Hatton has 2-shot lead during hardest day at Bay Hill since ‘83
ORLANDO, FLA. >> The calendar and palm trees suggested the Florida swing in March.
The severity of the test Saturday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational — wind, cool air, thick rough, brick-hard greens, a few tucked pins — made it feel more like the U.S. Open in June.
No one broke 70. Only one player broke par. That was Max Homa, who finished an hour before the leaders started. Brooks Koepka had an 81, the highest score of his PGA Tour career.
Tyrrell Hatton ended the most brutal day at Bay Hill in 37 years with a 30foot birdie putt on the final hole, and he thrust his arm in the air without really knowing why.
“I don’t normally fist pump on a Saturday,” Hatton said after his hardearned round of 1-over 73. “I think it was more shock that the ball actually went in the hole. And very relieved.”
He might have been happy to have survived, or that gravity that pulled the ball into the cup kept it from rolling another 8 feet, or that it gave him a twoshot lead over Rory McIlroy and Marc Leishman.
“I don’t think anyone enjoyed that today,” he said with a laugh. “It was just ... it was just so hard.”
McIlroy was happy with his run of 13 straight pars, delighted to make his first birdie on the par-5 16th and not terribly bothered by a bogey on the final hole for a 73. His goal was to survive, and he managed that.
“I saw some of the scores this morning and saw it was tough, but I guess I thought I could still go out there and shoot something sub-70,” McIlroy said. “And then once I got out there I was like, ‘Oh, maybe not.’”
Leishman has rarely been more thrilled with a round at even par — two bogeys, two birdies, 14 pars. He had to make sure that’s
Tyrrell Hatton, of England, celebrates after sinking a putt for birdie on the 18th green to take the lead during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament Saturday in Orlando, Fla.
what he scored.
“I actually added my score up and kind of did a double-take,” Leishman said. “It added up to 72 and it felt like I shot 65. So yeah, it was really tough. The greens were firm, fast. It was exactly how you wanted the golf course to play, really. Par was a great score, and hopefully I can play like that again tomorrow.”
Hatton had a wild ride at the end as temperatures felt like the mid-50s with the wind. He had one par over his final five holes — birdie-bogey-bogey-birdie — before his big birdie at the end.
He was was at 6-under 210, the highest 54hole score to lead at Bay Hill since Ben Crenshaw in 1993.
Homa made the cut on the number and played early — no advantage on this day with wind and cold air that felt more like California during the West Coast Swing — and made double bogey on the 18th hole that ruined a tremendous round. He had to settle for 70. By the end of the day, it was the only score under par.
The average score was 75.91, the highest for any round at Bay Hill since it was 76.29 in the second round in 1983. It was the highest round at Bay Hill after the cut since it was 78.84 in the final round of 1980. That also was the last time no one broke 70.
Palmer loved a hard
test and surely would have given this day a thumbs-up.
As for the players? That depends on who was asked, and particularly what they shot.
Koepka played his final four holes in even par for an 81, his highest score on the PGA Tour, surpassing the 80 he shot in the second round at Muirfield — the course in Scotland, not Ohio — for the 2013 British Open.
Patrick Reed, who started the day three shots out of the lead, was still in the mix until two shots in the hazard on the 11th hole for a triple bogey. He threeputted for a double bogey on the 15th. And then it got ugly on the par-5 16th when his second shot from a bunker rifled through a tree and into the water.
As he was taking his drop, a man shouted, “Don’t hit it in the water, cheater.” Police ejected the fan from the course. Reed made bogey, bogeyed the next two and shot 80. It was only his fourth career round in the 80s.
There was carnage everywhere.
Sung Kang was the only player to reach 8 under for the day. He started out in a tie with Hatton and was holding his own until hitting his tee shot and his approach into the water for a triple bogey. He went outof-bounds with his final tee shot and closed with another triple bogey for a 78. He still was only five shots behind.
Minnesota vs. Boston at Fort Myers, Fla., 10:05 a.m.
Detroit vs. Washington at West Palm Beach, Fla., 10:05 a.m.
Atlanta vs. N.Y. Yankees (ss) at Tampa, Fla., 10:05 a.m.
Miami vs. St. Louis at Jupiter, Fla., 10:05 a.m.
Pittsburgh vs. Tampa Bay at Port Charlotte, Fla., 10:05 a.m.
N.Y. Yankees (ss) vs. Baltimore at Sarasota, Fla., 10:05 a.m.
Philadelphia vs. Toronto at Dunedin, Fla., 10:07 a.m.
Houston vs. N.Y. Mets at Port St. Lucie, Fla., 10:10 a.m.
Cincinnati (ss) vs. Chicago Cubs (ss) at Summerlin, NV, 1:05 p.m.
Dodgers vs. Texas at Surprise, Ariz.,
1:05 p.m.
Seattle vs. San Francisco at Scottsdale, Ariz., 1:05 p.m.
Arizona vs. Chicago Cubs (ss) at Mesa, Ariz., 1:05 p.m.
Kansas City vs. Chicago White Sox (ss) at Glendale, Ariz., 1:05 p.m.
Milwaukee (ss) vs. Oakland at Mesa, Ariz., 1:05 p.m.
Angels (ss) vs. Cincinnati (ss) at Goodyear, Ariz., 1:05 p.m.
Angels (ss) vs. Milwaukee (ss) at Phoenix, 1:05 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (ss) vs. San Diego at Peoria, Ariz., 1:10 p.m.
Cleveland vs. Colorado at Scottsdale, Ariz., 1:10 p.m.
Keuchel, Ruiz (4), Medeiros (5), Colome (6), Heuer (7), Flores (8), Mitchell (8), and McCann, Mercedes; Cahill, Jimenez (4), Vincent (5), Garcia (5), Blevins (6), Franco (6), Peralta (7), Gomez (9), and Posey, Bart.
Franco 1-0;
Ruf (2), Green, Bart.
W —
L —
Colome 0-1;
Luzardo, Diekman (4), McFarland (5), Wendelken (6), Weems (8), Schultz (9), and Murphy, Freeman; Grotz, Guilbeau (3), Brennan (4), Hirano (6), Altavilla (7), Anderson (8), Murfee (9), and Raleigh, Odom.
Wendelken 1-0; Altavilla 0-1;
Thomas, Allen, Deichmann, Allen;
W —
HRs —
Murphy, Marmolejos.
L —
HRs —
1. Kansas (28-3) beat Texas Tech 66-62.
2. Gonzaga(29-2) did not play.
4. Baylor (26-4) lost to West Virginia 76-64.
5. San Diego State (30-2) lost to Utah State 59-56.
6. Kentucky (25-6) beat Florida 71-70.
7. Florida State (26-5) beat Boston College 80-52.
8. Seton Hall (21-9) lost to No. 11 Creighton 77-60.
9. Maryland (23-7) did not play.
10. Louisville (24-7) lost to Virginia 57-54.
11. Creighton (24-7) beat No. 8 Seton
Hall 77-60.
14. Villanova (24-7) beat Georgetown 70-69.
15. BYU (24-7) did not play.
16. Michigan St. (21-9) did not play.
17. Auburn (25-6) beat Tennesse 85-63.
Washington 68 41 20 7 89 238 212 Philadelphia 67 40 20 7 87 229 193 Pittsburgh 67 39 22 6 84 217 188 N.Y. Islanders 67 35 23 9 79 188 188 Columbus 68 32 21 15 79 177 182 Carolina 66 36 25 5 77 211 189 N.Y. Rangers 67 36 27 4 76 224 211 New Jersey 67 27 28 12 66 181 221 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs.
Friday's games
New Jersey 4, St. Louis 2 Detroit 2, Chicago 1 Winnipeg 4, Vegas 0 Calgary 3, Arizona 2 Anaheim 2, Toronto 1 Vancouver 6, Colorado 3
Saturday's games
Washington 5, Pittsburgh 2 Carolina 3, N.Y. Islanders 2, OT Nashville 1, Dallas 0
Los Angeles 7, Minnesota 3 Buffalo at Philadelphia, (n) Montreal at Florida, (n)
New Jersey at N.Y. Rangers, (n) Ottawa at Sharks, (n)
Tampa Bay at Boston, (n) Columbus at Edmonton, (n)
Sunday's games
Carolina at Pittsburgh, 10:30 a.m. Tampa Bay at Detroit, 2 p.m. Vegas at Calgary, 4 p.m.
St. Louis at Chicago, 4:30 p.m. Minnesota at Anaheim, 6 p.m. Colorado at Sharks, 7 p.m. Columbus at Vancouver, 7 p.m.
College basketball
Golf
Saturday
At Bay Hill Club Orlando, Fla.
$9.3 million
8,400;
Purse: Yardage: Third Round
Tyrrell Hatton ................... 68-69-73—210 -6 Marc Leishman ................. 71-69-72—212 -4 Rory McIlroy ..................... 66-73-73—212 -4 Christiaan Bezuidenhout 68-72-73—213 -3 Sungjae Im ........................ 70-69-74—213 -3 Danny Lee .......................... 71-67-75—213 -3 Harris English ................... 69-70-74—213 -3 Sung Kang ......................... 69-68-78—215 -1 Bryson DeChambeau ........ 73-71-72—216 E Matt Jones .......................... 75-68-73—216 E Patrick Rodgers ................. 73-70-73—216 E Collin Morikawa ................. 70-71-75—216 E Scottie Scheffler ................ 67-74-75—216 E Tom Hoge ............................. 70-70-76—216 E Sam Burns .......................... 68-72-76—216 E Max Homa ........................ 72-75-70—217 +1 Kyoung-Hoon Lee ............ 72-73-72—217 +1 Joel Dahmen ..................... 72-72-73—217 +1 Charley Hoffman .............. 70-73-74—217 +1 Dylan Frittelli .................... 71-72-74—217 +1 Keith Mitchell .................. 68-75-74—217 +1 Stewart Cink .................... 72-70-75—217 +1 Jason Kokrak ................... 71-75-72—218 +2 Rory Sabbatini .................. 70-74-74—218 +2 Bud Cauley ....................... 71-72-75—218 +2 Troy Merritt ...................... 71-72-75—218 +2 Matt Wallace ................... 69-73-76—218 +2 Graeme McDowell .......... 68-74-76—218 +2 Rickie Fowler .................... 71-70-77—218 +2 BrendonTodd .................. 68-72-78—218+2
Saturday
At Newport Beach Country Club Newport Beach, Calif.
$1.8 million
7,075;
Purse: Yardage: Second Round
Par:
Par:
72
70
Ernie Els ................................ 66-64—130 -12 David Morland IV ................. 61-70—131 -11 Scott McCarron ................... 63-68—131 -11 Ken Tanigawa ...................... 66-66—132 -10 Ken Duke ............................... 63-69—132 -10 Robert Karlsson .................... 68-65—133 -9 at Brooklyn at LA Clippers New Orleans at Boston at Phoenix at Dallas Miami at Houston at Cleveland at New York Toronto Sacramento at Maryland at Houston at Minnesota at UCF
UConn at Wichita St. at Michigan St. at Illinois
Col. Charleston Northeastern Oral Roberts So. Dakota
Sunday
Favorite
at Pittsburgh Tampa Bay Vegas
St. Louis at Anaheim at Vancouver Colorado 61⁄2 (2211⁄2) Chicago 21⁄2 (227) LA Lakers 6 (247) at Minnesota Off (Off) Oklahoma City Off (Off) Milwaukee Off (Off) Indiana 41⁄2 (2311⁄2) at Washing 91⁄2 (2331⁄2) Orlando Off (Off) San Antonio 51⁄2 (2101⁄2) Detroit 51⁄2 (2281⁄2) at 31⁄2 91⁄2 15 71⁄2 51⁄2 61⁄2 61⁄2 3
1
2 41⁄2 51⁄2
Michigan Memphis Nebraska E. Carolina at Tulane
Tulsa Ohio State
Iowa Delaware
Towson Nebraska-Omaha
North Dakota -148/+138 -320/+290 -114/+104 -140/+130 Off -146/+136 -156/+146
Carolina at Detroit at Calgary at Chicago Minnesota Columbus at San Jose