Many of the players at the Arnold Palmer Invitational have looked on tirelessly for years as Tiger Woods blazed through the golf trails that were supposed to be theirs.
Fred Couples won in an era when anyone with a textbook swing, touch around the greens and an attitude could join the winning conversation. Here’s to the first round, which sort of felt like the ’80s and early ’90s.
While Woods scrambled to an even-par 70 Thursday with erratic iron play, 48-year-old Fred Couples surged to a tie for first at 5-under 65 with J.J. Henry, 16 years younger.
One year ahead and one stroke behind, 49-year-old Tom Lehman is tied for third at 4 under with defending champion Vijay Singh, Lee Westwood and Lucas Glover.
On a day when Woods started his quest for a fifth consecutive PGA Tour win, it was the seasoned veterans who showed everyone else how to light up a leaderboard. Woods is tied for 34th.
For Couples, the 65 was his best score at Bay Hill since a 63 in 1992, the year he won this tournament and was No. 1 in the world.
“I haven’t fallen off the turnip truck,” Couples said.
There was nothing more than a light breeze on the Bay Hill course Thursday, but the 4-inch-thick rough was unforgiving as usual and the greens were trickier thanks to recent agronomy problems.
Yet 11 players finished at 3 under or better, with plenty more within striking distance.
Couples and Lehman appear ready for any challengers.
After a back injury that wouldn’t leave his body over the years, Couples gave many golf fans reason to believe he had nothing left but his 15 PGA Tour victories. He played three events last year and made one cut, his 23rd consecutive Masters cut. The last time Couples reached the top of a leaderboard after the first round was the 2003 Players Championship.
But resurgence has come in 2008 with the announcement of the 2009 Presidents Cup captaincy and a tie for eighth at the Buick Invitational. Now he’s tackling leaderboards. The back has nagged over the years but has gone from unbearable to controllable after thorough chiropractic work.
Lehman has showed similar ambition, deciding to postpone the Champions Tour in favor of loftier goal like this year’s Ryder Cup.
“The ability to play golf is always there no matter how old you are,” said Lehman, who hasn’t won since the 2000 Phoenix Open. “It just seems that it gets more difficult to do it consistently.”
The consistency could determine whether players such as Couples and Lehman will be endearing early-round stories this week or true contenders this Sunday. Players like Singh, who knows the course well, and Woods, who rarely has two consecutive bad rounds, give reason to believe the leaderboard will change.
