ORLANDO, Fla. — (AP) — Collin Morikawa left Bay Hill a year ago with an 80 on his scorecard and a second straight missed cut in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. That wasn't on his mind when he arrived to this signature event because it was more about the state of his game than the golf course.
Bay Hill is tough as ever. Morikawa is starting to look more like the two-time major champion.
He made a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Saturday for a 5-under 67 that enabled him to take a one-shot lead over Russell Henley going into the final round.
“It’s a course that if you’re not playing great it’s going to show. It’s just one of those that you can’t fake it,” Morikawa said.
There was no faking it on a course that has been baked by three days of sun, increasing warmth and greens that are lightning quick. Morikawa missed a 5-foot par putt on the 14th hole for his only bogey in the last 45 holes.
That's almost as impressive as his six birdies Saturday. And now he has 18 holes and a strong chasing pack to try to capture his first PGA Tour title in 17 months.
Henley holed a long bunker shot for birdie on the opening hole, ran off four in a row to start the back nine and had a 67 to finish one shot behind. Corey Conners of Canada missed the 18th fairway, chipped out and made bogey for a 69 and was two back.
Even without much wind and occasional cloud cover, the heat and three days of sun brought a yellow shine to fairways and greens. Birdie putts from a reasonable range rolled out past the hole sometimes 8 feet or more away.
Shane Lowry, the 36-hole leader, got a taste of that at end. His tee shot on the 18th ran so far that only the collar of the rough kept it from rolling out into the water. He had a birdie chance just inside 25 feet and watched that roll 7 feet by the hole.
He managed to hole that for a 76, leaving him six shots behind. Rory McIlroy made bogey on three of his last four holes for a 73 to fall seven shots behind.
Scottie Scheffler tried to stay in range, except that birdies were hard to come by. He came up short on the 13th — a front pin and a crispy green — and went into the rocks. He managed to salvage bogey from that but he could only manage a 71 to fall eight shots back.
Morikawa was at 10-under 206
“You have to hit good shots out there,” Morikawa said. “It can get you from any direction.”
The final hour had Morikawa, Henley and Conners trading spots or sharing time at the top. Morikawa was the only one to avoid a bogey over the final four-hole stretch. He laid up on the par-5 16th and hit lob wedge and let a 6-foot birdie trickle and swirl into the cup.
He barely touched his 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole.
Every shot — trying to keep it in the fairway, on the green and putting — required respect.
“Some of these pin locations, I feel I'm having to putt very defensively,” Henley said.
Jason Day, who opened with a 76, put himself back in the mix with a tournament-low 64 on Friday and a wild round of 69 on Saturday. He was briefly tied for the lead until closing out the front nine with three straight bogeys. He was losing ground until making three straight birdies at the end, including a 20-footer on the 17th.
His measure of how firm it was from waiting his turn to putt.
“Any time you put your putter down and you start sliding on your putter, that’s when you know the greens are getting pretty slick,” Day said. “They’re changing color and you can kind of start to see the change in color.”
Michael Kim had two eagles on the back nine for a 67, joining Tony Finau (68) at 5-under 205. Kim is the only player among the top five going into the final round who is not already exempt for the Masters, and a win would take care of that.
Morikawa is a two-time major champion whose last victory was in October 2023 at the Zozo Championship in Japan. He got back with longtime coach Rick Sessinghaus, and that buttery fade that gives him such great control has been giving him more chances.
Golf Channel reminded him it had been 502 days.
“Thank you for putting that in exact days. I hope you have it in hours and minutes,” he said.
The only number that matters is 18 holes and a lot of stress along the way.
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