STENSON UP, TIGER OFF TO GOOD START AT BAY HILL
Henrik Stenson had a hot putter, a much quieter crowd and a one-shot lead Thursday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando.
One week after Stenson returned from his winter break and spent two days with Tiger Woods and his raucous crowds, he made birdie on half of the holes at Bay Hill for an 8-under 64, his lowest round on the course the King built.
PGA Tour rookies Aaron Wise and Talor Gooch each had 65. Wise missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole.
Former PGA champion Jimmy Walker, Rickie Fowler and Bryson DeChambeau were at 67.
Woods again brought out big crowds in the unseasonable chill Thursday morning and gave them quite a show. He hit a tee shot that was out of bounds by inches. He atoned for that with a 70-foot birdie putt. And he wound up with a 68, his best opening round since he returned from a fourth back surgery.
“I feel like I’m not really thinking as much around the golf course,” Woods said. “I can just see and feel it and go.”
Each week is a little better for Woods, and Stenson saw the progress last week. The 41-year-old Swede typically takes a month off between the Middle East swing and the Florida swing, and he returned last week to a grouping of Woods and Jordan Spieth. That didn’t bother him as much as his poor putting.
Bay Hill provided a change in both areas.
“It’s great to see him back competing, but it was a little loud out there last week,” Stenson said. “But that comes with the excitement of having him back and seeing him play well, so I thought it was great . ... I guess it’s nice to get a little bit of a breather at times, though.”
It really helps to be putting well. He spent the weekend at home in Orlando working with Phil Kenyon, his putting coach, and it seemed to help. Stenson took only 20 putts, tying his personal best for a round on the PGA Tour.
Woods had no complaints, and about the only thing that went wrong — except for the tee shot on No. 3 that went OB — was his prediction before he left Bay Hill.
“There won’t be a lot of rounds out there that will be in the 60s. The golf course is playing difficult,” he said.
There were 13 more rounds in the 60s in the afternoon, including Ernie Els and Rory McIlroy at 69.
U.S. Open: Ernie Els and Jim Furyk received special exemptions to play in the U.S. Open this year at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, N.Y.
Els is a two-time U.S. Open champion who would have faced qualifying because his five-year exemption from winning the 2012 British Open ran out last year. Furyk won the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields.
LPGA Tour: Will open next season with the new Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., to be played Jan. 17-20 at Four Seasons Resort Orlando. The event will feature winners from the last two LPGA seasons playing alongside 45 celebrity participants and 10 amateurs all four rounds.