Orlando, Fla. – The PGA Tour enters the second tournament of the Florida Swing this week in Orlando as Bay Hill plays host for the Arnold Palmer Invitational; not only a golf tournament, but a week to remember “The King of Golf,”
Round one saw some amazing golf on an amazing golf course, with a familiar face taking a big lead; Rory Mcilroy. McIlroy shot a 65 on Thursday to take a two-stroke lead over the rest of the field.
Welcome Back to Bay Hill, Rory
Rory McIlroy won at Bay Hill back in 2018, and he is clearly looking to get another win thhe course after a seven-under-par performance in the first round. Rory has won at least one tournament in the last four wrap-around seasons on the PGA Tour. This would be his second of this season after winning at the CJ Cup in Las Vegas back in October.
McIlroy was firing on all cylinders, averaging 314 yards on his drives, hitting above 78% of fairways in regulation and gaining 1.7 strokes putting.
However, his iron play will need to improve if he wants to keep his lead. While Bay Hill is a tough course, he only hit 66% of his greens in regulation. For him to keep the lead, he must keep his approach shots on.
The man from Northern Ireland did not start off the round great; after starting the round on the back nine, he was one-over after the eleventh hole. After that, however, something clicked with McIlroy right then as he went on to birdie both holes 12 and 13. To make things even better, he made an eagle on the par-five 16th to take a share of the lead.
After two more birdies on holes 18 and 3, McIlroy then had a chance to make it back-to-back birdies on the par-five hole four and take the solo lead. He took advantage and made it look easy.
Mcilroy stayed on the attack by making one more birdie on the sixth hole before ending his round at seven-under.
Before today, McIlroy had led tournaments seventeen times after the first round. Out of those seventeen times, he has only won three times, with the last time being the British Open back in 2014. However, he has also finished in the top ten at Bay Hill five years in a row.
Who Can Catch McIlroy?
Billy Horschel has actually never won in his home state, but the University of Florida alum put together an amazing first round. He shot a five-under 67 while gaining 3.567 strokes on the greens.
Horschel needs to hit the fairway more consistently if he wants to chase down McIlroy.
The Conditions at Bay Hill
While scores today were rather low, the course will only get tougher as the week goes on. The pins were very attackable on Thursday as McIlroy showed.
However, the greens and the rough have been notably hard. There were numerous putting mistakes that happened during the first round, with the most notable coming from World’s No. 1 golfer Jon Rahm on seven.
“The Golf course has firmed up already… with the warmer weather coming this weekend it will get more firm as it goes on,” Rory Mcilroy said in his post-round press conference.
