Kitayama leads by one stroke at Bay Hill
Scottie Scheffler learned how to win in 2022.
In 2023, he’s shown he can repeat.
Scheffler hopes to do it again and again and again during the coming weeks, beginning with Sunday’s final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He closed with three birdies and five over his final seven holes to card a 4under-par 68 and sit one shot out of the lead held by 36-hole leader Kurt Kitayama at 9-under after he shot an even-par 72.
Scheffler is tied with Viktor Hovland a shot back on a crowded leaderboard featuring bigname players and big-time winners.
“So many talented players out there,” Scheffler said. “It should be a really fun battle.”
Scheffler’s rare closing ability leaves him well positioned on what should be a chaotic final round.
The 26-year-old defended his Phoenix Open title Feb. 12 and aims to go 2-for-2 Sunday at Bay Hill Club & Lodge.
Two more chances soon await, culminating April 6-9 with the Masters — where the gritty freeswinging Texan joined the game’s elite.
All Scheffler’s focus is on the next 18 holes on a golf course where one slip-up can snowball and course conditions teeter on the edge.
“The minute you try and force around this golf course, you’re running into a spot where you’re going to make another bogey and things are going to spiral out of control from there,” he said.
Record-setting heat and winds gusting above 20 mph prevented anyone from separating from the pack. Moving day instead turned into a logjam.
Kitayama began the day 9-under with a 2-shot lead but made 7 on the par-5 fourth hole after hitting his drive into the homes bordering the fairway.
The 30-year-old seeking his first PGA Tour win had to fight to finish even-par.
A birdie putt outside 15 feet on the 18th hole put him in Sunday’s final pairing with Hovland.
“Just proud of the way I fought,” Kitayama said.
Low scores were available to those on their games.
No one was dialed in like Hovland. The 25-yearold Norwegian started seven shots behind Kitayama but carded a brilliant bogey-free 66 to ascend 19 spots up the leaderboard.
Hovland took a step toward exorcising his demons on the weekends at Bay Hill. He was the 36-hole leader in 2021 but went 77-78 on the weekend. Paired in the final pairing with Scheffler last year, Hovland followed a 75 with a 74 to finish a shot back.
Pierceson Coody ,a 23-year-old Korn Ferry Tour star and national champion at Texas, set the early tone for the day with a 66 in the day’s fifth of 36 pairings. The round featured five birdies and just one bogey, highlighting Coody’s comfort level he developed playing in the winds of the Lone Star State.
The grandson of 1971 Masters winner Charles Coody, a Palmer contemporary, now faces a potentially career-changing Sunday after earning a spot on a sponsor’s exemption.
Tyrrell Hatton, the 2020 API winner, also matched the day’s low round with a bogey-free score and led the field in strokes gained putting.
Given Bay Hill’s ability to bare its fangs, opportunities abound for many players.
In 2022, five different players held the lead, two golfers broke 70 and six carded scores in the 80s. Yet those closest to the lead have ultimately prevailed in recent years.
Scheffler trailed by two shots after 54 holes last year, 2021 winner Bryson
DeChambeau by 1 and Hatton held his 54-hole lead. Francesco Molinari, the 2019 winner, was five back and carded a Sunday 64.
Nine players are within four shots of Kitayama, including American stars and multiple major winners Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas at 5-under.
Rory McIlroy, who won in 2018, is three back after bogey-free 68.
LPGA TOUR
Defending champion
Jin Young Ko of South Korea carded a 7-under 65 to surge into the lead at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
The 13-time LPGA Tour winner endured a twohour rain delay and posted eight birdies and one bogey to move to 14-under.
Four American golfers are on Ko’s heels. Nelly Korda (68) is second at 12-under, followed by
Allisen Corpuz (70) and
Elizabeth Szokol (70) at 11-under and 36-hole leader Danielle Kang
(72) is 10-under.