The post Why an injured Rory Sabbatini performed unusual, chivalrous act at Bay Hill appeared first on Golf.

The post Why an injured Rory Sabbatini performed unusual, chivalrous act at Bay Hill appeared first on Golf.

This won’t surprise you, any of you who are longtime Rory-watchers:

Rory Sabbatini, Olympic medal winner and evolving golfing statesman, performed a most uncommon and chivalrous act during the third round of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

He withdrew from play after 13 holes with an inflamed right knee. His scorecard was nothing to write home about. (Sabbatini, who was eight over for the day, can call Slovakia, South Africa and the United States home.) Intra-round withdrawals happen much more commonly now than they once did.

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But here’s something that never happens: from 14 to the house Sabbatini kept walking with his playing partner, Anirban Lahiri, the 34-year-old veteran from India. Sabbatini’s purpose was simply to keep Lahiri company, to keep his scorecard and to slow down Lahiri’s pace. That way, as a single golfer, Lahiri would not be nipping at the heels of the two players in front of him, Lucas Glover and Dylan Frittelli. It’s ironic because Sabbatini is a famously fast-playing, and one might say impatient, golfer.

“To be honest about it, there’s only about 20 percent of the guys out there that I would do that for,” Sabbatini said Monday afternoon in a phone interview. “But Ariban is obviously one of them. He’s such a gentleman. I would definitely consider him a friend.

“In fact, it was Ariban who first asked if I should be playing, because my knee was blowing up and I couldn’t really make a proper swing. On 11 he mentioned something to a rules official, that I was in pain.”

After Sabbatini went WDWK (a new term for withdrawing from a tournament but continuing to walk with your playing partner) Golf Channel coverage showed Sabbatini carefully raking a greenside bunker. That was on the par-3 17th after Lahiri needed two shots to get out of it. The broadcaster and former player Peter Jacobsen noted in his many years in the game he had never seen a player withdraw and not head into the clubhouse. Jacobsen is 68, by the way. He’s seen a lot of golf.

“I sent my caddie with my bag in after I withdrew,” said Sabbatini, a six-time winner on Tour. “I figured if I raked the bunker, it would give Ariban and his caddie a little more time to read the green.” Ariban made a six-footer to salvage a bogey.

Sabbatini raked the trap with considerable care.

“I’ve always enjoyed [bunker raking],” Sabbatini said. “I was taught as a junior fix your ball mark and one other and leave the bunker better than you found it.” Sabbatini said that sometimes, in competition, he likes to rake his own bunker for a moment of contemplation.

He’s an interesting guy.

Sabbatini said he was not aware that short news accounts and a brief clip of his bunker raking had made an impression on various golf websites and social-media channels. “I don’t really follow that stuff,” he said.

“I did hear an ignorant comment from somebody in the gallery, like ‘Way to go, Rory, faking an injury to get out of the tournament, Arnold Palmer would be really proud,’” Sabbatini said.

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If you know anything about the life and golfing times of Arnold Palmer, you know he would have done anything he could to stay in the tournament. He would have surely applauded Sabbatini’s courteous act. Sabbatini noted how much he admired Arnold, and how much he enjoyed playing in the tournament that bears Arnold‘s name.

Sabbatini was limping noticeably Saturday on the unusually flat Tour course but said the act of walking did not make his injury worse. He said it was the tension of the swing that was the cause of the knee issue. He said he was consulting with a doctor about his knee and considering a cortisone shot.

He is not in the field for the Players Championship this week. He hopes to play next week in Tampa but said he does not know if he will be able to do so. He is 45 and has had a long and fruitful career but also an injury-prone one.

Lahiri shot a third-round 76. Sabbatini said Lahiri simply thanked him for staying on the course and keeping him company. On Sunday, Lahiri, a former Presidents Cup player, shot 82.

“I’ve had plenty of rounds where I’ve played by myself and if you’re first off it’s fine,” Sabbatini said. He could recall being in a threesome where one player withdrew, leaving two golfers. He could not recall ever being in a twosome where one player withdrew.

“If you can keep the other guy company, I think it’s a good thing to do,” Sabbatini said.

He may have started a new tradition, Saturday afternoon at Bay Hill. The WDWK. Rory Sabbatini has made it a thing.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

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The post ‘Embarrassing’ range swing starts pro’s day, $908,000 payout caps it appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Embarrassing’ range swing starts pro’s day, $908,000 payout caps it appeared first on Golf.

You’ve been there. We’ve all been there. After a couple of days of uneven golf, a big round looms. Butterflies flutter in your belly. As you approach the range to get loose, you’re overcome by an unsettling mix of optimism and uncertainty. Who knows what’s coming?

Pros feel that weirdness, too.

Ask Tyrrell Hatton. After a steady three-under 69 in the opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week, the volatile Englishman’s next two rounds were anything but. In the second round, he actually scored one stroke better than his Thursday mark but said he didn’t hit the ball well; he just got lucky with his misses. “I think the score is pretty flattering,” he said. “I know that I can’t keep hitting it that badly certainly with it’s going to be playing much tougher this weekend.”

In the third round, Hatton’s misses caught up to him. Conditions were admittedly challenging at Bay Hill, but Hatton’s ballstriking was once again loose. After seven bogeys, he signed for a six-over 78 that dropped him eight strokes behind 54-hole co-leaders Talor Gooch and Billy Horschel. He did not appear primed for a Sunday charge.  

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That was the head space Hatton occupied when he strolled on to the Bay Hill range Sunday morning. Who knew what was coming?

For starters, one of the worst pull-hooks you’ll ever see from a top-20 player. It came on Hatton’s second driver swing. “I missed the 9th fairway left from the driving range,” Hatton said Sunday evening, recalling the incident with delightful candor. “I didn’t shout fore out of pure embarrassment that no one on a driving range should ever have to shout fore. That kind of shows you how bad it was.”

The swing epitomized what Hatton characterized, all in all, as a “shocking warmup.”

He seemed destined for another 78 (if not 88), but then the darndest thing happened.

“I don’t know what I found, but just started hitting the ball good again,” he said.

Hatton said he liberated himself from the horrors of his range session by having “one simple feeling.” He’s prone to leaning too much into his toes on his backswing, he said, so on Sunday he focused on keeping his weight balanced in the middle of feet. “If I can kind of keep my weight more centered,” he said, “then I’m more likely to strike the ball a bit better.

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“I kind of just went out there with that thought. Today it worked. Some days it does. Some days it doesn’t.”

It worked, all right. During a brutally tough round, when the wind was swirling, the greens were humming and the scoring average was a meaty 75.481, Hatton offset four bogeys with seven birdies to shoot a three-under 69. The rags-to-riches effort rocketed him up the leaderboard; when the dust settled Sunday evening, he found himself in a tie for second with Horschel and Viktor Hovland, good for a cool $908,000.

“My job’s done,” Hatton said after visiting the scorer’s table, with seven pairings ahead of him still on the course. “I’ll just sit back and wait, see what happens, and we’ll go from there.”

A golfer’s job is never done, of course. Next stop for Hatton: the Players Championship, up the road from Bay Hill in Ponte Vedra Beach. The deepest field in golf awaits him. So, too, does more time on the range.

Hopefully without the need to holler “fore!”

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The post How a U.S. Open champion was crowned Sunday (at Bay Hill!) appeared first on Golf.

The post How a U.S. Open champion was crowned Sunday (at Bay Hill!) appeared first on Golf.

ORLANDO — There’s water on one side and rough on the other and the bone-dry fairways are firmer than the roof of your courtesy car and about as wide. The sun is out, the wind is up and if you can shoot even you have flat-out golfed your ball. Arnold Palmer always wanted a U.S. Open at one of his courses, and on Sunday he got one, three months ahead of Father’s Day.

Sunday, Sunday at Bay Hill Speedway.

Jon Rahm, who won the National Open at Torrey Pines last year, needed three putts on 16 in the finale, and when he came off the green he raised his putter head high above his head as if readying to smash it into the rear bumper of a parked golf cart.

The great and large Spaniard held off that swing but not the swift kick he gave to the boom mic beside the left Mastercard tee marker on 18 after his last tee shot finished in the gnarly right rough. You have to like a man who cares, though he, of course, should have replaced the microphone himself. A tournament staffer did it for him, immediately and silently.

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Rahm signed for 74 and the word was out even before his shirttails were: Rahm would not be doing media on this Sunday afternoon. His playing partner, Aaron Wise, returned 74, too, though his had fewer histrionics.

Pairings are a funny business and there was no hand-of-man influence that brought together two U.S. Open winners from the north of Ireland for Sunday’s 1 p.m. tee time, Graeme McDowell (2010, Pebble) and Rory McIlroy (2011, Congressional). Both men shot 76 — not too shabby on a day when six players shot 80 or worse — and lived to tell the tale. (Lucas Glover, winner of the 2009 U.S. Open, shot 81.) “I feel punch drunk, to be honest,” McIlroy said.

If you watched the golf on TV over the weekend, you likely saw the defending Arnold Palmer Invitational winner, Bryson DeChambeau, your 2020 U.S. Open winner at Winged Foot. You didn’t see him on the course this week — he withdrew as he recovers from who knows what exactly — but he came out of limbo again and again in a TV spot in heavy rotation for a shaft manufacturer called LA Golf. If you thought the company made sunglasses, it’s totally understandable.

Gary Woodland, stolid and solid and the winner of the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, played a superb round of golf on Sunday — for 16 holes. But he closed with 5-5 (double bogey, bogey) for 73, one over par and was more pointed than even McIlroy. “I’m glad I’m off that course,” he said. “I’m glad I’m done.

“The last two weeks, it’s just a mental grind.”

PGA National, Week I of the Florida Swing: water and wind and rough.

Bay Hill, Week II of the Florida Swing: water and wind and rough.

TPC Sawgrass, Week III of the Florida Swing: water and wind and rough.

Arnold Palmer was born and raised on the U.S. Open, U.S. Opens at Oakmont in Pittsburgh, down the road from his family’s home in Latrobe, Pa., most particularly. He once said that, as a golfer, he was never the same after winning the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills, in Denver, that he had checked off, at age 30, the single-biggest professional ambition in his life.

Bay Hill was Palmer’s crowning achievement as an architect. (It’s a Dick Wilson course in the club history but over the years Palmer shaped every green, every bunker, every tee, every square inch.) He wanted the course to play hard for his tournament and it did. 

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Scottie Scheffler, at 25, has now played in five U.S. Opens. He missed the cut in 2016 and ’19 but he was the low amateur in 2017, and last year at Torrey he had a T7 finish. Then came his fifth Open start, the 2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

An hour after victory, he was still wearing his game-day shoes and still had his glove in his back left pocket but now he was wearing the red Arnold Palmer cardigan awarded to the winner here. Scheffler shot an even-par 72 on Sunday to win by a shot. As Johnny Miller (winner of the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont) used to say, “Pars are the good guys at U.S. Opens. They wear white hats.”

“Par is a pretty good score on every hole out here,” Scheffler said in victory. “I’m never upset with par.”

Your new U.S. Open winner is lanky, easy-going, unpretentious. He doesn’t make things harder than they are, especially when they’re hard enough on their own.

“This course is a total beatdown,” he said.

U.S. Open II, at The Country Club, begins June 16.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com.

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ORLANDO — The touring golf professional David Lipsky hopes to play his way into the next week’s Players Championship. All he has to do is win this week. It’s possible. After two rounds of one-under 71 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he’s within chasing distance of the lead here at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge.

That he’s in the field at all, well — it’s a miracle!

Lipsky was the API’s second alternate. Second alternates in small-field, big-purse invitationals like the Arnold Palmer Invitational rarely get in. And when the forecast is for four days of warm, beautiful weather, as the tournament will be blessed with this week? Well, as it is written: Good luck, dude! 

Still, after a T55 finish last week at the Honda Classic, Lipsky, who is 33, made the drive from West Palm Beach to Orlando, just in case.

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“I was in at Puerto Rico,” Lipsky said on Thursday, referring to the alternate Tour event being played this week. “I had a flight there for Wednesday afternoon, from Orlando, figuring I’d be on it. I figured, ‘Second alternate, there’s no chance.’ But then Bryson DeChambeau withdrew, so I was first alternate. You never want to wish for an injury for another player, but I got a call Wednesday morning that Jason Day withdrew and I was in.”

In the tournament, that is. But not in the Wednesday pro-am. Lipsky is accustomed to getting funny looks when meeting his pro-am playing partners.

“They know my name, they’ve seen it on a sheet, but when I show up, I’m used to getting second looks,” Lipsky said.

David Lipsky’s father is Jewish and from Los Angeles. David Lipsky’s mother was born in Korea, is not Jewish and is now an American citizen. David more resembles his mother, Yon Suk Lipsky, and inherited his religion from his father, Aaron Lipsky.

“I wouldn’t say I’m at all observant, but I’m definitely Jewish,” Lipsky said. “As far as I know, I’m the only Jewish player out here. And when I play in Los Angeles or in New York, with the big Jewish populations there, I hear from Jewish fans.”

Actually, there are at least two other active Jewish Tour pros, Daniel Berger and Max Homa.

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Lipsky missed the cut at Riviera last month where, it happens, two Jewish golfers have won, and they are both from Los Angeles: Homa, for sure, and Corey Pavin. Kind of. OK, not really. Pavin, the 1995 U.S. Open winner, was raised as a Jew but became a born-again Christian in the early 1990s. He won the Los Angeles stop in 1994 and ‘95.

Bruce Fleisher, the late Miami golf legend who won the 1968 U.S. Amateur, was Jewish.

Al Geiberger? Nope.

David Lipsky? Yes.

Lipsky played with an interesting group for the first two rounds. Stepping in for Day, he got placed with two other notable and affable golfers: Marc Leishman, a tall Aussie, and Tyrrell Hatton, a powerful Englishman who leans to round in his middle.

And then there was Lipsky, with his Korean and American and Jewish background and medium build. (Maybe 5-10ish, maybe 160ish.) Three golfers who have played the world in one group. Cool to see.

This David Lipsky is very good at golf. He won on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020. He won twice on the Asian Tour. He’s won in Switzerland, and he’s won in South Africa.

“After I won in Switzerland, a guy came up to me and said, ‘Would you be interested in becoming an Israeli citizen and representing Israel in golf in the Olympics?’ And I said, ‘No, I appreciate it, but I’m American.

“A lot of times, when I get to the first tee at pro-ams, guys will say, ‘Oh, we thought you’d be Polish or something.’ And I’m like, ‘Nope — I’m American.’”

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

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On to the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The King’s course. The King’s event. 

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Palmer will forever be a presence at Bay Hill. This year, though, the tournament has a notable absence. Defending champ, Bryson DeChambeau, won’t be in the mix. He has withdrawn due to injury. But world-number one Jon Rahm is part of a formidable field that also features Viktor Hovland, Scottie Scheffler, Hideki Matsuyama and past Bay Hill winners Tyrell Hatton, Marc Leishman and Rory McIlroy.  

Another name that merits mention is Erick Lindgren, GOLF.com’s expert prognosticator, who is looking to build on an already profitable season. Our weekly game remains the same. We give Lindgren a $1,000 gambling budget (just play money) and he gives us his five top wagers. Here are Lindgren’s plays for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which kicks off Thursday morning. 

(Looking to play any of these bets yourself? We teamed with BetMGM and the online sports book is offering a Risk-Free Bet of up to $1,000.)

Viktor Hovland to win, +1,600 (wager: $300)

The fourth-ranked golfer in the world is also one of the hottest golfers on the planet. “He will be right there on Sunday,” Lindgren says. 

Corey Conners to win, +6,600 (wager: $100) 

It’s just a matter of time before the sweet-swinging Canadian notches his second Tour win. Lindgren likes his chances of making good at an event where he finished third last year. 

Tom Hoge Top 10, +650 (wager $300) 

Four beefy par-3s and a cluster of gettable par-5s place a premium on long irons and fairway woods. “Hoge checks those boxes, big time,” Lindgren says. 

Hudson Swafford Top 10, +1,400 (wager: $200) 

Always wizardly with his up-and-downs, Swafford has been striping it of late, Lindgren says. “Let’s ride his good history.” 

Keegan Bradley first-round leader, +6,600 (wager: $100) 

“Nobody starts faster compared to their average rounds,” Lindgren says. At the fat odds, he’s banking on Bradley to go low before the winds kick up on the weekend. 

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The post I shot 92 on the PGA Tour last week. Here’s why it won’t keep me down appeared first on Golf.

The post I shot 92 on the PGA Tour last week. Here’s why it won’t keep me down appeared first on Golf.

If you know what happened in my second round at Bay Hill last week, you probably were feeling sorry for me. You may have even felt pity.

Here I was, a longtime professional golfer, shooting a 20-over 92 — a 92! — in the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a tournament I won in 1990. How else could I feel but embarrassed, humiliated, ready to jump in the lake on 18 and never be heard from again?

Sorry to disappoint you but that wasn’t how I was feeling. Quite the opposite, actually. I was having a good time. Despite everything.

Yes, I hit some bad shots. OK, a lot of bad shots. In fact, it was the worst round I have ever played in competition and that goes back to my junior-golf days.

But I was playing the game I loved at my favorite golf course, with my wife, Denise, and plenty of friends in the gallery. The weather was sunny, with just a slight breeze. How could I not be smiling?

Especially given the fact that, if things had gone a little differently in 2014, I wouldn’t have made it this far. I underwent quadruple-bypass heart surgery which, as you can imagine, is a heck of a lot worse than quadruple-bogeys. Add on the problems I’ve had with my back and shoulder — I won’t bore you with the details — and I’m lucky to be playing golf anywhere, let alone on a championship course such as Bay Hill. 

Even as one dispiriting shot lead to another last week, I told myself I was not going to give up. I could have shot one hundred and ninety-two and I still would have hit every shot — and tried my best on every shot.

Which was exactly what I did. I just wasn’t able to execute. This was only my second tournament since last year’s event at Bay Hill. The other was the Cologuard Classic a few weeks earlier in Tucson, on the PGA Tour Champions, where I finished third to last.

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I am sad about one thing, though: I’ll likely never get another chance to play Bay Hill in tournament competition.

You see, the Tour has a new rule that states in order for players to compete in a specific event — including past champions — they must maintain a scoring average no worse than three strokes higher than the field’s scoring average for the year. I found out in an email I received from the Tour on Tuesday, moments before I was to play a practice round, that this rule would apply to next year’s tournament.

Which meant, in all likelihood, I was about to play in my last event at Bay Hill after 32 consecutive starts there. Talk about putting the pressure on.

I proceeded to shoot 79 on the first day, which included a 35-foot birdie putt on 18. Then came the 92. I missed the cut by a mile and declined to sign my scorecard. Why? Easy. I didn’t want the Tour to use that score against me. Yes, my first-round 79 will put me way over the scoring-average limit to earn an invitation back to Bay Hill in 2022, but I didn’t want my average to be any higher than that. I guess it was a protest of sorts, a futile attempt to keep my invite to a tournament I deeply love.

Bay Hill, where I am a member, means the world to me, and not just because I won there. It’s because of how I won there, by holing that memorable 176-yard 7-iron on the final hole for an eagle to beat Greg Norman and Larry Mize. I was 21 years old and a rookie at the time. It was the second of my three Tour victories. Two came in 1990, the other in 2005.

I don’t think much about the miracle shot during tournament week, but when I’m with friends, it comes up quite a bit. I don’t mind. I’m honored to be part of the history of a tournament that has Mr. Palmer’s name attached.

Look, I have no illusions. I know, at 52, I’m not the player I used to be. Not even close.

Take the first hole last Friday. I killed my drive. But when I got to my ball and saw the nearby scoreboard, I learned it had traveled only 245 yards. One of my playing partners outdrove me by 55 yards! I usually hit it these days about 260, maybe 265. Bay Hill is a long course. I just didn’t have the speed I need in my swing, and my putting needs a lot of work.

Yet, as I didn’t give up last Friday, I’m not going to give up on my future. My goal is to play in as many events as I can on the PGA Tour Champions. I’m busy writing for sponsor exemptions, but if I don’t get them, I’ll be out there trying to qualify.

The 92 does not define me as a golfer and it won’t define me in my life going forward.

It was simply one round of golf, nothing more. I was doing something I loved. That’s all you can ask for in life.

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Tyrrell Hatton’s Jekyll-and-Hyde week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational added a brutal new chapter Sunday.

Things started on the wrong foot Thursday, when the 29-year-old Brit put his chances of making the cut in jeopardy with an opening-round 77. A brilliant Friday 67 steered Bay Hill’s returning champion back to earth, but left him with plenty of work to do over the weekend.

For a moment on Saturday, it seemed Hatton’s opening round was an aberration. He played his final nine holes at five under and entered the final round at a respectable six under for the week, five strokes off the lead. Another solid round on Sunday would place him in prime position for a backdoor top-10, and could even leave him in contention if conditions firmed up further.

Instead, Hatton’s final round at the Arnold Palmer began with a (literal) dud on the very first hole. After pushing his drive left on the 459-yard par-4, Hatton attempted to punch his second shot through the rough and onto the green ahead.

When he made contact, Hatton’s ball didn’t pierce through the air on a trajectory toward its target, and it surely didn’t travel the remaining 181 yards to the pin.

No, Hatton’s ball skipped out of the rough by only a foot or two. After a split second, it caught a tuft of grass up ahead, bounced a few more times and came to rest.

He’d topped it. And worse yet? He still faced a brutal up-and-down to save par just feet from where he’d originally stood.

Ever emotional on the course, Hatton swooshed his club toward the turf in disgust. His ball had traveled a whopping 41 yards.

He would go on to make bogey on the hole, his first of five on the day through only 15 holes.

Ironically enough, Hatton’s performance could leave his overall score flirting with even par for the week — a fitting equilibrium after a week filled with anything but.

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We’ve reached the final round at the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational. Below is everything you need to know about the tournament’s purse money, including payout information and winner’s share.

2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational final round preview

If you were looking for a touchpoint moment in the early PGA Tour season, you found one in Bryson DeChambeau Saturday. The 27-year-old U.S. Open champion set the golf world ablaze on Saturday when he blasted a 370-yard drive over the lake on the famed sixth hole. While DeChambeau didn’t attempt to drive the green on the water-guarded par-5, his celebration after connecting with his tee shot will likely serve as this weekend’s lasting image. He enters Sunday’s final round just a stroke back of the lead and with a boatload of momentum.

At the 54-hole mark, Bryson trails only Lee Westwood, who is looking for his first victory in more than a decade. Westwood (-11) will have to fend off a star-studded list of chasers in addition to the surging DeChambeau, including Jordan Spieth (-9), Tommy Fleetwood (-8) and Rory McIlroy (-7).

Below is the payout information, including winner’s share, for the Arnold Palmer Invitational’s $9.3 million purse; you can catch the action from 12:30-2:30 p.m. ET on Golf Channel, and from 2:30 p.m. till the completion of play on NBC.

Arnold Palmer Invitational payout information, winner’s share

1. $1,674,000

2. $1,013,700

3. $641,700

4. $455,700

5. $381,300

6. $337,125

7. $313,875

8. $290,625

9. $272,025

10. $253,425

11. $234,825

12. $216,225

13. $197,625

14. $179,025

15. $169,725

16. $160,425

17. $151,125

18. $141,825

19. $132,525

20. $123,225

21. $113,925

22. $104,625

23. $97,185

24. $89,745

25. $82,305

26. $74,865

27. $72,075

28. $69,285

29. $66,495

30. $63,705

31. $60,915

32. $58,125

33. $55,335

34. $53,010

35. $50,685

36. $48,360

37. $46,035

38. $44,175

39. $42,315

40. $40,455

41. $38,595

42. $36,735

43. $34,875

44. $33,015

45. $31,155

46. $29,295

47. $27,435

48. $25,947

49. $24,645

50. $23,901

51. $23,343

52. $22,785

53. $22,413

54. $22,041

55. $21,855

56. $21,669

57. $21,483

58. $21,297

59. $21,111

60. $20,925

61. $20,739

62. $20,553

63. $20,367

64. $20,181

65. $19,995

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We’ve reached the final round at the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational. Below is everything you need to know to watch the tournament’s final round at Bay Hill Sunday, including broadcast, streaming and tee time information.

Arnold Palmer Invitational final round preview

Bryson DeChambeau was the story of the day on Saturday in golf. The big-swinging 27-year-old wowed the golf world when he blasted a 370-yard drive over the lake on No. 6 at Bay Hill, the famed par-5 where John Daly once made an 18. DeChambeau elected not to attempt the miraculous feat of driving the green — an apparent 350-yard carry — but his drive might have had the juice to get there, had he so chosen.

DeChambeau is one stroke off the 54-hole lead, trailing only Lee Westwood (-11) atop the leaderboard. On Sunday, Westwood will look to stave off a series of big names — including DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy — as he attempts to seal his first PGA Tour win in a decade.

Elsewhere, Jordan Spieth recorded a very Jordan Spieth third round Saturday, making ace and hooking his ensuing tee shot into the water on consecutive swings. Spieth enters Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at nine under, two strokes off Westwood’s lead and firmly in the hunt for his first victory since 2017.

How to watch the Arnold Palmer Invitational on TV

With a cable subscription, you can watch the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational on Golf Channel and NBC. 

Sunday, March 7: 12:30-2:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 2:30-6 p.m. ET (NBC)

How to watch the Arnold Palmer Invitational online, streaming

You can stream the final round of the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational in various ways. You can watch the Golf Channel coverage at golfchannel.com/watch and NBC broadcasts at nbc.com/live by logging in with your cable credentials. Another way to catch the action is with PGA Tour Live, which also includes featured group coverage, though you’ll need a subscription to access the stream.

In addition, fans can watch featured hole coverage on Sunday via ESPN+.

Sign up for ESPN+ today to watch featured hole coverage from 23 PGA Tour events in 2021

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2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational final round tee times (ET):

No. 1 tee

7:45 a.m. – Rickie Fowler, Doc Redman

7:55 a.m. – Brandt Snedeker, Victor Perez

8:05 a.m. – Kevin Na, Henrik Norlander

8:15 a.m. – Luke List, Robert MacIntyre

8:25 a.m. – Patton Kizzire, Russell Knox

8:35 a.m. – Erik van Rooyen, Lucas Glover

8:45 a.m. – Steve Stricker, Byeong Hun An

8:55 a.m. – Mark Hubbard, Chez Reavie

9:05 a.m. – Talor Gooch, John Huh

9:15 a.m. – Sebastian Muñoz, Will Gordon

9:25 a.m. – Charles Howell III, Zach Johnson

9:35 a.m. – Bernd Wiesberger, Pat Perez

9:55 a.m. – Matt Wallace, Maverick McNealy

10:05 a.m. – Brendon Todd, Danny Lee

10:15 a.m. – Jason Dufner, Bo Hoag

10:25 a.m. – Viktor Hovland, Tyler Duncan

10:35 a.m. – Brendan Steele, Harris English

10:45 a.m. – Patrick Rogers, Harold Varner III

10:55 a.m. – Cameron Tringale, Hideki Matsuyama

11:05 a.m. – Ian Poulter, Will Zalatoris

11:15 a.m. – Keith Mitchell, Alex Noren

11:25 a.m. – Emiliano Grillo, Padraig Harrington

11:35 a.m. Max Homa, Martin Laird

11:45 a.m. – Braden Grace, Danny Willett

12:05 p.m. – Kristoffer Ventura, Kevin Kisner

12:15 p.m. – Sungjae Im, Denny McCarthy

12:25 p.m. – Matthew Fitzpatrick, Paul Casey

12:35 p.m. – Lanto Griffin, Andrew Putnam

12:45 p.m. – Chris Kirk, Christian Bezuidenhout

12:55 p.m. – Jason Day, Jason Kokrak

1:05 p.m. – Tyrrell Hatton, Charley Hoffman

1:15 p.m. – Richy Werenski, Rory McIlroy

1:25 p.m. – Doug Ghim, Jazz Janewattananond

1:35 p.m. – Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood

1:45 p.m. – Corey Conners, Keegan Bradley

1:55 p.m. – Lee Westwood, Bryson DeChambeau

The post 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational live coverage: How to watch the final round Sunday appeared first on Golf.

The post Yes, Jordan Spieth hears all the noise around his game. Here’s how he handles it appeared first on Golf.

The post Yes, Jordan Spieth hears all the noise around his game. Here’s how he handles it appeared first on Golf.

ORLANDO — For a game that invented its own version of sotto vocce — the “golf whisper” — it’s amazing how much screaming golf produces these days.

Jordan Spieth’s gotta fire his caddie!

That would be Michael Greller, the only caddie he has ever had as a pro.

He’s gotta cut bait with that teacher!

That would be Cameron McCormick, the only swing coach Spieth has ever had.

He’s gotta strengthen his grip.

The grip he has used to break 70 ten thousand times, going back to his early days as a junior-golf prodigy in Dallas.

He’s gotta practice less, practice more, get a different driver, a different putter, move to South Florida, play more with JT, get off the PGA Tour Policy Board, get off Twitter, play more, play less, find a shrink. He’s got to…

BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH.

So much outside noise directed at the dude. (That is, if a married, broad-shouldered, first-born 27-year-old with a receding hair line and a wise head underneath it can be called a dude.) So much noise directed at a golfer — many would say the most likable player on Tour today — whose game is rooted in artistry, in flair, in the internal conversation he shares so willingly. In the music in his head. That’s our Jordan, in fat times and lean ones.

In a press conference on Wednesday morning, before his pro-am round in his first Arnold Palmer Invitational, Spieth was asked how he handles all that noise. Because he’s one of the great talkers in the game today (in the tradition of Lee Trevino and Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington), here’s what he said, slightly edited but largely in full:

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“I think I’ve done a little bit of everything. I’ve probably let [the noise] in at times more than I should. I think it’s just part of kind of growing up out here. I feel confident at where I’m at now. I feel really good about plans going forward. I feel good about how to handle some of that extra noise. It’s kind of hard to prepare for it at 21, 22, 23 years old. And not that it’s easier at 27. But it’s almost like when you’re in contention quite a few times, you start to get a little more comfortable in that situation.

“When you get good or bad banter, or noise, enough times, you start to be like, ‘All right, this is just what’s going to happen. So my approach is to stay grounded, move forward and set goals. And really just trust your team. And have that be the noise that you listen to. So I feel good about that.

“I mean, 90 percent of it is good. And I love the crowd support that I receive at events. But I think it’s still important to shut off the noise — block the noise as much as possible — and free yourself up. Just be a kid out there playing, you know? You didn’t have any of that noise when you were 14, 15, 16 years old, learning to fall in love with the game. So just try and be that kid as often as possible.”

Quick interlude: When Spieth was brought into the press conference, he was introduced as a player coming off three straight top-15 finishes. Which is of course true. He finished fourth in Phoenix, third a Pebble Beach, 15th at Riviera. The only reason he didn’t play in the WGC event last week in Bradenton was because he didn’t qualify for it. So, three top-15 finishes in his last three starts. Oh, he’s won three major titles, too. The 2015 Masters and U.S. Open and the 2017 British Open.

So, he was asked, what do you actually do to block out the noise and the chatter.

“You can, you just have to, actively block it out,” he said. “Avoid going to places where there’s noise. When you’re at tournaments or you’re asked questions in an interview room, or there are crowds yelling stuff, then it’s unavoidable. And I’m talking good and bad. Because the more you let your head get blown up, the more hits you will take as well. Versus just remaining as neutral as possible, and understanding that stuff’s going to come in from every which way, and just learning how to be very level-headed and almost non-reactive to things. 

“I have certainly sought help about this, and talked to a lot of guys about it. But you kind of have to learn how to do it your own way too.”

Yikes, this game is complicated, even more so when played under a microscope. But really, so is trying to do any difficult thing that requires some unusual blend of physical and mental abilities, with the public watching you and judging you.

Whoever came up with the concept of the 72-hole, four-day golf tournament, where you start with 144 or so golfers and whittle your way down to one winner, had to be some kind of genius. Ninety holes would be too long. It would be hard to sustain interest. Fifty-four holes would be too short. It would produce more fluky winners. What Spieth is discovering this year, or rediscovering, is that there’s a marathon between 54 holes and 63 holes and 70 holes and 72.

Maybe you saw Sam Burns at Riviera, on Sunday. When Tiger came on the broadcast, Burns was starting the final nine holes of the Genesis Invitational. Woods was (now famously) talking to Jim Nantz of CBS, and Burns was looking like he could cruise on home and win the thing. But he played the final nine in 38 and finished a shot out of the playoff.

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Life on the PGA Tour. Bunch of animals on it. You stop to admire the flowers and they will stomp all over you.

Spieth’s last win was in July 2017, at Royal Birkdale. One of the most entertaining Open Championships ever. But on Wednesday afternoon, he was on the leaderboard. Of the API pro-am. Spieth was playing with three affable gents. A white-bearded man enjoying refreshments and contributing now and again. A young, fit guy who could absolutely bomb it, as young fit guys do these days. And a middle-aged man with a pink shirt and white pants with Arnold’s colorful umbrella logo sewed all over them. If you’ve watched pro-am golf before you’ve seen these three men.

Spieth was wonderful with them and they were terrific with Spieth. They shared chocolate-chip cookies, offered by one homeowner. They did some friendly closest-to-the-pin wagering, $20 bets that were never paid. They oohed when Spieth hit a draw 6-iron into a slice wind from 206 yards that was so beautiful it could have left you in tears. The caddies were wearing matching Arnold Palmer shirts and Arnold Palmer hats. It was a good time.

The group of eight got to 18. A scoreboard showed that they were 14 under par and in a tie for the lead with another team. (With handicap strokes, pro-am scores get crazy low.) The last hole at Bay Hill is a 500-yard par-4 with a lake in front of the green and on Wednesday it was playing into a slice wind.

“OK, Jordan, we need a birdie here,” the man with the white beard said. 

“Five-oh-five, into the wind,” Spieth said, talking to himself.

He’s famous for that, talking to himself. As for people talking at him, we’ve covered that.

A pro-am round is really a glorified practice round for the players. Except when it’s not. Spieth, on the last hole of the day, was about to play his first shot of the day with a little extra meaning.

He hit a lousy drive, a high push that the slice wind took even further right.

“Jordan!” he said to himself.

Finishing is hard. Finishing anything is hard. Spieth’s group finished at 14 under. Richy Werenski’s group did, too.

About a half-day later, Spieth was back at Bay Hill, playing the first round of this four-day 72-hole tournament. He and Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Rose went off as a threesome from the 10th tee at 8:17 a.m. A threesome with five major championships between them. DeChambeau overpowered the course, as he does, and shot 67, five under par, one off the lead. Spieth made a 5 on 18 (his ninth hole) and shot 70.

Spieth made a 25-footer on the par-5 6th for a bogey, after driving it in the water, a toe-pull that was wet from the get-go. A reload. When his ball went in the hole he flipped his putter in the air, in that weird mix of jubilation and disgust that golf produces so routinely. In layman’s terms, he made a birdie on his second ball.

“Once it’s done, it’s done, you can’t go back, so you’ve got to move forward,” Spieth said, explaining his attitude over his third, fourth, fifth and sixth shots on the hole. His attitude in general, really.

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Spieth was in a tie for 15th at the end of the day. When 72 holes are in the books, will this be his fourth top-15 or better in his last four starts? Chances are good. Will this be the week he wins for the first time since 2017? Chances are not very good. Not that you can know. You can’t. That’s why they play. That’s why we watch.

When the pro-am round was done, there were fist bumps all around and the man with the pink shirt and the umbrella pants stood in the middle of the green. He looked around and broke into song. He was singing Puccini. This was not opera night at your favorite Italian restaurant. The man was Fernando Varela, a tenor who has performed all over the world — once in front of 65,000 people in India — and is a member at Bay Hill. Spieth stood at the side of the green and listened appreciatively. Nobody was crying but it was a beautiful and unexpected, to say the least.

Varela said later he has played in a handful of pro-ams but never with a pro who was as engaged with his amateur partners as Spieth was. He also said he knows what it’s like, to be 1 percent off your best, and how difficult it can be to get that 1 percent back. “It can get to be a job,” he said. “The hardest and most important thing is to hold on to your love for the thing you had when you were young.” He and Spieth speak the same language.

The pro-am round had been over for about 15 minutes by now. The ams were lingering. Spieth had said his goodbyes.

Spieth didn’t, by the way, split with Greller or McCormick. He didn’t move to Florida or get off Twitter or the Tour policy board. He’s trying to block out the noise but knows it’s easier said than done.

Anyway, it was a gorgeous March night in central Florida. Spieth had hit a bunch of quality shots in that pro-am, and a bad drive on the last. He went to the range, Greller beside him, got out the driver and started hitting drives, one after another, into a slice wind, now, though, with nothing on the line, except the promise of improvement.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

The post Yes, Jordan Spieth hears all the noise around his game. Here’s how he handles it appeared first on Golf.