The Starter: Round 1, Arnold Palmer Invitational
The first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational is set to begin. Here's a look at Thursday's round:
| Groups We're Watching | ||||||||||||
|
EXPERT PREVIEW: PGA TOUR NETWORK on-site correspondent Michael Collins previews Thursday's first round:
I'm telling you even at the King's house there had been grumblings among players when it went to a par-70 course. But no more. PGA TOUR players are some of the most spoiled children on the planet, I'm a spoiled kid, I know. But I have never heard every guy I talk to say nothing but great stuff about the changes that were made at a golf course. Until now. Every green has been resurfaced and almost all have been re-done (most "softening" the contours). The course has also gone back to a par-72 with the fourth and 16th holes being put back to the par-5s as I believe they should be. Now I talked to a bunch of guys out here and this is the first time I can honestly say, no one had anything bad to say. It was almost eerie.
Best part of my week so far is a two-parter. ... First, I spent all day Tuesday filming 10 30-second bits for Caddy Corner that one of the PGA TOUR Partners Jani-King (you may have seen me as Chad Campbell's caddy) is doing something with. I was in a bathtub and also made bunker angels (like snow angels but ... ).
Then Arnold Palmer and Tom Ridge (Homeland Security and former PA Gov.) almost ran me over in a golf cart. Then a friend of mine told me Ridge was escorted off the driving range for trying to steal practice balls. Imagine, the Director of Homeland Security jacking a bucket of Titleists! He had this whole elaborate story of how it went down, and I bought it hook line and sinker. Thank goodness before I got to ask the Director about it my buddy let me off the hook. Might have been a tough time traveling for me if he had let me make fun of that in an interview. Whew.
INSTRUCTOR'S CORNER: Todd Jones, head instructor at the TOUR Academy, analyzes the playing conditions this week at Bay Hill.
The PGA TOUR rounds out its Florida swing with the playing of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by MasterCard. The Bay Hill Course has been tweaked since the 2009 playing, making a great golf course better. Mr. Palmer and his golf course design team have tweaked the course to continue to test the best players in the game from tee to green.
The tweaking utilized ShotLink technology to position bunkers to appropriately test the driving of today's players. The introduction of faster playing surfaces will also put a premium on hitting green,s as scrambling will be much more difficult. Look for the players that are amongst the leaders in ball striking to be near the top of the leaderboard when faced with such a test.
Being a good ball striker means that you are efficient off the tee and accurate into the greens. Players like Zach Johnson and Joe Durant clearly exhibit these traits as they are amongst the leaders in this statistical category. To be that consistent with ball striking players such as Zach and Joe are repeating impact, in essence they are doing the same thing each time they swing -- Same pre-shot routine, same fundamental address position, same sequence, same timing for every swing. Strive to become the same and you too can set yourself apart from the rest with great ball striking.
| The Film Room | ||||||
|
| Live Essentials | ||||
|
Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM
FANTASY
PGATOUR.com is part of Turner Sports Digital, part of the Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network 