We always hear golf announcers say how difficult it is to follow up a low round with another one. Henrik Stenson was having trouble putting another under par round on the board on Friday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational after he posted an 8-under par 64 on Thursday to take the opening-round lead.
Making pars on his first six holes, Stenson came to the reachable par-5 16th. A less-than-ideal drive left him in a fairway bunker, but with only 211 yards to the green. While water sneaks in left, right and short of the green, there was plenty of land near the hole to pull out a long iron and go for the green in two.
The only problem was that instead of making contact with the center of the clubface, the hosel of his long iron met the ball first.
WATCH Henrik Stenson hit shank from bunker and still lead at Bay Hill: https://t.co/JzRSqWaYvf pic.twitter.com/HVD6rLrJsZ
— Golfweek (@golfweek) March 16, 2018
The differences between a pro like Stenson and the guy from your weekend game became abundantly clear immediately after the ball went screaming to the right. First of all, it traveled 173 yards; and secondly, Stenson was able to recover to hit the green and two-putt for par.
Stenson credited his resilient play on holes 16, 17 and 18, holes that he had to scramble a bit to make par, for salvaging a round that could have gone south. The Swede would go on to birdie three consecutive holes on the back nine and par in to fire a second-round 69, putting him at 11-under par and tied with Bryson DeChambeau for the 36-hole lead.
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