PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – March or May, there is no shortage of excitement at The Players Championship.

Tiger Woods made only one par on the back nine Thursday, revving up the crowd with five birdies, only to slow his charge with three mistakes.

Emiliano Grillo hit the pin on the island-green 17th and the ball nearly bounced into the water. One group later, Ryan Moore heard the “clink” of ball hitting pin on the fly and heard only cheers for the ninth hole-in-one on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass.

Harris English had an albatross 2. Kiradech Aphibarnrat had an 84.

There were 23 eagles. Fifty players had a double bogey or worse.

When the day ended, Keegan Bradley and Tommy Fleetwood went different routes to reach the same score and share the lead at 7-under 65.

Bradley got off to a fast start and had three putts for eagle, making one of them. Fleetwood had a big finish with three straight birdie putts of 15 feet or longer.

“If you like golf, you should like this golf course, really,” Fleetwood said. “It’s just about as fair as you’re going to get a test. If you hit it well like I did today, you’re going to have chances and you can shoot a score, and people are shooting scores. But you can also get it the other way, as soon as you start struggling and start going the other way, it can easily go against you. It’s an amazing course for that.”

The three Canadians are well back. Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., shot even-par 72, and Abbotsford, B.C., players Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin carded 73 and 76, respectively.

Woods hit a shot off a spectator’s ankle on the first hole, clipped a tree off the tee on the second hole, managed to get through the front nine, and then thought he might be able to take advantage late in the afternoon as the wind began to die.

He did, and then he didn’t.

A birdie was followed by a ball in the water on the par-5 11th for a bogey. Two birdies were followed by a shot in the rough-covered mounds. Two more birdies were followed by a missed par putt from 4 feet. It added to a 70, the 17th time in 18 starts at The Players he failed to break 70. The exception was 2013, when he last won.

“I felt like I could have got something in the 60s today and got off to not actually the best of starts today,” Woods said. “I hit some bad shots early, rectified that, made a few adjustments, and then went about my business. And then the back nine, there’s nine holes on the back nine, made one par. So that was interesting.”

The move from May after 11 years to its traditional March spot on the calendar brought green, softer conditions and more wind than usual, though it was out of the typical May direction. With the rye overseed making the moderate rough more predictable, players took aim.

Fleetwood had only one birdie on the slightly easier back nine, and finished with birdie putts from 15 feet, 30 feet and 18 feet.

“You get on a run like 7, 8, 9, and it feels great after that,” Fleetwood said. “Just one of them would feel like a great round, so three of them … I’ll take it.”

Byeong Hun An and Brian Harman were at 66, while Rory McIlroy also played bogey-free for a 67. He was in a group with Moore, who used a 54-degree wedge for his ace on the 17th.

“The group right before me, we were walking up 16 … I think it was Grillo hit the pin about 2 inches above the cup and almost went back in the water,” Moore said. “I heard mine clink and I was just waiting to go see where the ball went. And then no ball showed up.”

Also at 67 was Vaughn Taylor, who must love the move back to March. Taylor is among 23 players who have competed on the Stadium Players Course in both months. He tied for eighth the last time it was in March in 2006. In the eight times he played in May, he never made the cut.

Bradley, who a week ago shared the 36-hole lead with Fleetwood at Bay Hill, has only one top 10 in his eight trips to the TPC Sawgrass.

“Early in my career, I felt so uncomfortable on this course. I really didn’t play well here,” Bradley said. “It didn’t really enjoy … it just wasn’t a good fit for me. And then this year, I really enjoy the different conditions that we’re playing in. I like the rough better, and I think it’s a great time of year to play here.”

McIlroy was among those who approved of the calendar change. This was only the third time in 10 starts at The Players he broke 70 in the first round.

“I think the course over the last 10 years … it hasn’t lent itself to aggressive play,” McIlroy said. “It’s sort of position and irons of the tee and really trying to plot your way around the golf course. I hit drivers on holes today that I would never have hit driver the last few years.

“I don’t know if the course is easier or not,” he said. “We’ll see what the stroke average is at the end of the day. But because I think it’s playing longer, it’ll play longer for most of the guys, and I think it should all even out. But I definitely like the golf course the way it is in March.”

Youth on Course – the non-profit organization providing young people with subsidized golf, college scholarships, caddie programs and paid internships, in partnership with Golf Canada and Alberta Golf – breaks international ground and brings affordable junior golf to Canada.

Initially, Youth on Course will be launching as a two-year pilot in the province of Alberta and will be recognized under the umbrella of Canada’s National Junior Golf Program – Future Links. With 17,000 junior member golfers and nearly 1,400 Golf Canada member clubs from coast to coast, Golf Canada will evaluate the results of the pilot prior to expanding the program nationwide.

In Alberta, the list of courses offering junior golf rounds for $5 or less are:

• Goose Hummock Golf Resort
• Westlock Golf Course
• RedTail Landing Golf Club
• Whitetail Crossing Golf Club
• Eagle Rock Golf Course
• Olds Golf Club
• River Spirit Golf Club
• Heatherglen Golf Course
• Serenity Golf Club
• McCall Lake Golf Course (18 & par 3)
• Shaganappi Golf Course (18 & 9)
• Banff Springs Golf Club (Tunnel 9)

“Golf Canada and Alberta Golf continually inspire and nurture a new generation of golfers by providing access to affordable rounds,” says Adam Heieck, CEO of Youth on Course.  “With the highest per-capita golf participation in the world, Youth on Course’s expansion will benefit the sport’s sustainability.”

Youth on Course will be a significant addition to the existing Future Links suite of programs and offers an on-course application for facilities to offer to youth, eliminating golf’s barrier of affordability and providing more opportunities for kids to play golf. Golfers, ages 6-18 will be able to join the Youth on Course international network, getting access to 1,000 golf courses in 27 different states.

“When first introduced to Youth on Course, we felt it was a very strong initiative to advance junior golf and we are pleased to be involved in this pilot stage for the program in Canada,” says Jeff Thompson, Chief Sport Officer of Golf Canada. “Together with Alberta Golf and our participating partner courses, we are eager to give community access to golf at an unprecedented level of affordability.”

Golf Canada runs a variety of grassroot level programs under the Future Links brand, aimed at introducing and developing the game of golf amongst Canadian youth. A national junior program conducted in partnership with the PGA of Canada and Canada’s 10 provincial golf associations, Future Links is focused on three primary pillars of engagement – an in-school program, facility programs and outreach programming, all of which have contributed to the success of Future links, which has eclipsed the mark of 1.7 million youth engaged in golf.

Operating in every U.S. region, Youth on Course has more than 50,000 active members. Since 2006, juniors have played more than 10 million holes and 765,000 rounds while the organization has helped generate more than $5.2 million in tee-time revenue reimbursed back to individual golf courses. In addition to subsidized rounds, Youth on Course also facilitates paid internships, a caddie program and nationwide scholarships. They have awarded 223 students with college scholarships totaling more than $1.4 million in financial support. The current Youth on Course scholarship retention rate is ninety-four percent, with 80 students already graduated.

A safe space for Canadian athletes and kids who participate in sport has been a long time coming.

That was part of Minister of Science and Sport Kirsty Duncan’s message in announcing both an investigation unit and a toll-free confidential helpline on Wednesday, major measures in an effort to combat harassment and abuse in sport.

“This was Week 1 my priority, as an athlete, coach, and judge all my life,” Duncan told The Canadian Press. “When you train athletes your No. 1 job is to protect their health and safety. It’s your No. 1 job.

“So when I came into the role, I wanted to put our athletes at the centre of everything we do. And I knew we needed to help our athletes from the beginning – that there be a confidential safe place where they could go.”

The investigation unit is an arm’s-length, third-party program set up through the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada, an independent organization that already functions in helping resolve disputes in the national sport community. Canadian sport organizations can access the unit for independent investigations on reports of harassment, abuse or discrimination in sport.

The helpline – 1-888-83SPORT (77678) – is for victims and witnesses of harassment, abuse or discrimination. The line, which is already up and running, will be staffed by counsellors, psychologists and psychotherapists, seven days a week, 12 hours a day.

“I have been clear there can be bystander effect. If you see a child being hurt or harmed, it’s all of our jobs to speak up,” Duncan said. “So having this confidential phone line where you can report cases, they are professionally trained people . . . who will listen. It’s safe, confidential, in both official languages, and they will say where you can go next, whether it’s to the police, whether it’s to child protection services, it’s to provincial or territorial resources, but you will actually have someone say ‘This is where you go next.”’

Wednesday’s announcement is the latest move by Duncan, who appointed a working group on gender equity to study issues such as sexual abuse and harassment after she was appointed sport minister in January of 2018. The government also recently partnered with Canadian athletes rights group AthletesCan for a study on abuse and discrimination and sport.

Duncan also unveiled a gender equity secretariat and a code of conduct – “which has never existed” – is being written that can be used in sports of all levels.

“This is so important to me that we get this right,” Duncan said. “We’ve got to do this for our athletes and our children.”

Canadian sports groups applauded Duncan’s efforts on Wednesday.

“Minister Duncan is dedicated to improving safe sport and is making serious, deliberate investments, not just words but actions,” Swimming Canada CEO Ahmed El-Awadi said in a statement. “These are impressive initiatives and the whole sport system will be safer as a result of her efforts.”

Canadian Paralympic Committee president Marc-Andre Fabien said: “These new processes are critical towards combating harassment, abuse, and discrimination in sport.”

There have been several high-profile sexual assault and harassment stories recently in Canadian sport. In June, Allison Forsyth was among several former members of Canada’s ski team who spoke publicly about the abuse suffered at the hands of former coach Bertrand Charest in the 1990s. Charest was convicted last year of 37 offences of sexual assault and exploitation.

“As a victim of sexual abuse, I am extremely encouraged by these two new programs,” Forsyth said in a statement Wednesday. “It is critical that our sport system has a safe place for athletes to report instances of abuse and an ethical and legal investigation process. These is a strong sense of urgency to take action. We are not seeking perfection; we are seeking progress to ensure a safe, healthy sport environment for all athletes in Canada.”

Safe sport had been governed through the Sport Canada Accountability Framework since it was implemented in 1996 in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal involving former junior hockey coach Graham James. National sport organizations were required to have a safe sport policy – and a designated individual to handle complaints – in place to receive government funding.

But there had been major inconsistencies in how it was applied, and in recently months, and in light of a handful of high-profile cases in Canada, athletes and administrators – including Olympic wrestling champion Erica Wiebe and Sheldon Kennedy, a retired NHL player and sex abuse victim – publicly called for an independent party to handle cases.

Following a successful seeding and validation period on the PGA Tour, the new 2019 Pro V1 and Pro V1x Yellow golf balls will be available in golf shops this week – beginning Friday, March 15.

The introduction of a high-visibility yellow colour option to the Pro V1 family – the most played golf balls at every level of competitive golf and the best-selling models in the game – answers the growing demand from members of Team Titleist and golfers around the world.

“I’m loving the new Pro V1x Yellow. When the R&D guys sent me the first batch of them for testing, I couldn’t wait to get them in play,” said Watson, who currently leads the PGA Tour’s average driving distance category at 316.6 yards.

“I played some really good golf with the [prior generation] Pro V1x, but it’s clear the 2019 ball is even better. It’s faster, I can work the ball exactly how I want, and the short game performance is as good as ever. The ball feels great, plus there’s just something about that bright yellow finish where I feel like I can see it better. For me it was a no brainer.”

On Sunday, Kirk Triplett, playing Pro V1x Yellow, eagled the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the PGA Tour Champions’ Hoag Classic, marking the first victory for a Pro V1 or Pro V1x Yellow golf ball on the worldwide professional tours.

The new ProV1 and ProV1x in High Optic Yellow are available in ?? on March 15 ?? @TitleistCA

➡️ https://t.co/ECk4rRFM36 pic.twitter.com/m821VPon2W

— Golf Canada (@GolfCanada) March 13, 2019

Pro V1 and Pro V1x Yellow models have also been played on the PGA Tour by Kyle Jones (Pro V1x) and Rory Sabbatini (Pro V1x), on the Web.Com Tour by Scott Gutschewski (Pro V1) and Zac Blair (Pro V1x), and on PGA Tour Champions by Mark Calcavecchia (Pro V1x) and Ken Tanigawa (Pro V1).

2019 PRO V1 PERFORMANCE

Faster from core to cover, new Pro V1 and Pro V1x Yellow have been precisely engineered to deliver the same performance improvements as their 2019 counterparts – delivering more ball speed and lower long game spin for more distance, while retaining the consistent flight, Drop-and-Stop short game control, soft feel and long-lasting durability that golfers depend on. Click here for complete details.

Pro V1 provides optimal flight and spin for most golfers, flying lower than Pro V1x with a penetrating trajectory, with very soft feel. Pro V1x flies higher, spins more on iron shots and has a slightly firmer feel.

GOLF BALL SELECTION TOOL

Playing a properly fit golf ball will help golfers shoot lower scores. The Titleist golf ball selection tool starts the fitting process by suggesting a recommended and alternative ball for golfers to test on the golf course.

AVAILABILITY

New 2019 Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls are available now in golf shops worldwide, with yellow models available beginning March 15. $64.99 CAD MAP.

ORLANDO, Fla. – British Open champion Francesco Molinari delivered another big moment on the 18th green at Bay Hill, without wearing a red shirt and leaving the flag stick in the cup. His 45-foot birdie putt capped off an 8-under 64 to come from five shots behind Sunday and win the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Molinari watched the birdie putt kiss off the pin and into the cup, and the normally reserved Italian raised his fist and hammered it down in celebration, knowing that would make him hard to beat.

He started so far back that Molinari finished nearly two hours before the round ended. It gave him a two-shot lead at 12-under 276, and no one got closer than two shots the rest of the way.

“To do it here at Arnie’s place, knowing my wife and kids are watching from home, it’s very special,” Molinari said.

He won for the fourth time in the last nine months, and in his first start since signing a new equipment deal.

Tiger Woods, who missed this week with a sore neck, has delivered so many birdie putts over the year on the 18th, usually to win and with Palmer on the side of the green waiting to congratulate him. Molinari’s was longer than anything Woods ever made, from a slightly different angle. But he knew the history from so many highlights.

“It’s a pretty iconic putt,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I’m the first guy to make it with the flag in, though, so that’s the real difference.”

The new Rules of Golf allow the flag to be left in for putts in the green, and most players leave it there on long putts.

“Obviously, you’re trying to lag it close to the hole and it came out on a great line and maybe a little firmer than I wanted, but the line was just right and incredible to see it going in,” he said. “I’ve seen so many putts on TV like that and to do it yourself it’s really amazing.”

Matt Fitzpatrick managed only two birdies in his round of 1-under 71 and made a 3-foot par putt to finish alone in second. Rory McIlroy started the final round one shot behind and never got anything going. He had two birdies, two bogeys and a 72 to tie for sixth.

Perhaps it was only fitting that the claret jug was at Bay Hill, which served as part of the Open Qualifying Series. Sung Kang also had a big putt on the 18th hole, this one from 12 feet for par that sewed up the third and final spot offered for the British Open at Royal Portrush this summer.

The other two spots went to Sungjae Im, the 20-year-old South Korean who closed with a 68 and tied for third; and Honda Classic winner Keith Mitchell, who made eight birdies in his final round of 66 to tie for sixth.

Tommy Fleetwood, who shared the 36-hole lead at Bay Hill, recovered from a 76 that knocked him out of contention by closing with a 68 to join Im at 9-under 279 along with Rafa Cabrera Bello (69).

Roger Sloan (71) of Merrit, B.C., was the top Canadian at 4 under while Adam Hadwin (73) of Abbotsford, B.C., was 2 under.

“I was just trying to hit good shots, give myself chances,” Molinari said. “I knew it was not going to be easy. The course was firm and fast yesterday and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy for the guys in the lead, so I thought there was an outside chance. And yeah, just started making putts, one of my best putting rounds ever.”

It was another disappointment for McIlroy, who has played in the final group in three of his five PGA Tour events, and for the ninth time without winning dating to the start of 2018. He rallied from two back to win at Bay Hill a year ago.

This time, he was in good position just one shot behind Fitzpatrick. But after a 25-foot birdie putt on the third hole to briefly tie for the lead, McIlroy played the next 12 holes with two bogeys and 10 pars.

Fitzpatrick didn’t have much going, either. He regained the lead with a birdie on No. 4, un aware of all the action on the other side of the course.

Molinari tied for the lead with an 18-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole, took the lead with a two-putt birdie on the 16th and then set the target with his big birdie on the 18th. It turned out to be too much for anyone to catch him.

No one got closer than one shot to him the rest of the day.

Molinari has four victories worldwide in his last 17 starts over the last nine months, and the Italian pointed to the first of those victories for sparking his turnaround. He played in the final round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth tied with McIlroy, closed with a 68 and won by two.

“It’s hard to point a finger at one thing,” Molinari said. “I think obviously confidence has to do a lot with it. When I won last year, playing with Rory in the last few groups, it wasn’t easy at all. So from there I started building my confidence and just saying I could get it done.”

And he did.

Molinari closed with a 62 to blow away the field in the Quicken Loans National. He played bogey-free on the final day at Carnoustie for his first major. He became the first European to win all five matches at the Ryder Cup. And he delivered a charge that was most appropriate on Palmer’s home course.

“I got everything out of it,” he said.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Rory McIlroy seems to have everything going his way at Bay Hill except for recent history.

With three birdies over the last four holes, McIlroy had a 6-under 66 on Saturday that left him one shot behind Matt Fitzpatrick and in the final group of a PGA Tour event for the third time in five starts this year, and the ninth time dating to the start of 2018.

That’s a sign of consistently good play.

There’s also some frustration from not having won from the final group since the Irish Open in 2016.

And by the look of Bay Hill in the warm, late afternoon – greens that looked yellow, fairways feeling tighter in such firm conditions – it won’t be any easier.

“Just what I needed,” McIlroy said. “I did everything I needed to do today to get myself back in the golf tournament, and excited to have another chance tomorrow.”

Fitzpatrick managed to avoid bogeys on a Bay Hill course so firm he could barely find any pitch marks on the greens Saturday. It led to a 5-under 67 and a one-shot lead as he goes for his first PGA Tour title.

He was at 9-under 207, which spoke to the difficulty of a fast, fiery course that would have made Arnie proud. It was the highest 54-hole score to lead at Bay Hill since Ben Crenshaw was at 210 in 1993.

That would have surprised no one who had to play it, especially late in the warm afternoon.

Fitzpatrick wasn’t aware that Keegan Bradley and Tommy Fleetwood, the co-leaders after 36 holes, had quickly gone in reverse. But it didn’t take him long to figure it out. He hit a sand wedge from 115 yards to just inside 10 feet, and he couldn’t even find where the ball landed.

“So when you see that, you know it’s going to be in for tough, fiery greens,” Fitzpatrick said. “But the condition of the greens is fantastic and they have been all week, so I think that that’s what make it’s so great. You can still hit to 30 feet, 40 feet and just have a perfectly great putt, just because they’re so good.”

McIlroy started quickly and was just hanging around until his big finish. He hit pitching wedge that settled a foot away for a tap-in on the 15th, hit a pitch over the bunker from right of the green on the par-5 16th for a 4-foot birdie, and then finished with another pitching wedge to 10 feet for one last birdie.

Those birdies were big. The pars weren’t bad, either.

“I felt for part of the round today that I was hanging on,” McIlroy said. “You hit it up to 25, 30 feet, you take your two-putts, you move on and know you’re not going to lose any ground on the field.”

That finished put him where he wanted – the final group.

McIlroy also was in the final group at Kapalua to start the year, three shots behind Gary Woodland. He was in the final group in Mexico City two weeks ago, four shots behind Dustin Johnson. This presents a better opportunity against Fitzpatrick, a five-time winner on the European Tour over the last four years.

But there are plenty of others still in the mix.

Fitzpatrick looked at the electronic leaderboard next to him and figured every name had a chance.

Fifteen players were within five shots of the lead.

“There’s water around here, the greens are firm, the rough’s thick,” Fitzpatrick said. “Today someone was saying it’s a bit like a U.S. Open, which I could totally see. It only takes a couple of water balls from the top five guys, a few dropped shots early and all of a sudden you sort of are not looking like you’re in a great position.”

The list included Fleetwood, who made a 6-foot putt on the 18th hole for his first birdie of the day and a 76. He also was five back.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., fired a 68 to sit at 3 under and tied for 23rd along with fellow Canadian Roger Sloan (74) of Merrit, B.C.

Bradley didn’t have a par until the sixth hole, and only one of those was a birdie. He missed the fairway on No. 1 (bogey), hit into a bunker on No. 2 (bogey), three-putted for bogey on No. 3 and had another bogey from the bunker on No. 5.

He rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 75, and while that big fist pump seemed out of place for someone who endured such a tough day, he had reason to cheer. After all that, Bradley was just three shots behind.

Aaron Baddeley and Matt Wallace each had a 69, while Kevin Kisner had a 70. They were at 7-under 209, still very much in the game.

“The golf course is playing brutal, and just nowhere to get it close to the pin,” Kisner said. “Greens are firm, hitting a lot of long irons, and it’s a true test.”

McIlroy sees some similarities to his victory last year at Bay Hill. He started slowly and began to hit his stride, playing a little bit better each day. He also went to one of the Disney parks after finishing early Friday, just like last year when he was at Magic Kingdom and rode Space Mountain.

This year’s ride?

“Tower of Terror,” he said, and that might be appropriate if the conditions at Bay Hill stay this way.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Bay Hill provided a few dramatic turnarounds, good news for Henrik Stenson, not so much for Phil Mickelson.

Through it all, Tommy Fleetwood and Keegan Bradley kept a steady march of solid golf Friday and wound up tied for the lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, four shots clear of anyone else going into the weekend on a course that has been tough all week.

Fleetwood used two new clubs to produce two eagles, which carried him to a 6-under 66. Bradley, with the renewed confidence of a player who last year ended six years without a PGA Tour victory, made all but one of his six birdies on the par 4s and had a 68.

They were at 9-under 135, the highest score to lead Bay Hill through 36 holes since 2013.

Tiger Woods wound up winning that year, which won’t be the case. Woods is home nursing a sore neck. That also was the last time Mickelson was at Bay Hill, and this trip lasted only two days.

Mickelson hit a pair of horrific drives – one out-of-bound, another into water he couldn’t see off the tee at No. 8 – that led to double bogeys. With only one birdie on his card, Mickelson was 10 shots worse than his opening round and posted a 78. He missed the cut by one shot.

“It’s a penalizing course if you don’t hit very good shots, and I hit some terrible shots today,” Mickelson said. “That’s probably the score I deserved.”

On the other side was Stenson, who opened with a 77 and then headed to the range with swing coach Pete Cowen. The former British Open champion responded with a 66, an 11-shot improvement, that left him eight shots behind, though still a tee time Saturday.

“A couple of hockey sticks yesterday and a 66 today. That was a nice turnaround,” Stenson said. “It seemed like I was hitting it good yesterday, didn’t quite feel like I was in the same groove this morning in the warmup, and yeah, I still have to fight a little bit out there.”

Even with a four-shot advantage, Fleetwood and Bradley have to be concerned with more than themselves in the final group. Bradley would know from experience. He was eight shots behind going into the weekend in 2014 and was the runner-up by one shot, mainly courtesy of Adam Scott’s troubled weekend.

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., British Open champion Francesco Molinari, Honda Classic winner Keith Mitchel and Billy Horschel led a pack of players at 5-under 139. The group another shot back included Masters champions Patrick Reed and Bubba Watson, and Eddie Pepperell, who is playing a regular PGA Tour event for the first time and got caught with his pants up.

Actually, Pepperell did that himself. He was all too proud to roll up his pant legs and show off his new socks, which have an image of Jack Nicklaus making his birdie putt at Augusta National the year he won his sixth Masters.

“Best round of the year, and probably a decade for me,” Pepperell said.

Never mind that this is the tournament named after Jack’s rival. But it seemed to work.

Fleetwood, a three-time winner on the European Tour, is ready to take the next step by winning in America, and he looked up to the task. Without an equipment contract ever since Nike got out of the club business, the Englishman is free to mix-and-match.

He had five brands of equipment in his bag, and two new ones stood one.

One is a Srixon 4-iron, which he hammered from 224 yards over the corner of the lake to 18 feet on the par-5 sixth for eagle.

The other was a Ping 7-wood that he took possession of on Tuesday, hit two shots and was sold on it. That replaced his 5-wood, the last Nike club he had. Fleetwood was 275 yards to the hole on the par-5 12th, and no sooner was the ball in the air that caddie Ian Finnis said, “Good shot.”

Finnish never says such a thing until the ball actually returns to Earth, but he had a hunch on this one, and he was right. The ball landed just right and rolled out to 6 feet behind the flag on the upper right shelf of the green.

“I couldn’t have got a wedge as close as I actually hit it to that back right pin,” Fleetwood said.

He made that eagle putt, too.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy made a little headway with a 70, leaving him seven shots behind.

“The golf course is hard,” said McIlroy, who won last year at 18-under 270, “Two under is in the top 20. Last year it got firm on the weekend. But the weekend conditions came early – cold weather at the start of the week, and it’s dry. It’s probably more of a test off the tee than the last few weeks. If I hit fairways on the weekend, I’ll feel like I’ve got a good chance.”

Adam Hadwin (75) of Abbotsford, B.C., is well back at 1 over and Corey Conners (78) of Listowel, Ont., missed the cut.

KENT, Ohio  – Longtime Kent State golf coach Herb Page will retire at the end of this season and end his storied run at the school.

Page has coached the Golden Flashes since 1977, building the men’s golf program into one of the nation’s most consistent and decorated. Under Page, Kent State has won 22 Mid-American Conference titles, appeared in 17 NCAA championships and he’s had 28 All-Americans, including Ben Curtis, the 2003 British Open champion.

“I feel Herb is the best coach in America,” Curtis said. “The record shows that, but the support he provides to all former players is phenomenal, no matter what the player moves onto after graduation. I would not have had the success that I’ve had without his coaching, guidance, support and friendship.”

Page was also instrumental in launching Kent State’s women’s golf program in 1998. The Golden Flashes have won 20 straight MAC titles.

He’s been the conference’s top coach 23 times.

“Kent State means so much to me,” said Page, who played three sports at the school in the early 1970s. “I am forever grateful to the university and all of the administrators, staff and student-athletes I have had the privilege of coaching, who made our golf program so successful. This is my alma mater and the Kent community has been my home ever since.

“But most of all, I am indebted to the wonderful student-athletes I have worked with. It is humbling to reflect on all that they have achieved over the past 41 years and the amazing memories that we have made together.”

Succeeding Page will be fellow Canadian golf coach Jon Mills, the current assistant men’s coach at Kent State.

Page was announced as the first-ever coach to be inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame earlier this year. Page, along with Canadian Champions Tour standout Rod Spittle, will join the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame during an induction ceremony that will take place Tuesday, June 4, during RBC Hall of Fame Day as part of the 2019 RBC Canadian Open on the grounds of Hamilton Golf and Country Club.

Herb Page & Corey Conners

ORLANDO, Fla. – Rafa Cabrera Bello had a Bay Hill debut to remember with a 7-under 65 for a two-shot lead while playing with Arnold Palmer’s grandson.

The entertainment, as usual, came from Phil Mickelson.

Back at the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the first time in six years, Mickelson capped off a wild round by nearly holing his approach from the 18th fairway for his seventh birdie on a round that will be remembered more for the shot Lefty tried to play right-handed .

“It didn’t turn out the best,” Mickelson said after rallying for a 68.

Thanks to the new Rules of Golf, it could have been worse.

Mickelson, who won at Bay Hill in 1997, was cruising along until his tee shot on the 10th hole went well to the left and settled under a mesh fence that was out-of-bounds, with just enough of the ball inside the stakes that he could try to play it.

Of course, he did.

Standing on the other side of the fence, his best play was to invert a 9-iron and try to smash it right-handed through the mesh netting.

“I was able to get clear – I thought – clean contact on it from a right-handed shot perspective,” he said. “I thought I hit it pretty good.”

He looked up toward the green and was surprised to see the ball a few feet in front of him. By hitting the mesh fence, it rolled up and snagged the ball, which eventually spit out of the fence and this time landed out-of-bounds.

The old rule would have meant hitting his next shot from the same spot under the fence. The new rule for a stroke-and-distance penalty allowed him to move it one club length away. Mickelson was able to get that one to the front of the green, and he two-putted from 30 feet to salvage a double bogey.

“That definitely helped,” Mickelson said. “I didn’t want to play that shot again.”

He didn’t think the first shot was all that difficult, but he at least rallied with three birdies that left him three shots out of the lead.

“I’ve made a lot of doubles in my day,” Mickelson said. “It’s one more, it doesn’t even hurt.”

Keegan Bradley played bogey-free for a 67 in the morning, as did Cabrera Bello. Mickelson was in the group at 68 along with Graeme McDowell, Bubba Watson, Patrick Rodgers and Billy Horschel.

British Open champion Francesco Molinari made one of two aces on the day – the other belonged to D.A. Points – and was among those at 69.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy opened with a 72.

Cabrera Bello opened with four birdies in six holes in the morning chill, and he put together another run of birdies on the front nine that included consecutive putts from the 30-foot range. The rest of the Spaniard’s putts were from 6 feet or closer.

“I really didn’t know what to expect,” Cabrera Bello said. “I know how nice and tough the course is and I think it’s a course with many, many daunting shots. So I feel the more you play it, probably the better. So I wasn’t really having much high expectations as opposed to just getting out there and playing my golf.”

Saunders had a 73 and was along for the ride with Cabrera Bello, who capped off his round with a 10-foot par putt.

“Playing with Sam is always a pleasure, not because he’s the grandson of Arnie but because of how nice of a guy he is,” Cabrera Bello said. “Obviously, playing at Bay Hill with him I know how special this event is for all of us, I can only imagine how special it is for him.”

Cabrera Bello is No. 34 in the world, winless since the Scottish Open in 2017.

Canadians Roger Sloan and Adam Hadwin were five shots off the lead in a tie for 14th place while Corey Conners was six shots back.

McDowell was among the first tournament ambassadors after Palmer died as a longtime supporter at Bay Hill. This could be a big week for him in other ways. The British Open returns to Northern Ireland this summer for the first time since 1951, and Bay Hill for the first time is part of the Open Qualifying Series. The top three players not already exempt from the top 10 at Bay Hill will get into Royal Portrush.

“I only found that out on Tuesday, to be honest with you,” McDowell said. “But, listen, I’m focusing really on the big picture right now. I’m kind of the opinion that good golf will take care of the things that I want to take care of. And it’s hard enough going out there trying to get your golf ball around 18 holes here at this great golf course and just trying to stay in the moment.”

Justin Rose, who has a chance to return to No. 1 in the world this week, opened with a 71.

Jason Day, the last player to win at Bay Hill before Palmer died in 2016, withdrew after six holes because of a back injury. Day was coming off a three-week break.

When Brittany Marchand was being recruited by American universities, she made it clear that she wanted to study chemical engineering while playing NCAA golf. After several schools told her she couldn’t be a varsity athlete while undertaking such an academically rigorous degree, Marchand found a home at North Carolina State University.

Now starting her second season on the LPGA Tour, Marchand is working to encourage young athletes to pursue their dreams in sports and in education at the same time. The native of Orangeville, Ont., has become an ambassador for Golf Canada’s Future Links Golf in Schools, a program that teaches the game to children.

Marchand joins that program a year after throwing her support behind Let’s Talk Science, a Canadian charitable organization committed to building youth interest in science, engineering and technology.

“I want to be an ambassador to show that it’s definitely possible to do it all,” Marchand said. “Obviously it takes a lot of discipline and hard work, but it’s possible.”

“I did my degree in five years because I wanted to do well in both – golf and school – so I spread my major out, playing four years for the golf team and then my fifth year I did more lab-heavy, time-heavy courses.”

Marchand is also motivated to be an ambassador for Golf in Schools and Let’s Talk Science because of their messages of inclusivity. She wants children to understand that regardless of their background or gender, they can achieve their professional goals.

Brittany Marchand at the 2018 CP Women’s Open in Regina, Saskatchewan (Photo: Bernard Brault/ Golf Canada)

“I’m big on school and I’m also big on promoting the game to every kid,” said Marchand, who will have a Golf in Schools logo on her bag this season. “I think that’s the one thing about golf that’s tough is that it’s extremely expensive and it’s not usually seen as an all-inclusive sport for every family.

“I think that the Golf in Schools program is great because it introduces the game to every kid.”

Marchand especially wants to reach girls and young women interested in pursuing careers in science or professional sports – both areas that are traditionally dominated by men.

“I think if you grow up and you end up finding a passion in science, math, engineering, whatever it is, or if it’s in golf or another sport that’s more male-dominated, then stick to doing what you love and if you work hard it’s definitely achievable,” Marchand said. “Don’t listen to the voices of no. Stick with what you know is true to yourself.”

Golf Canada’s chief sport officer Jeff Thompson, who oversees the Future Links program as well as the country’s amateur and high-performance teams, believes Marchand is the perfect ambassador for the Golf in Schools program.

“She has a personal interest, she wants to go into a couple of schools herself, she really wants to get hands on when she has the time,” Thompson said. “She came through our Team Canada program and is currently a member of our Young Pro Squad, so we’ve had relationships with and supported Brittany throughout her career. I think it was a really great gesture on her part to give back to the sport.”

Marchand has also applied her analytical mind to her golf game.

The 26-year-old made 13 cuts in her rookie season on the LPGA Tour, including a career-best tie for seventh at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic in Oneida, Wis. She worked on several aspects of her technical game in the off-season, especially ball striking, but also noticed that her mental game needed work.

Looking back over her scorecards from last season, Marchand noticed that she tended to fade in the third or fourth round. In response, she has worked on meditating every day and making use of a FocusBand, a headband that monitors brainwaves and transmits them to a phone-based app. She said practising while wearing the apparatus has helped her clear her mind and focus on her game.

“I think expecting to go out there and come in the top 10 every week, it can happen, but you don’t have to force it,” said Marchand, who will next play in the Founders Cup in Phoenix on March 21. “I think the more you force it the more you will struggle with finishes.”