Arnold Palmer Invitational: Checking-in at the Halfway Point

We are halfway through the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It’s time to check-in on some of the biggest stories, scores, and highlights from round two at Bay Hill.

It hasn’t been an easy go so far for many of the golfers at Bay Hill. Plenty of people are struggling at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and day two has shown to be even more difficult than day one.

Don’t think I am comparing this week to last week at the Honda Classic. We already have someone in the clubhouse that has a lower score through two rounds than the winner of the Honda did last week.

That honor belongs to Tyrrell Hatton and Sung Kang. Hatton shot 69 today and heads into the weekend with a one-stroke lead after shooting 68-69 to open the Arnold Palmer. Just like day one, Hatton carded five birdies. The only difference was a second bogey, leading to the one-shot difference between his two rounds.

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As for Kang, he had two bogeys, but six birdies helped him to finish with a 68, leaving him tied with Hatton for the lead.

There is only one man at -6, and he is also the one that shot the best round of the day, a 67. Danny Lee shot -5 to get within a shot of the lead and will head into the weekend looking to get his first PGA Tour win since the 2015 Greenbrier.

Harris English, last week’s winner Sungjae Im, and Rory McIlroy are next up, each at -5. We have to talk about Rory here, and the disappointing day that he had. Rory McIlroy started his second round with a one-shot lead. It wasn’t that way when the day started, but Matt Every had a historically shocking day. Every, who shot 65 yesterday for a one-shot lead on Rory, came out today and shot an 83. He became the first PGA Tour player since 2016 to lead an event after one day and miss the cut.

Remember, he shot bogey-free to open the tournament. Today, he carded four double bogeys along with four regular bogeys, and one birdie. Golf is a fickle game and can change like that in an instance.

Going back to Rory, many thought when his day started that he was going to have a good chance to extend his lead and go into the weekend with a nice cushion. Instead, he himself ran into some issues. It came to a head on the par four eighth hole.

Rory would chunk not one, but two shots, and in a row. He came back right away to birdie the next hole and would head to the back nine at -4. After some up-and-down play, he would finish the day at -5, in a T-4th place.

I always enjoy checking out the people who moved around the most on day two, with their play greatly affecting their chances of making or missing the cut. Danny Lee takes the honor today of the most impactful positive move. He shot 75-68, jumping 74 spots and finding himself now in a T-24th place.

On the other side, Talor Gooch takes the cake. We will leave Every out here, after already talking about him earlier. What is crazy about Gooch is that he shot +8 today and still made the cut. He shot 67-80 and came in right at the cut line of +3. It’s not often you see someone shoot 80 in the first two weeks and make the cut, but Gooch was able to do just that.

There were a couple of people that held the attention of the golf world today, regardless of how they played. We will start off on the negative side with Scott Piercy. After getting in hot water earlier this week, Piercy looked like he was in a good position to make the cut after an opening-round 71. He would shoot 78 in the second round, and miss the cut.

To finish it with a more uplifting note, we check-in with Brandon Matthews, who gained an exemption into the tournament after his positive actions at a separate event. Unfortunately, Matthews didn’t make the cut, shooting 75-81. Even though he missed the cut, that doesn’t take away from the fact that he is a magnificent human being.

Round three starts a bit later, as cuts have been made. You can catch the first group going off at 8:05 AM Eastern time. Now that we are into the weekend, players go off in reverse order. That means that the 36-hole leaders, Tyrrell Hatton and Sung Kang, will go off at 1:40 PM Eastern.