Morgan Hoffmann leads Arnold Palmer

Edited by Anand Datla

March 20, 2015: Morgan Hoffmann’s mind was elsewhere Thursday at Bay Hill after finding out earlier in the day that his grandmother had passed away. She was 97 and Hoffmann described her as “awesome.” He paid tribute to her by playing that way. Hoffmann made four birdies and an eagle en route to a 6-under 66 and a one-stroke lead over five others in the opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. Adam Scott, Brandt Snedeker, Billy Horschel, Keegan Bradley and Hunter Mahan are among a large group another shot back.

“Appreciative, I think of just being alive, you know, and how you take things for granted and take people for granted and it’s just crazy how quick life goes,” Hoffmann said of his state of mind. “I’m 25 and feels like I was 5 rollerskating with my sister yesterday, you know.”

It was only six months ago that Hoffmann was one of the hottest players on the PGA TOUR, tying for ninth at The Barclays and two weeks later finishing third at the BMW Championship with rounds of 62-63 on the weekend.

But this season has gotten off to a sluggish start for the 25-year-old. In nine starts, he has three missed cuts, a WD and just two finishes in the top 50. Hoffmann said he has struggled to develop a go-to shot and for much of the year had a two-way miss going.

After missing the cut at Innisbrook last week, he flew himself home to Jupiter, Florida (he has his pilot’s license and his own plane), where he beat balls on the range at The Bear’s Club from sunrise to sunset Saturday and Sunday.

“The best players that I see out here come out and have one shot that they’re hitting for the most part of every round,” he said. “I figured it’s time to bear down and get something going.”

It wasn’t long before he got going Thursday. Starting on the back nine, Hoffman rolled in a 30-footer for birdie on his first hole, the par-4 10th, then added another on the par-5 12th after getting up-and-down from right of the green.

He birdied the par-5 fourth, too, and holed out a bunker shot on the par-5 sixth for eagle before one last birdie on his final hole of the day, where he stuck a 9-iron from 154 yards to within inches of the flag.

All he could think about, though, was his grandmother, Dorothy Lionetti. “My whole family texted me and said, ‘Nanny is playing golf with pop up there,’ which was pretty cool,” Hoffmann said. “So I just went out there and had a good mentality today.”

Adam Scott is still adjusting to life with a short putter. Thursday he used a new method, too, ditching his claw grip on longer putts for a conventional one. Save for one three-putt from 70 feet, it worked out just fine. Scott shot a 4-under 68 and is just two strokes off the lead after the opening round.

“It depends on green speeds,” Scott said. “The greens are a bit slow out here this week so my range of conventional is going to be closer. Once it’s outside 30 feet I’ll be putting with a conventional style. It’s easier to generate some speed off the putter and certainly whatever it might be called, it’s much more efficient on faster greens, the claw.”

The rest of his game wasn’t too bad, either. Scott hit 15 greens in regulation and was pleased with how he played after missing the cut last week at Innisbrook. This also marks the second straight year he has been in contention at Bay Hill. Last year, Scott led going into Sunday before stumbling with a 76 in the final round to finish third. “I think just generally sets up pretty good for my eye,” Scott said. “It’s one of those places that I can see all the shots.”

Playing Bay Hill for the first time, world No. 1 Rory McIlroy opened with a 2-under 70. Not bad, especially considering he had 34 putts. “I was just trying to stay as patient as possible,” said McIlroy, who also matched a career high with 17 greens in regulation. “I know I was hitting a lot of greens, giving myself a lot of chances. But I guess when the greens are like they are you’re going to have to stay patient because you’re going to hit good putts that don’t go in and I felt like I didn’t really trust myself, you know, with some of the putts that are there today, I didn’t trust the reads and just was sort of in two minds quite a lot.”

Source: Brian Wacker and Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM