ORLANDO – On Sunday, someone will don the winner’s red alpaca sweater, the type Arnold Palmer wore with his unmistakable swagger and made famous. In a sport that has its share of green jackets and tartan and seersucker coats to celebrate its champions, the red sweater is a perfect fit for the champion of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Zach Johnson, a man who already has possessed a green jacket in his closet, may have said it best when asked what he’d do with Arnie’s red sweater: “I’d turn the A/C down really low and sleep in it.”
The leaderboard is stacked heading into the final round at Bay Hill. There are 11 players within five shots including its defending champion, Scottie Scheffler, past champions Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton, major champions Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, Ryder Cuppers Harris English and Viktor Hovland, the reigning Arnold Palmer Rookie of the Year Cameron Young, emerging talent Pierceson Coody and one of the hottest players in the game Max Homa. But they’re all chasing unheralded Kurt Kitayama, who is seeking his first PGA Tour title.
Kitayama, 30, who held the 36-hole lead, overcame a shaky start to make birdies on two of his final three holes and card an even-par 72 to remain at 9 under and a stroke ahead of Hovland (66) and Scheffler (68).
“Just proud of the way I fought. Started off fairly solid first three holes and then one loose swing and I’m 2 over,” said Katayama, who made a double bogey at the fourth hole. “There’s no giving up. It’s just kind of in my nature, I feel like. Even when it’s going bad, you can’t just like pack it in. You fight for every shot.”
The tee shot OB right that led to a double at No. 4 proved to be a fluke – he hit 12 of 14 fairways on the day and ranks first on the week in driving accuracy – and after another dropped shot – a bogey at the ninth – he rebounded to make his first birdie of the day at 10.
“That was a big putt I made,” he said of the 24-foot birdie. “It got me settled down a lot more, for sure. Things felt like they could have easily spiralled out of control there. And then the finish, two of the last three. So that was good.”
And how will Kitayama, who is searching for his first Tour title, handle playing the underdog role amongst so many of golf’s biggest names on Sunday?
“I think you just kind of accept it,” he said. “You just look at the leaderboard, the rankings and what they have done. People will probably be cheering for them louder, you know. So there’s nothing I can do. Just embrace it.”
Hovland charges
Arnold Palmer would have approved of Viktor Hovland’s play so far this week. He started the tournament with a hole-out eagle on Thursday, made an ace at No. 7 on Friday and bought the media drinks – Mr. Palmer’s favorite, Ketel One vodka no less – and then shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 on Saturday to vault into contention. Hovland, who tied for second last year, is one stroke back heading into Sunday and paired with Kitayama in the final group.
Hovland has come to accept that playing at Arnie’s Place is going to be mentally draining and a grind, but this week he has been pleased with how they’ve kept the greens from becoming too slick.
“There’s still some friction on the greens,” he said. “There’s still some greenness to ’em. If you hit good shots, you can get the ball to stop. But it’s definitely not easy.”
Nor is dealing with the fickle winds at Bay Hill. When told that the wind is expected to lay down on Sunday, Hovland smiled and said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Today is the 31st PGA Tour round of the season for Viktor Hovland. He's shot par or better in all 31 of them.
That's the longest such streak to begin any PGA Tour season the last 40 years. Previous mark was held by Vijay Singh in 2001 (30).
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) March 4, 2023
Scheffler’s defense
Scottie Scheffler already has defended one title this season – at the WM Phoenix Open – and he’s not going down without a fight at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, either. Scheffler made five birdies in his final seven holes, including on the final three holes, to post 4-under 68 and share second place with Hovland, just a stroke back of Kitayama.
Scheffler got off to an indifferent start with two bogeys in his first five holes but stayed patient.
“I think the chip-in on 12 kind of turned around the day,” he said of his hole-out from 20 feet off the green. “I hit a good drive off the tee there, got in a weird spot. Hit a pretty good shot from there and got in another weird spot. It was nice to see that ball go in.”
If Scheffler wins, he would become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2007 to defend multiples titles in a season, and he would return to World No. 1 as long as Jon Rahm, who is currently T-44, finishes worse than a two-way tie for second.
“I think around this golf course, as you see today, there’s guys that have gone from very far behind to in the lead,” Scheffler said. “If this was Sunday Viktor and I may be going into a playoff and he started pretty far behind. Around this place if you can get hot you’re never too far out of it. I just tried to keep reminding myself of that.”
Hatton’s putting fix works wonders
Past API champion Tyrrell Hatton is seeking a matching red sweater to go with the one he collected in 2020 and keeps at his home in nearby Lake Nona.
Hatton was frustrated after shooting 72 on Friday, finishing 3 over on his final five holes despite hitting only one bad shot in his estimation.
“That’s the way this course is set up,” he said.
Equally frustrating was his performance on the putting green, where he ranked No. 97 for the second round in Strokes Gained: Putting (-1.382).
“I’ve always putted well here, and the first two days I struggled with my reads and it was a little frustrating,” he explained. “Today, I stood a hair wider and from my first putt on the putting green it felt good. It’s a weird game where you get a good feeling and you just try to run with it.”
On Saturday, Hatton ranked first in SGP (+4.192), and shot a bogey-free 66 to climb within two strokes of the lead. It marked his 11th round in the 60s at Bay Hill since 2017, most of any player in that span.
“I holed a really good par putt on 10,” Hatton said. “And that kind of, I guess, just really got me going.”
Rory, JT, Jordan: Oh, my
This leaderboard has a little of everything. The 120-man invitational field is playing for $20 million this week, and the big boys have come out to play.
Rory McIlroy, after an opening 73, has surged into contention with a 4-under 68 on Saturday to improve to 6-under 210 and tied for fifth with Harris English.
“I got myself right into the tournament, into the thick of things for tomorrow,” McIlroy said. “Any time you can go bogey-free on the weekend at Bay Hill you’re doing something right.”
McIlroy also noted the impressive performance by former Texas grad and Korn Ferry Tour rookie Pierceson Coody, who is making the most of a sponsor exemption this week.
“The fact that Pierceson’s here and made the cut and then goes out and shoots 66 this morning and all of a sudden he finds himself in the golf tournament,” McIlroy said of Coody, who improved to 5 under. “But he’s obviously been playing well on the Korn Ferry Tour and it’s great to see guys like that get an opportunity.”
Coody will be paired in the final round with reigning PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas, who shot even-par 72 on Saturday and is T-7. Thomas made just one birdie all day – at No. 5 – and spoiled a bogey-free day with a dropped shot at the last.
Jordan Spieth is the third player at 5-under 211 after struggling to 74 on Saturday.
“I played poorly. Really just didn’t hit my driver well. I found only a couple fairways. At this place that’s really bad. I mean, there’s nothing you can do. So I just have to find more fairways tomorrow,” Spieth said. “Just kind of regressed. Had just a really off day.”
With winds gusting up to 25 miles per hour Saturday, 41 of the 72 players who made the cut shot over par. Sunday is another day and one would expect either Thomas or Spieth, if not both, to make a few more birdies.
