McIlroy praying for tough conditions as he falls four behind at Bay Hill
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland chips to the 18th green during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by MasterCard at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge on March 06, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy is hoping Bay Hill shows its teeth and he can close the gap with a fast start after a level-par 72 left him four shots behind Lee Westwood heading into the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
On a day when Jordan Spieth started birdie-ace and shot 68 to lie just two shots off the pace and Bryson DeChambeau brought the circus to the golf course by hitting a 370-yard drive to within 70 yards of the pin on the par-five sixth (531 yards), McIlroy produced another scrappy round and now needs the weather conditions to come his aid on Sunday.
“Oh, man, I felt like a kid again, for sure,” DeChambeau said of a drive that saw him raise his hands in triumph as it safely cleared the lake and ran into the right rough. “It was exciting. Especially when you pull it off and you know, it was almost like winning a tournament. I don't know. It's kind of the feeling I had, it was like, Oh, I did it. I got the same chills and feeling when I saw it clear and there was no splash, it was like, Yes. I gave the fans what they wanted.”
After the brilliance of his opening 66 and the battling 71 of Friday, McIlroy was decidedly off-colour on Saturday, hitting just nine greens in regulation as Westwood cruised through the field by shooting 65 for a one-shot lead over DeChambeau (68) and Corey Conners (71) on 11-under.
“If you would have said to me 20 years ago, will you still be top 50 in the world at 48, I might have been slightly sceptical,” Westwood said. “And it just shows that I'm still capable of playing well in these tournaments with all the good young players around me and obviously contending because that's what I'm doing this week.”
Keegan Bradley shot a brilliant 64 to share fourth on nine-under with Spieth, who produced a typically entertaining round.
After knocking in a 20 footer for birdie at the first, the Texan aced the 222-yard second, then made a 32 footer for par at the third despite driving into the water.
He made another 15 footer for par at the fifth, then holed a bunker shot for a two at the seventh before making a 36 footer at the 10th to go five-under for the day.
While he would also birdie the 12th, he made bogeys at the 14th and 17th to cede the lead to Westwood, who made an eagle, eight birdies and three bogeys in his 65.
“Yeah, it was just another round that, unfortunately, wasn't boring for me,” Spieth said.
McIlroy was pedestrian by comparison as he birdied the par-five sixth, getting up and down from sand after he'd come up short with his approach from the rough after a Bryson-like 360-yard tee shot.
But after gaining strokes on the putting green over the first two days, his new, ultra-precise pre-shot routine yielded little yesterday as he ranked 56th for strokes gained putting on day three (he was 1st on day one and 18th on day two).
The most crucial putts he made were for par — an eight-footer at the ninth, a six-footer at the 10th and a 10 footer at the 15th.
After dropping a shot at the 11th, he had a chance from 12 for eagle at the 16th but left it in the jaws, then bogeyed the 18th, missing from around four and a half feet after he’d come up short of the green from the left rough.
“Yeah, it was tricky, I thought,” McIlroy said. “Greens got firm, the wind got up for the last few holes. I didn't feel, sort of felt similar to like I did yesterday, just didn't feel quite as comfortable with the golf swing as I did on Thursday.
“But I hung in there again, it was a shame to bogey the last, but conditions are supposed to be tough tomorrow, so you get off to a decent start, hang in there. I'm not too far away, so if I can get off to a decent start, be maybe a couple under through 5 I feel like I'll have a decent chance.”
When asked what was missing, he blamed a lack of commitment for his mistakes yesterday.
“Just a little more trust in what I'm trying to do,” he said. “Any of the shots that I hit today that weren't what I was looking for was just indecisiveness or not fully committing to what I'm trying to do. So I think that's sort of the goal tomorrow, just to trust it a little more and if good shots come, they come and if not then at least I gave my best chance -- I give myself the best chance to hit good shots.”
With 20 mph winds forecast, he added: “I would like to see it as tough as it could play. I'm actually happy that we didn't get that much rain today, because it means the greens stayed firm. With the wind up tomorrow, I think it will be a really good test and I feel like I need something like that to make up the shots that I need to make up.”
Ryder Cup skipper Pádraig Harrington had an excellent day, making an eagle at the sixth and four birdies in a. 69.
The Dubliner, who needed hospital treatment for kidney stones in Costa Rica last week, is seventh for proximity to the hole so far this week.
Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill
Third-Round Leaderboard
1 Lee Westwood 69-71-65—205 (-11)
T2 Bryson DeChambeau 67-71-68—206 (-10)
T2 Corey Conners 66-69-71—206 (-10)
T4Keegan Bradley 69-74-64—207 (-9)
T4 Jordan Spieth 70-69-68—207 (-9)
T7 Rory McIlroy 66-71-72—209 (-7)
T29 Pádraig Harrington 70-74-69 213 (-3)
Things to Know
Playing in his 14th Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Lee Westwood records a 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead after three rounds
65 marks Westwood’s best score in 49 rounds at the event
Westwood, 47, is the oldest player to hold the 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR since Phil Mickelson at 2019 The American Express
Bryson DeChambeau hit a 370-yard drive on No. 6 and had 70 yards in for his second shot (made birdie); longest drive of the week by any player on any hole and longest drive on No. 6 in the ShotLink era (2003-present)
Two holes-in-one in the third round: Jordan Spieth (No. 2), Jazz Janewattananond (No. 14)
Of the top 10 players on the leaderboard, five are from outside the United States; an American has not won the Arnold Palmer Invitational since Matt Every in 2015
Lee Westwood (1st/-11)
Third-round 65, his lowest 18-hole score on TOUR since the 2019-World Golf Championships-Workday Championship (65/R3) and lowest in 49 rounds at the Arnold Palmer Invitational
At 47, is the oldest player to hold the 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR since Phil Mickelson at The American Express in 2019
1-for-5 converting the 54-hole lead/co-lead to victory on TOUR (win: 1998 Zurich Classic of New Orleans)
Most recent 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR: 2013 The Open Championship (T3)
At 47 years, 10 months, 11 days on Sunday, would be the second-oldest PGA TOUR winner of the season (oldest: Brian Gay, 48/10/18, Bermuda Championship
Two PGA TOUR wins: 1998 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, 2010 FedEx St. Jude Classic
Bryson DeChambeau (T2/-10)
Hit a 370-yard drive on No. 6 and had 70 yards in for his second shot (made birdie); longest drive of the week by any player on any hole and longest drive on No. 6 in the ShotLink era (2003-present)
Leads the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (5.832) and SG: Tee to Green (10.195)
Two top-fives in four prior starts at the event (2nd/2018, 4th/2020)
Won the U.S. Open in September, his seventh PGA TOUR victory and first major championship title
Could become first player to win multiple titles during the 2020-21 season; no player has won multiple tournaments through 20 weeks, the longest streak to start a season since 1994 (Nick Price won his second tournament in the 21st week of the season)
Jordan Spieth (T4/-9)
Recorded a hole-in-one, the third of his PGA TOUR career, at the par-3 2nd with a 5-iron from 222 yards
Played the first two holes in 3-under (B-E) for the second time in his PGA TOUR career (first: R4/2017 Dell Technologies Championship, shot 67)
In the top-five after three rounds for the third time in his last four starts (T1/Waste Management Phoenix Open/finished T4, 1st/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am/T3)
Making 80th start on the PGA TOUR since his most recent win (2017 The Open Championship)
Additional Player Notes
18-hole co-leader and 36-hole leader Corey Conners (T2/-10) enters the final round one stroke off the lead in search of his second PGA TOUR title and first since the 2019 Valero Texas Open
Keegan Bradley (T4/-9) shot an 8-under 64, the lowest score of the week and Bradley’s lowest on TOUR since the 2019 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP (63/R2)
Rory McIlroy (T7/-7) has four consecutive finishes of T6 or better at the event (T4/2017, Won/2018, T6/2019, T5/2020)
Bay Hill member Jazz Janewattananond (T7/-7) carded a hole-in-one, the first of his PGA TOUR career, at the par-3 14th with a 6-iron from 212 yards; Mastercard will donate $200,000 to the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation in honour of the hole-in-one
Defending champion Tyrrell Hatton (T11/-6) played his first 13 holes of the tournament in 6-over and is 12-under on the 41 holes since; the last player to win back-to-back at Bay Hill was Matt Every in 2015
Justin Rose withdrew after three holes due to a back injury; Rose entered the third round T7 at 5-under (71-68)
No American has won the Arnold Palmer Invitational since 2015; of the top 10 players on the leaderboard, five are from outside the United States
Bogey-free rounds
R1 (2): Lee Westwood (69), Doug Ghim (71)
R2 (1): Paul Casey (69)
R3 (2): Keegan Bradley (64), Kevin Kisner (67)
