The 2014 Arnold Palmer Invitation at Bay Hill started today and the tournament got off and running very quick! Adam Scott, making his first start at Bay Hill since 2009, posted an opening-round 10-under 62 with two eagles and seven birdies – this tied for his lowest career round, tied for the lowest round ever at Bay Hill (with Greg Norman, Gary Player and Andy Bean) and finished the day with a 3 shot lead.
Adam Scott has been on fire since winning The Masters last year – in addition to The Masters, Scott also won The Barclays Championship, the PGA Grand Slam of Golf and went on a tear down under in Australia. He ended up winning the Australian PGA Championship, Australian Masters and the World Cup of Golf, but he was unable to complete the “Aussie Triple Crown,” finishing runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the Australian Open. Since the beginning of 2014, Adam has finished in the Top-25 in all four starts – his swing is definitely looking good! It’s a great time to start playing well as The Masters looms closer and he seeks to defend his title!
Also playing well today was the Bashful Prince of Japan, 22 year old Ryo Ishikawa, who uses Bay Hill as his home course on the east coast. He is one of the most colourful players on the PGA Tour and shot an opening round of 7-under 67 and is T2 after round 1. Ishikawa is a 10-time winner in Japan, but his game hasn’t quite translated on the PGA Tour. In 78 career events, he has mustered only seven top 10s but finished second earlier this season in Las Vegas, matching his best career finish. He is now focusing his attention mainly on the PGA Tour, only committing to 5 events in Japan this year.
We’ve also seen some very high scores over the past couple of weeks – John Daly shot a 90 last week at Trump National Doral during the WGC-Cadillac Championship. Today, Bubba Watson shot an 83, including a sextuple-bogey 11 on Bay Hill’s par-5 6th hole. He would withdraw from the tournament, suffering from allergies. The next couple of days should be very exciting – who do you think will win the Arnold Palmer Invitational?
Source: Arnold Palmer Invitational
