ORLANDO, Fla. – Somewhere in Rory McIlroy’s wardrobe is a classic cardigan sweater that’s deep red and scratchy and so special.
It’s just like the one Arnold Palmer used to wear, but when McIlroy won Palmer’s namesake tournament in 2018, the King wasn’t there to slip it over his shoulders. Palmer died two years earlier, in ’16. That was the year after the McIlroy had savored the full “Arnie” treatment in his first start at Bay Hill, with a 2 ½-hour dinner with the host on the eve of the opening round.
During that dinner, McIlroy and Palmer talked business and life and family, and the King even convinced the passionately fit Northern Irishman to have a banana split. “I’ll be going to the gym this afternoon,” McIlroy joked at the time.
McIlroy finished tied for 11th at that maiden appearance at Bay Hill and tied for 27th the next year. It’s only gotten better since then for Rory at Arnie’s Place. He hasn’t finished outside the top 10 since ’16 and found himself right back at it Thursday on a warm spring day, thanks to an eagle and six birdies for a 7-under 65 and a two-shot lead.
According to legend, Palmer and McIlroy didn’t talk course strategy during that dinner in ’15. The game had evolved so much that it would have felt like a foreign language to Arnie. Besides, even now it’s impossible to say with any degree of confidence why Rory and Bay Hill make such a perfect marriage.
For McIlroy, on Thursday, it was his play on the longer holes.
Full-field scores from the Arnold Palmer Invitational
“I played the par 5s particularly well, and that was the bulk of the score,” said McIlroy, who was 5 under on the four par 5s.
Statistically, it’s his driver that makes him a perennial favorite in Orlando. He was first in strokes gained: off the tee and fourth in driving distance when he finished his round.
“When Rory’s on with his driver, there’s no one better in the world than Rory,” said countryman Graeme McDowell, who opened in 68. “You can really kind of bring this course slightly to its knees. Not totally to its knees, but slightly, if you drive it well here. He obviously feels comfortable here.”
But that’s the case at most courses McIlroy plays and, to be fair, it feels like a wild oversimplification.
“That’s a little bit one-dimensional maybe, just to say he drives it good around here,” said Adam Scott, who was paired with McIlroy on Thursday. “He drove it well today, but I thought his speed, his putting was beautiful today. You’ve got to hole a few putts to get to 7 under around here.”
To Scott’s point, McIlroy was 13th in the field in strokes gained: putting, although it’s probably a more telling stat that he didn’t have a single three-putt on Day 1.
Swing coach Sean Foley, who doesn’t coach McIlroy, sat to the side as McIlroy dutifully answered questions from the media after his round. He watched with a smirk and a particular interest, explaining that he’d watched Rory warm up and marveled at each towering long-iron shot. For someone with Foley’s pedigree it was poetry and one of the key elements that separate world-class players.
“I hit a 4-iron into 12 [from 239 yards to 30 feet] and a 4-iron into 6 [from 247 yards to 41 feet]. They were probably two of the best long irons I hit in a while,” McIlroy explained. “When I start hitting long irons like that, I know my swing’s in a pretty good place. Seeing shots like that certainly gives me some confidence.”
Following a painful near miss in January at the Dubai Desert Classic, maybe it’s that added confidence that makes McIlroy such an imposing figure this week. With a month to reflect, he can concede that Dubai was one that got away from him.
“With the experience that I have and the tournaments that I have closed out in my career, if you’re two ahead with five to play, I think you should win that, yeah,” he said.
But as he distanced himself from the field Thursday at Bay Hill – be it because of his all-world driving or majestic long-iron play or improved putting or a combination of it all – he didn’t look like a man trying to get over a tough loss.
“I was going along nicely, got it up to 5 [under], and I looked up, and he’s 6 [under]. I thought, of course he’s 6,” McDowell sighed.
McIlroy looked like a guy who is at home at Arnie’s Place and at ease with his place in the game. A guy that looks perfectly comfortable in a scratchy red cardigan.
