Shane Lowry’s kickback in the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational from his travails in the Cognizant Classic didn’t contain anything like the same level of drama, but a lacklustre opening round of two-over-par 74 left him cast well adrift of where he would want to be.
As Daniel Berger – without a top-10 since the RBC Heritage last April – regained form from out of the blue, shooting a brilliant nine-under-par 63 to assume the clubhouse lead at Bay Hill Country Club in Orlando, Lowry’s scorecard was one that showcased a flat response to his collapse in the Cognizant last Sunday when two late double-bogeys scuppered his title challenge.
On this occasion, Lowry kept those big numbers off his card but his closing bogey was the fifth dropped shot of his round to go with three birdies.
Indeed, the first of Lowry’s birdies on the par 5 4th contained an element of luck. “Fore left,” came the roar after he pulled his approach shot, only for the ball to ricochet off a tree back on to the green where he two-putted for a birdie. At least he had the grace to laugh at his good fortune.
And there was another broad smile to go with his next birdie, which came when holing out from a greenside bunker on the 11th hole. But those bright spots were put in the shade by bogeys on the ninth, 10th, 14th 15th and the 18th, while his third birdie came on the par 3 17th where he hit a nice tee shot to 14 feet and rolled in the putt.
Although the Arnold Palmer Invitational is one of the PGA Tour’s $20 million signature events with a limited field of 72 players, it does feature a 36-holes cut and Lowry – in the fourth week of a five-week stint – will have work to do to survive into the weekend with only the top 50 and ties or those within 10 shots of the halfway leader making it.
Rory McIlroy made a bright start to his round and was three under through 12 holes, but a pushed iron at the 13th into the water led to a double bogey, which he followed up with a bogey at the 14th after failing to get up and down from the bunker. A birdie at the par 5 16th got a shot back, but he bogeyed the last to sign for a level-par round of 72.
Berger, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour but without a victory since his Pebble Beach pro-am success in 2021, produced a fine bogey-free round of 63 that featured nine birdies, including a homeward run in 30 strokes on a back nine that started with a hat-trick of birdies from the 10th.
The 32-year-old Floridian set the clubhouse target, with Collin Morikawa – winner of the Pebble Beach pro-am last month – continuing his rich vein of form with a 66 that saw him go eagle-birdie-birdie on this closing three holes.
Scottie Scheffler of the United States watches his shot from the sixth tee. Photograph: Orlando Ramirez/Getty
World number one Scottie Scheffler who has struggled with his opening rounds of late (failing to break par in his first rounds at Phoenix, Pebble Beach and the Genesis) managed to sign for a sub-par round of two-under 70.
“I think being satisfied is always a bit of a stretch in golf. No, I feel like I did some really good things. I felt like I made a couple mistakes that I shouldn’t have, but overall I did some really good stuff out there. Anything under par on this golf course is a decent score,” observed Scheffler post-round when asked if he was satisfied to break par.
Scheffler has made a driver switch for the tournament, putting the TaylorMade Qi4D into the bag at Bay Hill. Of that decision to change drivers, he explained: “I feel like what we have seen is more consistent spin numbers. So that will help it be a little bit more accurate off the tee. Directionally, I struggled a little bit with it at the start of the year, but I got to what I thought was a really good spot last week, and I liked what I saw today.”
For fit-again Berger, who broke his ring finger when hitting a shot during the BMW Championship last August which resulted in a three months hiatus from tournament play, the round was – in his view – in the top-three of his career.
“I think the biggest thing for me is just getting in a bit of a rhythm. I missed all of the [autumn] … then, when you come back you’re just kind of getting back into the flow of things and getting into your routine. I’ve really played not really that poorly, and just haven’t had the results. So you just kind of keep doing the same things and good things will come,” said Berger.