The Live Report, Round 1: Arnold Palmer Invitational
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
GORE GRABS LEAD (6:30 p.m.): We've got a new leader at Bay Hill after Jason Gore just birdied his final hole of the day, the par-4 ninth.
That capped off a run in which Gore birdied three of his last four holes. On the day, Gore took just 24 putts and had four birdies, an eagle and just one bogey to get to 5-under 65, his lowest score of the season. -- Brian Wacker
FIRST ROUND WRAPPING UP (6:10 p.m.): The first round is nearly complete at Bay Hill and making a late charge up the leaderboard is Jason Gore. He's 4 under through his first 16 holes (he started on the back nine) and has birdied his last two holes.
This is by far Gore's best start this year. Only twice has he broken 70 in seven opening rounds this season and his best finish is a T44 in Puerto Rico. -- Brian Wacker
WATNEY IN CONTENTION AGAIN (5:40 p.m.): Nick Watney's name is starting to become a fixture on PGA TOUR leaderboards. He just closed out a 3-under 67 and for the sixth time in eight events this year will open with a round of 69 or better.
Watney, who won the Buick Invitational and was second at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship two weeks ago, is tied for third after hitting 15 of 17 greens in regulation and taking 29 putts.
Don't be surprised to see him remain near the top of the leaderboard tomorrow. Watney's scoring average before the cut of 68.35 ranks second on TOUR, while his final-round average of 68.86 ranks 16th.
The problem for Watney, whose best finish at Bay Hill is a T21 in 2008, has been the third round. His 70.86 average on Saturdays ranks 100th and only twice has he shot lower than 71 in third rounds this year. If Watney can improve that by, say, a half stroke then he'll be winning a lot more. -- Brian Wacker
HERRON AND THE FLAT STICK (5:25 p.m.): One of the big reasons Tim Herron has a share of the lead is that he was able to navigate Bay Hill's greens in just 24 putts on Thursday, which was especially important considering he hit just 5 of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens in regulation.
The last couple of years have been a long road for the popular Herron, who last won in 2006. He had just six top 10s the last three years combined after a 2005 that saw him finish in the top 10 seven times.
Another reason Herron, who won here in 1999, is playing well this week is the work he's put in with coach Mark McCann.
"That's always been my downfall is my putting," Herron said. "I feel like I'm putting good, and that's kind of what we work on. He's from South Africa, lives here in Orlando and his mom was golf director at Disney World."
McCann has worked with Herron before -- he helped him win with a putting tip at Colonial -- and the two began working together again last year when Lumpy sought him out. So far it appears that decision is paying off. -- Brian Wacker
DAY OUT (5:10 p.m.): Jason Day was just carted off the golf course and has withdrawn from the tournament. The 21-year-old Aussie appears to be OK, but he was being treated for dizziness and nausea. Day was even par through nine holes. -- Brian Wacker
MORE ON HERRON (5:00 p.m.): Should Tim Herron's lead hold up at the end of the day, it would represent the sixth time Herron has held the first-round lead/co-lead on the PGA TOUR. The others came at the 1996 Honda Classic (1st), 1997 Memorial Tournament (T8), 1999 Arnold Palmer Invitational (1), 2001 Touchstone Energy Tucson Open (T32) and the 2002 Buick Challenge (T10).
Herron's opening-round 66 equals his career-best effort at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, posted on two previous occasions. In 1997, he posted a 66 in the third round on his way to a T6 finish. In 1999, an opening-round 66 was the catalyst as he went on to one of his four career victories (1996 Honda Classic, 1997 LaCantera Texas Open, 1999 Arnold Palmer Invitational, 2006 Bank of America Colonial). In his 13 previous starts at the tournament, Herron's opening-round average was 72.15. -- Mark Stevens
TIGER MAKES A MOVE (4:37 p.m.): It was a pretty ho-hum day for Tiger Woods until just minutes ago when he poured in his third straight birdie. That moved the world's No. 1 player and five-time winner at Bay Hill to within one shot of the lead as he makes his way to No. 15. -- Brian Wacker
Follow Woods' round live with Shot Tracker by clicking here.
O'HAIR'S FAST START (4:28 p.m.): There's still way too much golf to be played to know whether Sean O'Hair is going to nab his third top-5 finish of the season, but he's off to a good start with a 3-under 67 in what were and are extremely tough scoring conditions today.
The wind is blowing and most of the field is even or over par.
"You've got a lot of cross breezes and tee shots are tough," O'Hair said. "If you're in the rough all day, it's going to be a long day for you, so it's crucial to just hit fairways and hit a lot of greens and just try and give yourself as many chances at birdie because you're going to make bogeys out here."
O'Hair hit 11 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens in regulation today -- both of which rank in the top 10 in the field at the moment. -- Brian Wacker
THE KING SPEAKS (4:15 p.m.): Arnold Palmer has been spending some time in the GOLF CHANNEL booth today. The King is always insightful, but took it a step further when posed with the question of today's players doing their part for golf during this economic crisis we're in.
"If they knew how important it was, we'd see a lot more of [players interacting]," Palmer said.
Even with several sponsors already locked up through 2012, players doing whatever they can -- playing more tournaments, getting more involved with the fans, etc. -- has become increasingly important.
"I think the commissioner is aware and he's trying to encourage guys to thank sponsors," said Palmer, who was the King of growing the game as much as he was anything else. "They're getting it and it's going to work out pretty well." -- Brian Wacker
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FEDEXCUP UPDATE (3:30 p.m.): There's still a lot of golf to be played this week, but here's a quick look at where things stand in the FedExCup race and some scenarios that are out there:
• Four players could pass Geoff Ogilvy with a victory this week: Kenny Perry, Zach Johnson, Nick Watney, and Retief Goosen.
• Watney would pass Ogilvy with a solo third place finish.
• Twenty-eight players could move into the top 5 with a victory.
ROCCO ON AN EARLY ROLL (3:20 p.m.): Playing in the same tournament with Tiger Woods for the first time since last year's U.S. Open, Rocco Mediate is outdueling the world's No. 1 player so far.
Mediate is 2 under through 10 holes with three birdies and a bogey, while Woods is still at 1 over through 9 holes after making a double-bogey 7 on the sixth hole when his tee shot found the water. -- Brian Wacker
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ISHIKAWA UPDATE (3:00 p.m.): Ryo Ishikawa opened his PGA TOUR experience at Bay Hill by bombing his first drive down the first fairway and then sticking a wedge to a foot. Easy birdie. It was the latest trend for the 17-year-old Japanese phenom, who has birdied his first hole in each of his three PGA TOUR starts. -- Ryan Smithson
FROM THE TWITTER (2:50 p.m.): There's an interesting poll being posed on our Twitter feed about the topic of caddies wearing microphones. It's definitely a hot-button topic among the PGA TOUR's loopers and the guys they're employed by and that's understandable.
On one hand, it's a great way to give the fans inside-the-ropes-access. On the other, it could cross the line of privacy. While anything inappropriate for TV wouldn't hit the air, the audio would be logged, which, like pretty much any secretive information these days, faces the possibility of being leaked. That could open up a huge can of worms so you can understand why there's some caddie-player concern over the issue.
Other sports do it and golf looks like it's next. You can cast your vote in the poll by clicking here, or share your thoughts on our Facebook page as well as Twitter. -- Brian Wacker
OVERTON ON A ROLL (2:35 p.m.): Jeff Overton has charged up the leaderboard thanks to birdies on 5 of his first 6 holes. Two of those birdies came courtesy of long putts -- a 29-footer on No. 7 and a 25-footer on No. 5.
Overton is coming off back-to-back top-20 finishes, including an eighth-place finish at the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular two weeks ago. His best career finish to date was a T2 at the 2007 Wyndham Championship.
Overton is perhaps best known, however, for his emergency appendectomy last October just prior to the Frys.com Open. He fell out of the top 125 as a result, but came back the next week to finish T18 at the Ginn sur Mer Classic and T21 at the Children's Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-Mart the following week to secure his card for 2009. -- Brian Wacker
Check out Overton's scorecard below, or click here to follow his round live with Shot Tracker.
TIGER UPDATE (2:20 p.m.): Since opening with a pitch-in birdie on the first hole, Tiger Woods has played even-par golf here until a double-bogey on No. 6, where he found the water off the tee, dropped him back to 1 over through six holes.
He's missed a couple of makeable birdie putts, but overall hasn't had many opportunities. His longest putt made thus far is just 3 feet, 7 inches and he's hit just 2 of 5 fairways and 2 of 6 greens in regulation. -- Brian Wacker
BEST ROUND OF THE DAY (2:05 p.m.): Low scores are hard to come by today so it looks like Tim Herron's 4-under 66 should hold up pretty well. At the moment, it has him in the lead, one shot clear of Sean O'Hair.
Herron's season has been a mixed bag with a T12 at the Sony Open in Hawaii and a T22 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am to go with three missed cuts and a T59 last week in Tampa.
The last time Lumpy won, in fact, was in 2006 when he captured the Bank of America Colonial in a playoff. His best finish since then was a runner-up at the 2007 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. -- Brian Wacker
PERRY SEES SOLID DAY GO SOUTH (1:31 p.m.): It was a rough finish for Kenny Perry, who led a large chunk of the morning before finishing bogey-bogey-bogey-par for a 70.
Perry, who won here in 2005, was bogey-free until the sixth hole (he played the back nine first). As usual, Perry hit the ball great -- he hit 11 fairways and 12 greens -- but he struggled with 30 putts.
Interesting stat regarding Perry: He simply can't get the ball into the hole on the 558-yard par-5 sixth. The hole, which has water all down the left side, has been Perry's Achilles Heel at Bay Hill. In his last four rounds, he's bogeyed the hole every time.
Despite the finish, Perry seems almost a lock to make the cut for the ninth time in nine tries on the TOUR in 2009. To replay his round with Shot Tracker, click here.
TIGER IS OFF (1:00 p.m.): Tiger Woods is now on the course, having teed off just a few minutes ago with a 3-wood that found the right rough on the par-4 opening hole.
Judging by his comments earlier in the week -- and his play at the Tavistock Cup -- you get the feeling Woods' short game is starting to come around. If it does, expect to see him holding the trophy at Arnie's place for a sixth time on Sunday.
The short game is the one area where Woods has surprisingly struggled since his return -- even though it was the one thing that he was able to work on the most while injured. Of course finding his feel on PGA TOUR greens is a lot different than finding it at Isleworth.
For the rest of Woods' interview with the media yesterday, click here 
. To follow his round live with Shot Tracker, click here.
By the way, Woods just reached 1 under by birdieing the first with a one-hopper hole-out from 33 yards off the green. -- Brian Wacker
CHANGES AWAIT (12:55 p.m.): Take a good look at Bay Hill this week because it'll be the last time you see it in its current state. Arnold Palmer said he plans to rip up the course, starting on May 15. While there won't be any changes to its routing, you can expect to see changes to the greens and some of the run-off areas around them.
"We really wanted to just bring the golf course more up to modern standards architecturally," Palmer said. "Because of the problems that we have had with the grasses, we're changing the dirt, simple as that, to give the grasses a better shot at becoming standard." -- Brian Wacker
RYO AT BAY HILL (12:40 p.m.): Ryo Ishikawa is still about an hour and a half from teeing off today, but this isn't the first time the 17-year-old Japanese sensation has played at Bay Hill.
Ishikawa played in the AJGA HP Boys' Championship here four years ago. Clearly his golf, and his English, have improved since then.
"Four years ago when I played at this course, I'd say my handicap in English is 36, but right now probably 30, so not so big an improvement," Ishikawa said.
"I recall that I saw the alligator on the 17th hole, which was a first time for me to see the alligator, and I'm kind of surprised that an alligator is on the golf course."
Fortunately for Ishikawa there haven't been any alligator sightings just yet. As for his golf, in two starts this year Ishikawa missed the cut at the Northern Trust Open and was 71st at the Transitions Championship. -- Brian Wacker
EARLY STRUGGLES (12:20 p.m.): Vijay Singh and Adam Scott got off to shaky starts this morning, as you'll see in our early-round highlights .
Neither has had what could be considered a stellar start to their season. Both have battled knee injuries. Singh's best result was a T17 at the Accenture Match Play Championship, while Scott has struggled since finishing second at the Sony Open in Hawaii. The Aussie was a first-round loser at the Accenture Match Play Championship and went T66 and MC in the two events following. -- Brian Wacker
PERRY IN THE MIX (12:00 p.m.): Kenny Perry was one of our expert picks for this week and so far he hasn't disappointed. After playing the back nine in even par, Perry posted back-to-back birdies on Nos. 1 and 2 to get to 2 under and has held steady since. That's not much of a surprise given Perry's prowess for hitting it long and straight off the tee -- something that you need to do to be successful at Bay Hill. Perry's been just that, too, with a win here in 2005 and a runner-up in 2003.
How do you think Perry will do this week? Sound off on Twitter by clicking here. -- Brian Wacker
KELLY IN THE HUNT (11:30 a.m.): A few years ago, Jerry Kelly went through something like 17 putters over the course of a season. That's what happens when you're trying to find a magic elixir for a stroke that causes you to rank 156th, 121st and 105th in putting average on the PGA TOUR each of the last three years.
This year, however, Kelly ranks eighth in putting average. In his two top 10s this season -- at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya and the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular -- Kelly was top 15 in the field in putting both times.
Of course it helps when you're hitting your approach shots close. Of Kelly's four birdies on the back nine today, only one has come from outside 6 feet. -- Brian Wacker
TOUGH TRACK (11:15 a.m.): Bay Hill ranked as the 18th toughest course on the PGA TOUR in 2008 and so far this year it's living up to that billing with only 13 players under par at the moment. Granted, about half the field has yet to tee off, but there are already several scores over par on the leaderboard, including Vijay Singh's round of 3 over through 11 holes and Ted Purdy's round of 6 over through 14 holes.
Singh began his day on the difficult back nine here and got off to a shaky start after three-putting the par-4 10th for a double bogey. Singh closed out the side with three bogeys over his last five holes and at this point he has many people wondering how much of an effect early-season knee surgery is having on his game right now. -- Brian Wacker
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