ORLANDO, Florida – As the audience grows on the PGA Tour, the traveling show is following suit.
Take the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday, for example, where thousands of fans were presented with the variety of theater surrounding the Bay Hill Club and Lodge.
Bryson DeChambeau briefly turned into Rocky Balboa after finally delivering the knockout blow he has been promising on the sixth hole.
Jordan Spieth made a hole-in-one, dived into a bunker shot, drained more than 141 feet of putts and did it all by playing as a single for 14 holes.
And Lee Westwood, 47, ignored questions from last year’s tour before taking them to children with eight birdies and an eagle. His 7-under 65 gave the veteran a one-shot lead over DeChambeau and Corey Conners. Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and defending champion Tyrell Hatton are all five strokes from Westwood, who has won 12 times worldwide since his last Tour victory at the 2010 St. Jude Classic in Memphis, but somehow it has only one of the top 10 in 13 trips to Bay Hill, a place he loves.
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“I know that I am still able to play well when it matters,” said Westwood. “I’m not surprised, no, because I haven’t lost any of my length and I haven’t lost any of my enthusiasm for going to work and working at the gym. My nerves are still intact, I still go into restraint and have fun. “
The Englishman’s hitting ball is still one of the modern wonders of professional golf, but on Saturday it was his shot that dropped many jaws wearing masks. It totaled almost 130 feet of putts in Round 3, and that did not include a 32 foot eagle made from the shore at No. 16.
“Last week, I did 40 meters in four rounds,” joked Westwood.
For the first time, it was Westwood’s turn to joke. Earlier this week, Westwood said that some of his younger colleagues asked him about competing in the PGA Tour Champions in two years.
“Everyone keeps asking me when I go on the veterans tour,” said Westwood with a laugh, “so I think they’re trying to get rid of me.”
They will all start on Sunday chasing Westwood, including DeChambeau, who was undoubtedly the headliner this week at Arnie’s Place.
DeChambeau spent days repressing expectations before revealing his big experiment on Saturday, with a 370-yard drive that exploded on the club face and landed just 70 yards to the right of the green at the 555-yard hole. It wasn’t exactly what he had promised, but it didn’t matter, for the fans or DeChambeau, who, with the ball still in mid-flight, raised both hands in the air as if he had just climbed the 72 stone steps leading up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
“It felt like I won a tournament there,” said DeChambeau, who easily spotted the hole. It was one of six birdies for DeChambeau, whose third round 68 also included a small side show on the ninth hole, where he drove to the right and to Lot 7 before reaching an incredible 14-foot approach and reaching the pair.
If anyone thought it was wild, however, they might need Dramamine witnessing Spieth’s round. The resurrected superstar, who held two 54-hole tracks last month, started his day by sinking a 19-foot birdie into the opening hole. He then stepped on the second tee and pocketed a 220 yard 5 iron for his third Tour ace in his career. At that point, Spieth was feeling it.
“It was almost like the first shot at the Ryder Cup, where you are so excited,” he said.
OK, maybe feeling it also A lot of. Spieth plucked his ball from the third hole in the par 4 into the water, but avoided disaster by draining a 32-foot ball into the par. His competitor, Justin Rose, put three in the drink and then opened a hole with a back injury.
Rose’s sudden departure left Spieth alone to do his thing. He almost blocked a field exit in the fourth par 5 and hit the par. He had to get a pair of 15 feet for the next hole. He jumped perfectly onto a sand bird in par-3 seventh. When he made the turn, he did it by converting a 36-foot birdie to No. 10. He had to save the pair in the inviting par 5 16º hole after reaching inches from hitting your second shot in the pond.
Spieth’s bird in par-5 12º hole was the only easy circle he put on the card.
“It was just another round that, unfortunately, was not boring for me,” said Spieth, who tricked numbers 14 and 17 by entering to kick 68 and reach 9 below, two shots back. “I’m trying to do boring rounds.”
Those who are watching, selfishly, are hoping that Spieth will not get what he wants again on Sunday.
They are enjoying the show.