Over the first two rounds of the 2025 edition of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the challenging layout at famed Bay Hill has given the PGA Tour’s best fits.
Friday's second round played far easier than the opening 18, as conditions were much more favorable, but that didn't keep several high-profile players from missing the cut.
On the other end, though, the cream is rising to the top, as seven major champions are among the top 10 on the leaderboard after 36 holes.
Past British Open champ Shane Lowry and past U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark are holding down the top two spots and are separated by just two strokes, with Lowry at 8-under and Clark at 6-under.
Amazingly, Lowry isn't pleased with the driver he’s been using.
“There's a lot of tough tee shots out here, and you really need to trust yourself,” he said following his round. “It's getting there; it felt a little better, but I'm not as comfortable as I normally am. It's normally one of the best clubs in my bag. But I feel like when I do get it in play, I can be pretty dangerous.”
Clark would have been tied with Lowry had it not been for his troubles at the 15th hole, where he double-bogeyed the dogleg-right par-4. The hole has been lengthened in recent years, with the tee being moved back so much that PGA Tour players now hit from across a road that goes to the clubhouse. Traffic has to stop for golfers to play the hole.
Strangely, Clark fist-pumped the double, which one doesn't often see.
“I was pissed off with the tee shot, and I knew it was important to kind of keep the momentum,” Clark said afterward. “Any shot is important. I don't fist pump that much, but to me it just was more of like an internal thing, like ‘Let's go,’ and gave me kind of some momentum for the last three holes.”
He thought the toughest thing about the day was the speed of the greens. "You could be 15 feet and blow six feet by because it's so fast," Clark stated.
Position | Player | Round 1 | Round 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Shane Lowry | 69 | 67 | -8 |
2 | Wyndham Clark | 67 | 71 | -6 |
T3 | Corey Conners | 69 | 70 | -5 |
T3 | Collin Morikawa | 71 | 68 | -5 |
T5 | Russell Henley | 72 | 68 | -4 |
T5 | Rory McIlroy | 70 | 70 | -4 |
T5 | Jason Day | 76 | 64 | -4 |
T8 | Max Greyserman | 70 | 71 | -3 |
T8 | Justin Thomas | 71 | 70 | -3 |
T8 | Keegan Bradley | 69 | 72 | -3 |
As you can see on the leaderboard above, the supporting cast is made up of major champs you already know. Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Justin Thomas, and Keegan Bradley are all in the top 10 with two days of golf to go.
Jason Day flipped his score and attitude. He had posted a first-round 76 and followed it up with a 64 that included an eagle at the 6th.
“No one wants to come here and miss a cut,” he said after completing play. “We're all trying to play our best and to give myself like a good buffer after the eagle on 6, that was, I could not think about the cut line anymore and just start focusing on playing some really good shots.”
He was particularly pleased with improved putting. On the treacherous, faster-than-a-speeding-bullet Bay Hill greens, that’s a bonus.
Though two-time Masters champion and defending API champ Scottie Scheffler was not visible on the leaderboard, he is lurking in the shadows, along with Justin Rose, both at 1-under par and in 12th place. Neither had a comment when they finished.
Now, two more tough days are ahead for the best in the world. The results of the last 36 holes are likely to come down to who can stay out of the long, ball-grabbing rough, as hitting accurate shots out of it has proven to be nearly impossible. Stopping the ball on greens when hitting out of it, according to the players, is actually impossible.
Those who love to watch car-wreck golf will enjoy the weekend at Bay Hill.