This was more like it. The PGA Tour season needed an excitement boost, and it came Saturday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. The API was recently voted the most popular among the circuit’s eight Signature Events. Bay Hill has a $20 million purse with $4 million going to Sunday’s champion. And, there’s 45 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings in the field. That’s important because men’s golf has had problems getting the top players together, leaving events with fields dominated by unfamiliar names.
Nothing against recent first-time winners Thomas Detry and Joe Highsmith, but the PGA Tour – even with the four years of competition with the LIV Golf League – still has some exciting players. They just need to step up. Collin Morikawa did Saturdays.
Morikawa was a young phenom out of college, winning six times and twice in major championships, before a dryspell set in. He’ll be looking for his first win since 2023 on Sunday. Morikawa rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the last hole Saturday to take a one-stroke lead at Bay Hill.
“I missed the cut the last two years,’’ said Morikawa. “It’s course that, if you’re not playing great, it’s going to show. It’s just one of those courses where you can’t fake it.’’
No one was faking in Saturday’s third round. Morikawa is one swing ahead of Russell Henley, who has four career PGA Tour wins but none since 2022. He created excitement Saturday, making four straight birdies on holes 10-13 to move into a tie for the lead. He’s one of the PGA Tour veterans who has had a decent start in 2025, with three top-10s in his five starts and the promise of more good things coming Sunday.
The field, though, has other possible contenders with Canadian Corey Connors two strokes behind Morikawa, Australian Jason Day three back and Tony Finau, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy all in the top 10. Defending champion Scotty Scheffler is tied for 13th, nine strokes back, but can never be counted out.
This is our first tournament of the year. Normally we’d have been at the LPGA’s Tournament of Champions and the PGA Tour Champions’ Chubbs Classic, both Florida stops. Nursing bad cases of the flu suffered during January’s PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, we had to scale back our tournament schedule a bit.
We’re excited to get back in action, especially after seeing a big, enthusiastic gallery at Bay Hill on a beautiful sunny day. More is coming with the PGA guys in The Players Championship next week in Ponte Vedra and then ending the swing with the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor.