Heading into Saturday's third round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, it looked like it was going to be a heavyweight battle of the seven major champions in the top 10 on the 36-hole leaderboard.
But by the end of the day, most of the big hitters had taken one too many punches from the annoyingly challenging layout at famed Bay Hill.
Somewhere up there, Arnie was kicked back with his iced tea-lemonade mix and chuckling as he watched many of the planet's top players struggle with the course he made harder and harder over the year. Palmer knew all about that challenge because he won 62 times on the PGA Tour and 95 times worldwide.
So, just how hard was it out there on Saturday?
Collin Morikawa saying he's hitting his irons better than he has in a while is bad news for the rest of the field at Bay Hill
Collin Morikawa holds a narrow lead at Bay Hill with sights set on his first TOUR win since October 2023. 👀 pic.twitter.com/KAC4qSllT3
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) March 8, 2025
Wyndham Clark, who was tough enough to win a U.S. Open two years ago, slid from second place into a tie for 13th with a 4-over round of 76.
Shane Lowry, the 2019 Open Championship winner, somersaulted from first into a tie for seventh, also shooting 76.
Four-time major champ Rory McIlroy held on until late in the third round when he went bogey, birdie, bogey, bogey to finish in a tie for 10th, six shots behind the lead. Mercifully, his round ended there.
Only two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, Canadian Corey Conners, Russell Henley, and 2015 PGA Championship winner Jason Day remained near their starting positions.
Morikawa, who fired a 5-under 67 to take the 54-hole lead at 10-under, had the guts to wear a bright red shirt that looked like it would match the cardigan sweater given as part of the prize. Was he channeling Arnold Palmer? Foretelling a possible victory?
Russell Henley persisted.
“Feel like I hit my lines really well on the greens and putted really well,” Henley said after his round concluded. “Made some good par saves the last couple holes. I feel like I did everything really well. I played great.”
He was right about that. Henley had four birdies to start the back nine and ultimately got to 5-under for the day and 9-under for the tournament. He'll start Sunday's round one shot back.
Corey Conners has a new putter he likes and is relying on being patient for the final round.
“I messed around with it for a few weeks now and first event with it,” Conners said. “Feel like I'm rolling it really well and just like how it looks and feels, and yeah, been happy with the results so far.”
He is going to try to not let mistakes affect him on Sunday because everyone will make them.
Naturally, Morikawa had more upbeat things to say than anyone else.
“I could easily go back and say I left a couple birdie putts out there on a couple holes, but for the most part it was fairly stress-free,” he explained after his round.
However, the greens are getting faster and faster. Due to the speed increase, he had to adjust from Friday to Saturday, and he noted that the sun is making them faster and firmer.
Morikawa appeared in the Arnold Palmer Invitational as an amateur in 2018 and has fond memories of the experience.
“I love the golf course,” he reflected. “I thought it was great, played well, made the cut.” He tied for 64th that week.
He also said it had been some time since he had hit his irons as well as he is currently. And when a strong ball-striker like Morikawa says something like that, the rest of the field should undoubtedly take notice.
Jason Day finished with three birdies to pull into fourth place at 7-under.
“They are glassy,” he said about the greens. “Any time you put your putter down and you start sliding on your putter, that's when you know the greens are getting pretty slick,” Day noted. “They're changing color, and you can kind of start to see the change in color.”
Day has reunited with his former swing coach Colin Swatton, and he has seen improvement.
Morikawa, Henley, Conners, and Day are the frontrunners, and it would be a shock if Morikawa did not pull out a victory on Sunday. However, Day is a former major winner himself and the 2016 champion of this event, so he undoubtedly has the kind of experience needed to notch what would be just his second PGA Tour victory since 2018.