It’s going to be an extremely unproductive Friday afternoon if you have to work. That’s because, alongside the annual massive distraction that is the NCAA tournament, Tiger Woods will be in action again at Bay Hill. And he’s playing well this week too, opening with a 4-under 68 that included a double bogey. It could have been better but he’s still on the first page of the leaderboard and looking like a transformed player from the depressing shell of recent years.
Arnold Palmer Invitational 2018: Tiger Woods’ tee time, plus full pairings for Friday
Woods is back on the first page of the leaderboard at Bay Hill and Friday should be a show.
Tiger Woods is back to being a favorite. Here’s why that’s not completely crazy.
Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Woods will play with Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama Friday afternoon, going off the No. 1 tee at 1:08 p.m. ET at Bay Hill. The trio will obviously be the marquee grouping in the afternoon wave, just as they were on Thursday morning in Orlando. Woods’ opening 4-under is a remarkable number given that he’s not played Bay Hill in five years and only put in the lightest of prep work this week as it’s the second leg of a back-to-back. Of course, he’s owned this venue over the course of his career, but reps are still reps and he hadn’t had any here in a long time. Aside from one wayward drive that slammed off a cart path and bounced out of bounds for a double bogey, Woods had a steady round.
Woods’ driver remains the one real weak point in his game. That ball out-of-bounds was the most penal, but he was sending them all over the place throughout the round. He just got caught on that hole and couldn’t recover. He’ll probably get caught again on Friday if the wildness is that frequent. Here’s hoping he abides the requests of all the armchair coaches who do not have 14 majors, like me, and sticks to hitting that stinging 2-iron off most tees.
The rounds on Thursday came in right around five hours so expect Woods to finish up about 6 p.m. ET on Golf Channel. The afternoon wave can back up a bit, especially as the course gets a little crusty at the very end of having the full field play 36 over two days. Those are never the most pristine conditions and can slow play down a bit. Golf Channel will not be live until 2 p.m. ET, meaning you’ll have to go to PGA Tour Live to stream (VIEWING GUIDE HERE) the first few holes of the Woods, Day, and Matsuyama group.
Here’s the full tee sheet for Friday’s second round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational:
Off No. 1 tee:
- 7:35 a.m.: Paul Goydos, C.T. Pan, Kiradech Aphibarnrat
- 7:47 a.m.: Robert Streb, Scott Stallings, Tim Herron
- 7:59 a.m.: Harris English, Stuart Appleby, Ollie Schniederjans
- 8:11 a.m.: James Hahn, Smylie Kaufman, Chris Kirk
- 8:23 a.m.: D.A. Points, Matt Every, Charles Howell III
- 8:35 a.m.: Bryson DeChambeau, Luke Donald, Vijay Singh
- 8:47 a.m.: Billy Horschel, Cody Gribble, Sangmoon Bae
- 8:59 a.m.: Kevin Chappell, David Lingmerth, Stewart Cink
- 9:11 a.m.: J.B. Holmes, Lucas Glover, Luke List
- 9:23 a.m.: Talor Gooch, Sam Burns, Collin Morikawa
- 12:20 p.m.: Robert Gamez, Brandon Harkins, Matthew Fitzpatrick
- 12:32 p.m.: Danny Lee, Alex Cejka, Tyrone Van Aswegen
- 12:44 p.m.: Scott Piercy, Ian Poulter, Haotong Li
- 12:56 p.m.: Bubba Watson, Justin Rose, Patrick Reed
- 1:08 p.m.: Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama, Tiger Woods
- 1:20 p.m.: Brandt Snedeker, Graeme McDowell, Zach Johnson
- 1:32 p.m.: Ryan Armour, Si Woo Kim, Cameron Smith
- 1:44 p.m.: Russell Knox, Billy Hurley III, Alex Noren
- 1:56 p.m.: Ben Martin, Patrick Rodgers, Byeong Hun An
- 2:08 p.m.: Donny Lee, Curtis Luck, A.J. McInerney
Off No. 10 tee:
- 7:35 a.m.: Keegan Bradley, Francesco Molinari, Kevin Tway
- 7:47 a.m.: Kevin Na, Martin Piller, Yuta Ikeda
- 7:59 a.m.: Camilo Villegas, Louis Oosthuizen, Jamie Lovemark
- 8:11 a.m.: Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Tommy Fleetwood
- 8:23 a.m.: Marc Leishman, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy
- 8:35 a.m.: Charl Schwartzel, Emiliano Grillo, Ernie Els
- 8:47 a.m.: Austin Cook, Hudson Swafford, Danny Willett
- 8:59 a.m.: Brian Harman, Davis Love III, Tyrrell Hatton
- 9:11 a.m.: Scott Brown, Bud Cauley, Peter Uihlein
- 9:23 a.m.: Aaron Wise, Sam Horsfield, Doc Redman
- 12:20 p.m.: Nick Taylor, Beau Hossler, Satoshi Kodaira
- 12:32 p.m.: Hunter Mahan, Sung Kang, Sam Saunders
- 12:44 p.m.: Kevin Streelman, John Huh, Whee Kim
- 12:56 p.m.: Ted Potter, Jr., Kyle Stanley, Padraig Harrington
- 1:08 p.m.: Mackenzie Hughes, Jimmy Walker, William McGirt
- 1:20 p.m.: Patton Kizzire, Kevin Kisner, Brian Gay
- 1:32 p.m.: Grayson Murray, Brian Stuard, Vaughn Taylor
- 1:44 p.m.: Ryan Moore, Charley Hoffman, Shane Lowry
- 1:56 p.m.: Chesson Hadley, Martin Laird, Sean O’Hair
- 2:08 p.m.: Jason Kokrak, Anirban Lahiri, Tom Hoge
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