Bay Hill Invitational
Bay Hill Club & Lodge
Orlando,
Florida
19th - 22nd March 1998

Par 72 Prize Money $2 million

Second Round Report

Second Round Scores
First Round Report
First Round Scores

Montgomerie and Westwood in chase for Bayhill title

Orlando, Florida, 20th March 1998 - Tournament host Arnold Palmer didn't get the fast, firm greens typical of a major at the Bay Hill Invitational. He'll have to settle for a leaderboard loaded with major championship winners.

Masters champion Tiger Woods caught PGA champion Davis Love III with three birdies on the back nine in the second round today, putting them each at 10-under-par 134 heading into a 36-hole marathon finish.

They will be paired with two-time U.S. Open winner Ernie Els, who had five birdie putts lip out but still managed a 3-under 69 in whipping winds and was two strokes back at 136.

The second round was not completed until today because of four rain delays in the first two days at the Bay Hill Club. Sunday will be the first 36-hole final since Stuart Appleby won the Honda Classic last year.

"It's going to be not only a test of golf but a test of durability," said Love, who has two runner-up finishes at Bay Hill.

The group at 139 included Mark Calcavecchia, a former British Open champion who won last week at the Honda; Colin Montgomerie, a three-time runner-up in major championships; Scott Hoch; and Lee Westwood, a rising star from England.

Among those who didn't qualify for the weekend were defending champion Phil Mickelson and Nick Faldo, both at 2-over 146. ..

"We'll find out tomorrow how stupid the assessment was by that judge who said that walking is not fatiguing," said Hoch, referring to the federal ruling that allowed Casey Martin to use a cart on the Nike Tour.

"On wet fairways, on this course, it's going to be difficult."

Love birdied the 18th from 15 feet for a 6-under 66, a remarkable round considering wind gusts of nearly 30 mph on a course that played longer than its 7,207 yards because of sponge-like fairways.

"I wasn't thinking that kind of score when I teed off," Love said. "I was thinking of just being patient and grinding it out."

He was helped along by a birdie from from 30 feet on No. 3, 20 feet on the par-5 sixth and a 35-footer on No. 10.

"I don't want it to blow this hard tomorrow, but the tougher the better," Love said. "That makes it easier for the guys at the top."

That's not to say it will be easy for any of them.

Just ask Woods, who followed his first-round 64 by hitting only eight greens in a scrambling round of 70.

"Fun? You call that fun?" he said. "That's work. Sixty-fours are fun. Shooting 70 like this is more gratifying, but it's a lot harder to do."

Woods made bogey on the first hole after hitting into a fairway bunker and missing the green. He saved par five times on the front -- three times from the sand -- and trailed Love by three when he made the turn.

"It was just one of those rounds where I didn't feel comfortable with my golf swing," Woods said. "I needed to hit something at par. If I hit something at par, I was still in the ball game."

He did even better.

Woods coaxed a 9-iron into 6 feet for birdie at No. 11, then hit a 60-degree sand wedge with tremendous spin straight downwind into 10 feet for birdie at No. 13, where the pin was tucked right behind the water.

He didn't hit any of the par 5s in two, but he got his final birdie by rolling in a 15-foot putt from the first cut of rough at the 517-yard 16th hole. He ended his round in typical fashion -- getting up and down from the rough.

Els spent nearly 12 hours on the course on Friday, shooting a 67 and then making birdie on the first hole before play was suspended by darkness. He returned this morning and saved par from the left front bunker to a back right pin.

"It was a good wakeup call," he said.

It will be another early day -- and a long one -- on Sunday.

The Bay Hill Club and Lodge course measures 7,196 yards.

First prize is $360,000.