Daniel Berger poured in six of his nine birdies on the back nine on his way to a sterling 9-under-par 63 and a three-stroke lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Thursday in Orlando, Fla.
Berger finds himself comfortably ahead of Collin Morikawa and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (6-under 66) after his bogey-free trip around Bay Hill Club and Lodge.
Berger, 32, hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since 2021 and struggled to get back to his competitive peak after a back injury cost him half of 2022 and all of 2023. Then he suffered a broken finger late last season.
“I think the biggest thing for me is just getting in a bit of a rhythm,” Berger said. “I missed all of the fall. I broke my finger at the BMW (Championship), so I took basically four months off. Then when you come back, you’re just kind of getting back into the flow of things and getting into your routine. And kind of, I’ve really played not really that poorly, and just haven’t had the results. So you just kind of keep doing the same things and good things will come.”
A Florida native, Berger had a memorable day with his irons and wedges as his approaches set up birdies from 6 feet, 4 feet and 2 feet at Nos. 7, 10 and 11.
Morikawa, who ended a two-year-plus title drought last month at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, had an up-and-down day until a remarkable finish.
With five birdies and three bogeys on his card through 15 holes, Morikawa sank a 15-foot eagle putt at the par-5 16th, hit a dart at the par-3 17th for a tap-in birdie and then holed a 27-foot birdie putt to go 4 under in the final three holes.
It meant a lot to Morikawa after he lost a late lead at Bay Hill last year and finished one shot behind Russell Henley.
“I’m never going to forget how I played last year,” Morikawa said. “You don’t want to forget about it. Like, I still played solid. But you want to close out events. You don’t dwell on it. You learn from it, you move on, you live from it and that’s the biggest thing is, how do I take a lot of the good shots I had from last year … (and) maybe there is a way I can come out here and figure out the golf course and then plot my way around. It’s just nice to be able to continue that.”
Aberg followed consecutive bogeys at Nos. 10-11 with an eagle at No. 12 on a 24 1/2-foot putt.
“I felt like I was rolling it nicely on the greens,” Aberg said. “I was hitting the fairways, which obviously helps. Yeah, felt like I was not trying to be overly aggressive. I wasn’t trying to be overly conservative either, but it was tricky with the crosswind and kind of going back and forth.”
Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela shares fourth at 5-under 67 with Cameron Young. Xander Schauffele, Australian Adam Scott and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox are another shot behind.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is in decent position with a 2-under 70. He was plagued by slow starts at each of his three previous tournaments, shooting 72 or worse in the first round before recovering to respectable finishes each time.
“I think being satisfied is always a bit of a stretch in golf. No, I feel like I did some really good things,” Scheffler said. “I felt like I made a couple mistakes that I shouldn’t have, but overall I did some really good stuff out there. Anything under par on this golf course is a decent score.”
Other notables included Rickie Fowler at 3-under 69, Justin Rose of England and Hideki Matsuyama of Japan at 2-under 70 and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Viktor Hovland of Norway at even-par 72. McIlroy had a double bogey, two bogeys and a birdie over his final six holes.
Though it’s a $20 million signature event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational features a 36-hole cut at the top 50 and ties.
–Field Level Media
