DeChambeau fires 66 to tie Stenson atop Palmer leaderboard

Bryson DeChambeau fired a 6-under 66 to climb into a tie for first with Henrik Stenson at 11-under at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Friday at the Bay Hill Course in Orlando, Fla.

DeChambeau, who took last week off, didn’t seem surprised.

“I’ve been playing well,” he said after the round. “I think that rest last week kind of helped.

“My body wasn’t doing great and I was able to come out here pretty fresh and get the ball in the hole.”

The 24-year-old DeChambeau from Modesto, Calif., is seeking his second victory on Tour after winning the John Deere Classic last summer. He missed last week’s Valspar Open because of back issues.

“I think every week I’m good enough to win or play my best,” he said. “It’s just sometimes a kick here, a break here and that’s just what happens, you don’t always get a sky ship rocketed up to the top of the leaderboard like I have and unfortunately that’s the way it goes sometimes, but this week it’s going the right way.”

Tiger Woods, playing at home and one tournament removed from competing for a win, fell into an eight-way tie for 17th and seven shots off the lead with an even-par day on the Par-72 layout.

”I didn’t hit the ball close, I didn’t hit the ball well,” he said. ”But I was just hanging in there … just try not to shoot myself out of the tournament.”

Stenson had a hot putter in Thursday’s opening round and it served him well again Friday.

”I made some great par putts and a bunker up-and-down, so that was really key today to keep the round going,” the Swede said. ”I didn’t drop a shot, where I could have easily dropped three shots on those holes.

“So that was crucial.”

With temperatures uncharacteristically low in Orlando for this time of year, it was in the low 50s when play started, there weren’t any scores lower than DeChambeau’s, although Charley Hoffman tied the 66 to move to 7-under and fifth place.

Talor Gooch is in third at 9-under with Byeong Hun An a shot back in fourth.

–Field Level Media