ORLANDO, Fla. – This is what the signature events were supposed to be.
The big money and small fields were created to woo the game’s best together on a more regular and predictable basis but through three signature stops this season the results, at least relative to the promise, have been underwhelming.
Chris Kirk won the season opener in Maui; Wyndham Clark was the high-water winner at 10th in the world when he won the weather-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am; and Hideki Matsuyama, who claimed the year’s third signature title in Los Angeles, is an unrivaled superstar in Asia, but for U.S. galleries that stardom is literally lost in translation.
It’s why the final frame at the Arnold Palmer Invitational holds so much promise and a chance for PGA Tour executives to take a collective breath.
In order, the 54-hole leaderboard includes world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Shane Lowry as co-leaders; Clark, who is on the cusp of being the first player to win three signature/designated events, one back; Will Zalatoris and Matsuyama two back; and the Tour’s ultimate frontman, Rory McIlroy, four off the pace. It’s not the embarrassment of riches officials promised when they launched the top-heavy series -- and given the star drain of LIV Golf, that field doesn’t exist outside of the majors -- but it’s good enough for a circuit in need of a break.
A legit signature Sunday was likely in the cards given how the game’s top players tend to peak around the best tournaments, and next week’s Players Championship certainly qualifies. Bay Hill is also likely factoring into the upgrade in star power as one of the Tour’s toughest tests.
“This golf course, I mean you guys are watching, it is so difficult out there and the wind gusting and the greens, there’s not much turf on there, they’re rolling so fast,” said Clark, who was alone in third following a third-round 71. “I didn’t think anyone was going to run away with it and even if someone did, it’s just so difficult and too hard to run away with it.”
Zalatoris, who returned to the Tour this year following microdiscectomy surgery last spring, was poised to challenge Clark’s theory late into his third round with a five-shot advantage through 11 holes. He then stumbled with a bogey at No. 14 and a double-bogey 6 at the 15th hole. He finished with a 71 and is tied for fourth, two shots off the lead held by Scheffler and Lowry, with McIlroy in a group at 5 under.
Three of the last five winners at Bay Hill have come from the pack on Sunday and it’s apropos that Arnie’s Place would favor the comeback given the tournament’s namesake forged a hall-of-fame career and swashbuckling legacy by playing from the rough and defying the odds.
Scheffler understands the nature of Bay Hill better than anyone, having come from two shots off the lead in 2022, when he donned the red cardigan sweater. But if he’s going to end a title drought that stretches back nearly a year, he’ll have to defy the status quo which will only be more challenging on a course that has become increasingly firm with winds that whipped to 20 mph on Saturday. It was a similarly brutal week in ’22 when his even-par 72 was good enough for a one-stroke victory.
“I believe it was a lot of days like there was today, where it was just windy and gusty, and the greens are pretty much dead,” Scheffler said of his ’22 victory. “It may have been a little tougher a couple years ago, but I think today was pretty comparable. A couple years ago, I think it was like that most of the days. We had two rounds here this week where it wasn’t very windy. Tomorrow, I think we’re going to see more of the same or more of what we saw today.”
But it’s the unforgiving nature of Bay Hill that seems to favor the field over the front-runners. The idea being, that the more demanding the conditions, the less room for error.
“I think [the tougher conditions] makes it easier just because you hit good golf shots you’re going to get rewarded,” Zalatoris said. “You hit some mediocre golf shots, you’re going to get penalized real quick. That’s just Bay Hill.
“I was 5 under [on the day] through 11 or 12 or whatever it was. You take that stretch and you kind of spread it out over the last 36 holes, I probably wouldn’t be as disappointed. [I’m] playing great golf. I really hit three bad shots that cost me five shots.”
Most importantly, at least to Tour executives, the demanding conditions favor the top of the marquee. The idea being, that the game’s best rise to the occasion, which is largely why the circuit finally has its signature leaderboard.
