Aussie Cam Davis has put himself within the combine on a star-studded leaderboard as Wyndham Clark conjured two birdies in his last three holes to open up a two-shot lead after the opening spherical of the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida.
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World quantity seven Clark, the 2023 US Open champion, fired a five-under-par 67 to edge away from the sector at Bay Hill on a day when gusty winds made for difficult circumstances on the prestigious $US20 million ($A20m occasion)
Clark leads from a gaggle of 4 gamers knotted on three underneath: Keegan Bradley, Canada’s Corey Conners, South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Eire’s Shane Lowry, who all carded 69s to complete on three underneath.
Davis and Rory McIlroy are amongst 5 gamers an additional shot again after carding opening-round 70s however fellow Aussies Adam Scott (75), Jason Day (76) and Min Woo Lee (78)all battled.
Aussie Davis in hunt at Arnold Palmer | 02:17
The 31-year-old Clark separated himself from the pack after rolling in an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-five sixteenth, earlier than a superb second shot on the 18th left him with a tap-in for birdie.
It marked an encouraging opening spherical for Clark, who completed a runner-up to Scottie Scheffler eventually yr’s event.
“It’s good to place some good numbers on this golf course and if something it’s actually good momentum for the remainder of the week,” Clark stated.
With winds of as much as 30 miles per hour buffeting the course all through the day, Clark took benefit of a late afternoon lull to make his transfer over the ultimate few holes.
“The final 5 holes it calmed down just a little bit,” Clark stated. “However then it was powerful to search out the place the wind was, in order that’s a problem in itself… perhaps the final 4 holes have been simpler.” Clark had grabbed his first birdie of the day on the par-three second gap earlier than a bogey on the third despatched him again to stage par.
However back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth left him two underneath on the flip, earlier than a bogey-free again 9 punctuated with three birdies vaulted him to the highest of the leaderboard.
Lowry flirted with ending the day on prime of the leaderboard after an outstanding eagle three on the par-five sixteenth, the place his second shot from 195 yards left him with a six-foot putt that he duly rolled in.
Lowry admitted he had benefited from extra benign afternoon circumstances after watching the windswept morning with an rising sense of dread.
“It didn’t look a lot enjoyable on the market — I wasn’t notably wanting ahead to my spherical,” Lowry stated. “However I feel we received beneficial circumstances. I used to be fairly proud of my end result.”
McIlroy endured a see-saw spherical that included six birdies however was affected by 4 bogeys, together with a 5 on the par-four 18th.
Nonetheless, the four-time main winner produced some unbelievable photographs — together with a whopping 269-yard strategy shot over water on the par-5 sixth gap — and was happy together with his begin.
“I feel the fellows that teed off just a little later received just a little little bit of a reprieve,” McIlroy stated.
“It was nonetheless breezy, however not fairly as powerful as the fellows received it this morning. Yeah, couple underneath was a superb begin.”
Defending champion Scheffler, in the meantime, was lurking a shot adrift of McIlroy in a heavyweight cluster of 4 gamers on one underneath which incorporates Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay.
World primary Scheffler admitted he was greatly surprised by cooler temperatures and the early wind lashing the course.
“This morning once I walked out of the home it was lots colder than I anticipated — I had to return and seize just a few further layers,” stated Scheffler, including that the contrasting circumstances of fairways and greens had additionally proved difficult.
“Numerous the fairways are actually delicate, however the greens are like concrete — so it may be actually difficult to get the ball near the opening.”
ROUND 1 SCORES
Main scores after first spherical of PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, Orlando, Florida on Thursday (par-72; USA except famous):
67 – Wyndham Clark
69 – Christiaan Bezuidenhout (RSA), Corey Conners (CAN), Shane Lowry (IRL), Keegan Bradley
70 – Cam Davis (AUS), Rory McIlroy (NIR), Justin Rose (ENG), Max Greyserman, Kim Si-Woo (KOR)
71 – Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa
72 – Tony Finau, Russell Henley, Jackson Koivun, Ludvig Aberg (SWE)
73 – Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Mackenzie Hughes (CAN), Brian Harman, Tom Hoge, Maverick McNealy, Denny McCarthy
74 – Chris Kirk, Patrick Rodgers, Andrew Novak, Austin Eckroat, Eric Cole, Nick Dunlap, Robert MacIntyre (SCO), Aaron Rai (ENG)
75 – Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Nick Taylor (CAN), Adam Hadwin (CAN), Michael Kim, Will Zalatoris, J.J. Spaun, Ben Griffin, Joe Highsmith, Jacob Bridgeman, Thomas Detry (BEL), Matthieu Pavon (FRA), Adam Scott (AUS)