Scottie Scheffler part of six-way tie for lead at Arnold Palmer

 

[March 09, 2024]  Scottie Scheffler and Wyndham Clark made late charges on Friday to join a six-way tie for the lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Fla.

Russell Henley, who carded a 3-under-par 69 on Friday, shares the lead at 7-under 137 with five former major winners: Scheffler (67), Clark (66), Brian Harman (68), Japan's Hideki Matsuyama (70) and Ireland's Shane Lowry (71). They are one stroke ahead of Will Zalatoris, who shot a 69 at Bay Hill Club & Lodge.

"There's a lot of names up at the top of the leaderboard right now," Scheffler said of the fourth signature event of the season. "It's pretty stacked going into the weekend. I'm proud of how I finished today to kind of give myself a good chance."

Scheffler, who won this event in 2022, was even for his round through 11 holes before a chip-in eagle at the par-5 12th gave him a boost. The World No. 1 birdied Nos. 15-17 to join the leaders.

Scheffler's guess as to how the weekend will shake out is as good as anyone's.

"I think it depends on what they do with the greens," he said. "I saw the wind was going to be up this weekend, so it may be a survival test. It depends if they decide they want to water the greens and slow 'em down a little bit because they're going to expect high winds. But we'll see what they decide. I'm not in charge of golf course setup."

Clark, the reigning U.S. Open champion, birdied five of his last six holes to rocket up the leaderboard, his tough, curling 27-footer at No. 18 getting him to 7 under for the week. His 66 was the lowest round of the day.

Clark's other two career wins came at signature events, the Wells Fargo Championship last year and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month.

"Just good timing," Clark said. "Shoot, I hope I continue to do (well) in these big events, with the amount of points and money that there is. It's nice to time it correctly."

Clark and Scheffler will play in the third-to-last tee time on Saturday, followed by Henley and Harman, then Lowry and Matsuyama.

Harman was last year's Open Championship winner but has yet to break through again. He had a bogey-free, 5-under round going Friday until bogeying his final hole.

"Just hit a wayward drive," Harman said of the 18th. "Struck the ball really well. Had a lot of chances for birdie. Hopefully, a lot of that this weekend."

Germany's Stephan Jaeger (67 on Friday) and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo (70) are tied for eighth at 5 under. A large knot at 4 under features Max Homa (69), Justin Thomas (71), Sam Burns (72) and Norway's Viktor Hovland (69).

Though it's a signature event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational still features a 36-hole cut down to the top 50 and ties, plus anyone within 10 strokes of the leaders. Notables who couldn't get to 3 over or better included Englishmen Matt Fitzpatrick and Justin Rose (both 5 over), Australia's Adam Scott (5 over) and 2023 Arnold Palmer winner Kurt Kitayama (7 over).

Collin Morikawa and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood each shot rounds of 80 on Friday and missed the cut at 6 over and 9 over, respectively.

--Field Level Media

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