Daniel Berger still has the lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It's not as big as the five-shot margin he started with Saturday. He was two ahead when darkness halted play and returns Sunday to face a 35-foot eagle putt. The delay was caused by an hour of heavy rain that took some of the bite out of Bay Hill.
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Akshay Bhatia hits on the sixth hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Fans walk in the rain along the fifth hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Cameron Young hits on the 16th hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Scottie Scheffler watches his shot land on the first green during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Friday, March 6, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Daniel Berger hits out of a bunker on the second hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Daniel Berger hits out of a bunker on the second hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Akshay Bhatia hits on the sixth hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Akshay Bhatia hits on the sixth hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Fans walk in the rain along the fifth hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Fans walk in the rain along the fifth hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Cameron Young hits on the 16th hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Cameron Young hits on the 16th hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Scottie Scheffler watches his shot land on the first green during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Friday, March 6, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. Scottie Scheffler watches his shot land on the first green during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Friday, March 6, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. ORLANDO, Fla. — Daniel Berger stopped making as many birdies even after a rain delay took some of the bite out of Bay Hill on Saturday. He still had a two-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational when darkness kept the third round from finishing. Berger was to return Sunday morning to face a 35-foot eagle putt on the par-5 16th. After watching Akshay Bhatia get up-and-down from a bunker for birdie to close within two, Berger handed the putter to his caddie and decided to wait 13 hours before his next putt. Regardless of how the third round concludes, Bay Hill had that feeling of being a tournament again instead of the one-man show Berger had made it going into the weekend with a five-shot lead. That won’t be the case for Rory McIlroy, who felt muscle spasms in his back and decided to withdraw about 30 minutes before his tee time. It was his first time withdrawing from a tournament in 13 years, though it was not likely to keep him from The Players Championship. Scottie Scheffler likely shot himself out of the tournament. The world’s No. 1 player went from a bad start to an electric back nine of five birdies in a six-hole stretch, only for his approach on 18 out of ankle-deep rough to bounce off the bank and into the water.Berger was at 13-under par — even for the round — though his two-shot lead was almost certain to grow when he returns for that eagle putt. Bhatia was 11 under with the daunting finish to come.Cameron Young ran off four straight birdies to start the back nine on a Bay Hill course he has been coming to since he was in elementary school. That led to a 67, and he posted at 9-under 207 along Sepp Straka and Collin Morikawa, who barely beat the darkness for his 70. Young is pure New York, having grown up at Sleepy Hollow when his father was the head pro. But the Youngs always came to Orlando for a few months in the winter, playing out of nearby Orange Tree and spending some time at Bay Hill. He remembers one year being close enough to Tiger Woods to touch his golf clubs. But the reach connection is The King. Young has an economics degree from Wake Forest, the alma mater of Arnold Palmer. “I looked up at his statute going to practice every day at school,” Young said. “He had a tremendous influence on golf in general, and at Wake Forest. So yeah, it definitely is a very, very clear meaning in my head of what this tournament represents and what he represents.Players felt like they were on two courses. Bay Hill was a brute before the round was halted for just over an hour because of heavy rain. With so little grass on the greens — dead grass, at that — pools of water formed quickly.“The rain created a little bit of friction to where your ball was more rolling instead of kind of skidding is how I would describe it,” Scheffler said. Young described the difference as substantial, enough rain to make the small blades of grass stand up enough for putts to hold their line.Berger traded two birdies on par 5s with a pair of bogeys when he missed the green, nothing like the golf that produced 14 birdies the opening two rounds. But he kept his wits, and kept the lead. So much depends on the putts — or putt — he takes on the 16th and the final two holes to see how the final round will shape up.“Anything can happen,” he said. “I don’t know what Daniel is going to do, I don’t know where I’m going to finish the day. But any time you get a golf course this difficult, and this many good players within a couple shots of each other ... any one of them could take a really difficult golf course and make it look easy.”Ferguson has been The AP’s golf writer since 1998. He is a recipient of the PGA Lifetime Achievement in Journalism award.
Cameron Young Akshay Bhatia Daniel Berger Rory Mcilroy Sepp Straka Collin Morikawa Golf Florida FL State Wire Sports Athlete Injuries Tiger Woods Arnold Palmer Orlando
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