed confidence of a player who last year ended six years without a PGA Tour victory, made all but one of his six birdies on the par 4s and had a 68.
They were at 9-under 135, the highest score to lead Bay Hill through 36 holes since 2013.
Tiger Woods wound up winning that year, which won’t be the case. Woods is home nursing a sore neck. That also was the last time Mickelson was at Bay Hill, and this trip lasted only two days.
Mickelson hit a pair of horrific drives — one out of bounds, another into water he couldn’t see off the tee at No. 8 — that led to dou- ble bogeys. With only one birdie on his card, Mickelson was 10 shots worse than his opening round and posted a 78. He missed the cut by one shot.
“It’s a penalizing course if you don’t hit very good shots, and I hit some terrible shots today,” Mickelson said. “That’s probably the score I deserved.”
On the other side was Stenson, who opened with a 77 and then headed to the range with swing coach Pete Cowen. The former British Open champion responded with a 66, an 11-shot improve- ment, that left him eight shots behind, though still with a tee time today.
“A couple of hockey sticks yesterday and a 66 today. That was a nice turnaround,” Stenson said. “It seemed like I was hitting it good yesterday, didn’t quite feel like I was in the same groove this morning in the warmup, and yeah, I still have to fight a little bit out there.”
European Tour: South Africans Justin Harding and George Coetzee share a oneshot lead at the Qatar Masters with French golfer Mike Lorenzo-Vega after all three shot 4-under 68 for the second straight round. The trio top a tight leaderboard at 8 under, with 12 players within two shots heading into the weekend at Doha Golf Club.