🏌🏻 Stars Sweating At Arnold Palmer

Happy International Women’s Day!

Our Wednesday’s poll had all of us divided on who could emerge as the likely winner at Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Rory McIlroy leads though, bagging 31.25% of the votes followed by Scottie Scheffler (25%) and Viktor Hovland (18.75%).

Neither of them are currently in the Top 10!

Trivia: Do you know who the first female golfer to earn over $1 million in a single season was? She was a rookie at the time she achieved this feat. Answer at the end of the mail.

⛳ This day in history: In 1970, Arnold Palmer Invitational was called the Florida Citrus Invitational, and on this date, Arnold finished the tournament shooting 64-72-64-72—272 to tie for second with Bob Stanton, earning $13,875 each.

ALBATROSS
Stars Sweating The Cut Line

Round 1 of the Arnold Palmer Invitational was dominated by the underdogs as the stars struggled to get going in Bay Hill.

🏌️ Lowry Sole Leader: Before Thursday, Shane Lowry made six starts at Bay Hill and his best finish was a T-67. He missed the cut on the other five occasions.

Going into round two, he is the sole leader, shooting a sensational 6-under 66 - building on his strong performance from a T-4 finish at the recently concluded Cognizant Classic.

🤝 Lower's Palmer Connection: Justin Lower (T-2) has a bit of a connection to Palmer, having won the Arnold Palmer Award in 2010 for NAIA players while competing at Malone University.

And then there was the time he volunteered at the 2002 Senior PGA Championship at Firestone Country Club and was standing left of the eighth green when Palmer pulled his shot there.

🚀 Matsuyama Magic: Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama is making his first start since closing with 62 at Riviera to win the Genesis Invitational and picked up right where he left off, carding 5-under 67 to finish T-2 after Round 1.

🚨 Theegala Masterclass: Sahith Theegala (T-4) recorded eighth round of 68 or better this season and the best Strokes Gained: Around the Green round of 2024 by any player.

🚩 Stars Sweating Cut Line: A number of top stars are hovering around the cut line after the opening round at Bay Hill - Cantlay (74), Matt Fitzpatrick (74), Rickie Fowler (75) and defending champion Kurt Kitayama (78).

The tournament features a cut to low 50 and ties plus those within 10 shots of the lead.

Watch Round 1 Highlights 

TWEET
Worth Mentioning

EAGLE
Zalatoris Putts Better Post Surgery

Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler are both known to be terrible putters.

While Zalatoris finally seems to have got a remedy, Scheffler continues to look for a fix.

🤯 Back Surgery To Zalatoris' Rescue: Will Zalatoris has made five starts since he had a microdiscectomy on two herniated discs in his back.

He switched to an L.A.B Golf Broomstick and had ample time to get used to it and work on his setup post-surgery - well, that seems to have worked big time!

While he struggled during the first two starts, he has now gained strokes on the greens in three straight events, which isn't a normal occurrence for the notoriously poor putter - only the third time in his career he's gained strokes with the putter three starts in a row.

🚫 No Immediate Fix For Scheffler: Scottie Scheffler switched to a mallet putter this week on Rory McIlroy's advice but his putting woes do not seem to end.

Scheffler lost more than a stroke and a half to the field on the greens, which ranked 55th in the 69-man Arnold Palmer Invitational field after Round 1.

He has now lost more than 1.5 strokes putting in a round for the seventh time in 20 rounds this season.

LOCKER ROOM
What else is making news

‘Traditionalist’ McIlroy: Rory McIlroy has categorized himself as “too much of a traditionalist” and made it clear that he won't leave the PGA Tour, putting an end to speculations surrounding his switch to LIV Golf.

LPGA Tour: American Sarah Schmelzel and South Korea’s An Na-rin share lead by one shot after Round 2 of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament in China.

PGA Tour: Scott Piercy and Joe Highsmith shot 7-under 65s to share the lead before Round 1 of the Puerto Rico Open was suspended due to bad weather.

New Venture: Full Swing Producer Chad Mumm has founded a new golf venture named Pro Shop in association with the PGA Tour. Pro Shop will become the Tour’s preferred partner for entertainment projects.

TGL: TMRW Sports plans to build a venue with insulated steel walls and a steel-supported roof for Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroys's TGL, which is set to be launched in 2025.

BIRDIE
50 States, 50 Golfers - Part 3

We're back with part three of our five-part series, picking the best native-born golfer from each state to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The Players Championship.

🏌️ Massachusetts - Henry Picard: Picard won 26 PGA Tour events and two major championships, the 1938 Masters and the 1939 PGA.

🏌️ Michigan - Leo Diegel: Diegel was a superb ball striker who won 28 PGA Tour titles and two PGA Championships in 1928 and 1929.

🏌️ Minnesota - Lee Janzen: Janzen won eight PGA Tour titles, the 1995 Players Championship and two US Open titles in 1992 and 1998.

🏌️ Mississippi - Pete Brown: Brown is credited for being the first African-American winner on the PGA Tour, capturing the 1964 Waco Turner Open by one shot over Jacksonville native Dan Sikes.

🏌️ Missouri - Tom Watson: Watson won 39 PGA Tour titles and eight major championships, including five British Opens. 

🏌️ Montana - Alice Ritzman: Ritzman never won on the LPGA Tour but she won everything in sight in Montana, including three Montana Junior Championships and two Montana Women's Amateur titles.

🏌️ Nebraska - Mark Calcavecchia: Calcavecchia won 13 PGA Tour titles alongside one major - the 1989 Open Championship. 

🏌️ Nevada - Robert Gamez: Gamez won PGA Tour events 15 years apart, but the one for which he will always be remembered was the 1990 Arnold Palmer Invitational when he holed the second shot on the 18th hole at Bay Hill to beat Greg Norman by one shot.

🏌️ New Hampshire - Jane Blalock: Blalock won 27 LPGA Tour titles and had six top-10 finishes in the Majors.

🏌️ New Jersey - Vic Ghezzi: In a few years, Scottie Scheffler will probably be leading the way at Jersey Bay in Golf, but for now, it's Ghezzi with 11 PGA Tour titles and the 1941 PGA Championship.

DRIVING RANGE
3 Drills For Better Rotation

In this video, we show you three drills that'll help with your rotation and bigger turns in your golf swing.

Advertise in Golf Reporter.