2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard: Rory McIlroy leads two after terrible Round 1 at Bay Hill
The second-best playing field of the year (so far) produced one of the best first-round leads of the season as Rory McIlroy took the lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational 7 under 65 in the first round. . McIlroy has owned the golf course for most of his career, and now he’s superbly positioned to win it for the second time in the past five years. Let’s take a closer look at his round as well as who’s chasing and what’s left of the week at Bay Hill.
Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter discuss the first act on Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2022. Watch and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Leader
Rory McIlroy (-7): The number 65 looks good on paper, but what’s even better is that McIlroy has hit more than seven hits on the court. Traditionally, 16-20 hits on a course in a given week is enough to win a golf tournament, so there’s still work to be done, but one of the best the world is now almost half of his work done for the week at a tournament he’s already thrived on, and that’s going to be a real problem for everyone else.
McIlroy, who has made five consecutive top 10 finishes at this tournament, took advantage of a par 5 on Thursday, where he was five men behind on those four holes. He also leads the field in shots taken while driving and from tee to green, but the most prominent part of his game is his irony, which can sometimes be a problem. topic because it involves scoring. On Thursday, he gave himself eight look inside 15 feet on the day, which is definitely helpful as it relates to scoring. His shot is fine (in the top 20), but he doesn’t need it terribly because most of that work is already done elsewhere.
“I was actually quite surprised at the firmness of the greens,” says McIlroy. “Since the early hours of yesterday morning, we’ve been playing at a similar time to today. The golf course has been solidified. I think with this weather and the kind of warmer weather coming over the weekend, it’s just going to get more and more for sure as the week goes by then that puts a lot more cost on just having the ball in play Fairways and greens and just being really disciplined with your game .”
If playing from tee to green is the goal (and that is for most of the week but perhaps especially this one), no one has been better than McIlroy in Round 1, and the lead he has taken. build is why he is currently the +225 favorite to get his second win of the season in just his third start.
Other Opponents
T2: Beau Hossler, JJ Spaun, Billy Horschel (-5)
T5: Graeme McDowell, Sungjae Im, Will Zalatoris, Adam Scott, Charles Howell III, Ian Poulter (-4)
This is the eclectic group behind McIlroy. Hossler, Horschel and Scott have played some good golf, McDowell, Howell III and Poulter are a bit surprised, but Im and Zalatoris might be the best bets to sustain this clip for the next three days. I love being in Florida and have a good history here with the top two of his last three starts. Zalatoris tops the top 15 from tee to green and hits the ball pretty well (always a promising sign for him). If I had to choose two people from this group, those are the two I would choose.
Scenes of the day
Jon Rahm’s 10-inch miss on the par-3 7th hole was the shot of the day, not because it was great, but because it was so addictive for the rest of us to witness the good golfer. most literally doing something so horrible. a golf course.
This photo came in second for most relevant photo of the day.
Quote of the day
The mutual admiration society between McIlroy and Scott (-11 combined on Thursday) is fun to watch.
Scott: “I love playing with Rory. I really enjoy watching him play. He’s a guy that I can watch play and have positive thoughts about swings for myself. I love watching him swing. golf club I think most people in the world would say the same He played the way he did today.”
McIlroy: “Yeah, whenever I play with Adam, it’s a really good pair. We talk about all sorts of things. I feel like we have a lot in common. Yes, anyone can watch Adam Scott. He’s got a good rhythm. Yeah, that’s great. If he eats me, I definitely think I’ll feed him a bit too.
Craziest Stats
Rahm is second in approach play (and 12th from tee to green) and 114th (out of 120) shots. Much of it was because he missed 10 inches, but it’s still a shocking number. And also one where it’s easy to picture him going back to 65 or 66 on Friday
New odds and options
Here are the new odds after 18 holes, provided by Ceasars Sportsbook.
- Rory McIlroy: +225
- Billy Horschel: 11-1
- Viktor Hovland: 12-1
- Sungjae Im: 12-1
- Will Zalatoris: 14-1
- Jon Rahm: 20-1
I was surprised to see Rory this long and Rahm this short. I was able to see Rory at -100 like the day he has and the history he has on this course, and Rahm at 20-1 even though he’s seven back of a four-time big winner really attractive. It shows how much everyone (myself included) believes in his level of golf right now and what he can do if the putter turns hot in 54 finals.
