Tag: Bay Hill Club & Lodge

Bryson DeChambeau blasts 377-yard drive at No. 6 on Sunday at Arnold Palmer Invitational

Bryson DeChambeau blasted a 377-yard drive on the par-5 sixth hole at Bay Hill Club & Lodge on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Arnold Palmer must have loved looking down and seeing the Bryson DeChambeau long-drive show this week.

Palmer, who famously drove the green at the par-4 first hole in the final round of the 1960 U.S. Open en route to victory, lived to go for broke and his advice for competitors at the tournament bearing his name was to play boldly.

One day after DeChambeau dazzled fans with a 370-yard blast at the par-5, sixth hole at Bay Hill Club and Lodge, he crushed one even farther.

This time, DeChambeau took two deep breaths and smashed driver 377 yards. His ball cleared the water at the double-dogleg easily and bounced through the fairway into a fairway bunker. He had 88 yards left to the hole.

That was 50 yards longer than the previous longest drive on Sunday, a 327-yard poke by Brendan Steele.

Arnold Palmer Invitational: Leaderboard | Photos

Lee Westwood had the unenviable task of following DeChambeau’s blast and hit one 306 yards along a safer line, leaving him 256 yards from the hole. That was only 168 yards farther from the hole than DeChambeau. Westwood celebrated being dry off the tee by raising both arms to the sky, mimicking DeChambeau’s celebration on Saturday. As he walked up the fairway, Westwood knocked knuckles with DeChambeau.

Architect Dick Wilson created one of the great risk-reward par-5s, where competitors get to choose how much of the water they want to bite off. The farther left you aim, the shorter the approach shot. However, the sixth hole can bite both ways.

A few groups earlier, Rory McIlroy, 7 under at the time and still in the thick of the trophy hunt, rinsed two tee shots in the water. The Northern Irishman is one of the best drivers of the ball in golf and he had smoked one 361 yards on Saturday. He had enough in the tank to nearly match DeChambeau, but under the gun on Sunday, he fired multiple blanks. McIlroy did hit his third tee shot 324 yards and stick his sixth shot close and salvaged a double bogey, but it essentially ended his hopes of becoming a two-time champ at Arnie’s place.

As much as DeChambeau’s power game stole the show this week, he failed to fully take advantage of his prodigious drive. He came up short of the green with his second shot, just as he had the day before. But he pitched to 4 feet and converted for the birdie to keep pace with Westwood, and remain tied for the lead at 11 under.

DeChambeau never did aim for the sixth green during the tournament, which would have required a carry of 342 yards. But he recorded three birdies on the hole, taking advantage of his power and whipping the reduced crowds this week at Bay Hill into a frenzy.

The sixth hole at Bay Hill showed once again why it is one of the coolest holes on the PGA Tour. It gave us Victor Perez making an 11 on Saturday and DeChambeau’s smoke show. Arnie would’ve loved every bit of it.

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Justin Rose withdraws from Arnold Palmer Invitational with back spasms

Justin Rose, paired with Jordan Spieth, walked off the course at the fourth hole with back spasms on Saturday, one hole after making a 9.

Justin Rose lasted just four holes on Saturday at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando. The former World No. 1 withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational citing an injured back.

Waking up with spasms in his lower back, Rose, who entered the day at 5 under par, tried to play through the pain and what he described as a warmup that was “hard work.”

“I just couldn’t stay down in a shot,” Rose said. “I missed basically every golf shot left to start the day.”

Rose’s struggles were magnified at the par-4, third hole where he rinsed three balls in the water and made 9. He did stick around long enough to witness playing competitor Jordan Spieth make a hole-in-one at the second hole. But two holes later, he informed Spieth that he would have to play the rest of the round as a single.

Arnold Palmer Invitational: Leaderboard | Photos

“Even my little chip into the 4th hole out of the rough from the left-hand side was creating pain,” Rose said. “I just felt like it was a prudent call, just to call it at that point. But I felt bad with Jordan having momentum to sort of change, change the vibe of the group.”

Rose is scheduled to play in next week’s Players Championship. It was just the second time in 360 PGA Tour starts in his career that he’s withdrawn from a tournament.

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Patrick Reed among those who missed the cut at Arnold Palmer Invitational

ORLANDO, Fla. – On Bay Hill’s sun-splashed stage, the curtain was drawn on some of the game’s biggest names after Friday’s second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. While Corey Conners set the pace at 9 under following his 3-under-par 69, …

ORLANDO, Fla. – On Bay Hill’s sun-splashed stage, the curtain was drawn on some of the game’s biggest names after Friday’s second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

While Corey Conners set the pace at 9 under following his 3-under-par 69, among those missing the cut of 2 over were major champions Patrick Reed, Henrik Stenson and Shane Lowly.

Other major winners heading home were Francesco Molinari, who won Arnie’s annual bash in 2019, Graeme McDowell and Charl Schwartzel.

Seventy-three players made the cut and the tournament still boasts stars in contention, including Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Casey, Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth.

But here are players getting an extra two days of rest before next weeks Players Championship, the PGA Tour flagship event.

Arnold Palmer Invitational: Leaderboard | Photos