Windy Conditions Beat Up Field, Including Tiger Woods, at Bay Hill

With winds whipping to 29 MPH, Tiger Woods and the rest of the field at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Invitational had problems with more than the golf course.  The challenge was keeping the ball on target. 

Woods struggled to keep the ball in the fairway most of the afternoon.  He was not alone. Yuta Ikeda had an 11 on the 6th hole with three balls blown into the water.  On his eighth shot he hit a lay up which landed 82 yards from the green, and his ninth landed behind the pin and he two putted for the 11. 

“I didn’t drive the ball very well at all today, early, and then towards the end, I hit pretty good,” Woods said.  “I hit my irons well all day.  That wasn’t a problem.”

The wind proved problematic for putting as well as long shots.

“It was hard to stay steady out there,” Woods explained about the conditions. “ It’s one thing to have it windy, but it was actually gusty, and I had a hard time with the putter going back straight.  And Dustin ( Johnson) and Gary ( Woodland) and I were talking about that most of the day.”

Woodland said he did not know what golf course Spencer Levin was playing, but it did not seem to him that it was the same course he played.  Levin was -6 and Woodland was +5.

“Dustin and Gary hit some beautiful putts that were bouncing off line,” Woods said.   “It was a tough day.”

Woods backed off a putt at the 18th because of the wind.

“The wind blew my putter,” he explained. “ It blew it straight out.  That’s why I backed off and regrouped.  I did it twice over there on 13, same deal.”

Despite that, Spencer Levin was -6 for the day, followed by Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan and Daniel Chopra, all at -3.  Fowler and Mahan played in the morning, and Fowler’s group was out first, giving him slightly more playing time in less windy conditions.  

Fowler had two birdies and an eagle on his first nine holes, which were the back nine.  The eagle was at the 16th. There, Fowler hit a 20-degree hybrid club for his second shot on the par five and it landed about six feet from the pin.  He made the putt for an eagle three. 

“I felt like today was probably some of the best I’ve struck it all year,” Fowler said about his round.  “ I just had a few putts that slid by and it could have been a really good round versus a good starting round. ”

Fowler was in the first group out, and the wind did not play a factor until he reached his 12th or 13th hole.

Hunter Mahan is trying to have a more consistent attitude every week, which is what he feels he needs to get him higher in the world rankings and to contend in majors. 

“I need to go out there and relax and just kind of let my game come out and let it just really let it flow,” he explained. “ I’m quick to be critical of myself, but you know, I’ve got to learn to pump myself up a little bit and get excited when I’m swinging well.”   

Like Woods, he works with Sean Foley, but Mahan also has a sports psychologist, Neal Smith. 

“Coaches can only take you so far,” Mahan added. “The player has to kind of take over and take responsibility and just start doing it.”   

The weather forecast for Friday calls for lighter winds and that should deliver better scores, particularly for those who had the late starting times Thursday and had the worst of the windy conditions.  Levin’s score was posted during the windiest part of the day, so it was a matter of who could hit under the wind and make the adjustments.