At Arnold Palmer, the biggest challenge is the question of life and death

Shane Lowry looked at his caddie, Darren Reynolds, and smiled.

Lowry fought Bay Hill for most of the last five hours, and now – on his 18th fairway, the battle is over. His game can be similarly described in the rounds between the burly and burly golfers, and Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational? Ani won the knockout round.

“Tomorrow is a better day,” said Laurie as he peeked at the scoreboard, which once showed his name with a lead, but now flashes with the six shots of Lowry’s behind Collin Morikawa.

Lowry is not alone in his moving day in Bay Hill. In fact, he was the norm on Saturday—one of the toughest challenges of the PGA Tour in one afternoon. If the typical soundtrack of PGA Tour Golf is the symphony of Ovations, then Arnold Palmer can be described on Saturdays by its gro-cherishing chorus. Those who attended Saturday afternoon caused a series of painful himps, almost cartoonish conditions as the best players in the world: This week it was still less than four inches tall and remained feetless, the fairways were drawn like a board between stretch and soft landing zones, and as nearly every player proved, the Greens could be muddled.

“If they had media day here on Monday, it would be a massacre,” Bones Mackay said. “It is evil Quickly. ”

Officially, McKay’s NBC teammate Kevin Kisner reported that they rolled with 13 shots on Stimpmeter, which made them quick and firm by PGA Tour standards. But by the afternoon when the leaders arrived, the speed and rigidity of the Beshir green green had obviously changed. The best golfers in the world are not only missing putts, but are also working hard to keep them within the normal distance of the hole.

“You’re going to get these greens, they’re slippery,” said Collin Morikawa, owner of Saturday 67, the second best round of the day. “I think it’s just because there’s no friction on the green, right? They’re so fast that your blow is even softer than usual, so it’s just a completely different way of playing.”

Morikava (-10) was one of the few golfers in the final group that went unscathed on Saturday. Lowry and his friend Rory McIlroy each recorded the comparison lurking from “hunting” to lurking, while their chances of playing evaporate their chances like those green wets, which oxidize into green greens in the green greens.

Talking about the appearance of a putter surface may seem trivial when trying to understand a golf game, but in this case it is necessary. While most weeks of the tour are defined by lush surfaces, players can chase darts into the cork, and Saturday’s “green” at Arnold Palmer is defined by a range of different body characteristics.

“They are glass,” Jason Day said. “Whenever you put the putter down and start sliding on the putter…that’s when you know the vegetables are getting really smooth. They’re changing the color and you can start seeing the color change.”

The lighter tones and better surface make Bay Hill a “hardest test” for what Keegan Bradley calls the PGA Tour. But the challenge is more than the general feeling that Arnold Palmer’s greens may be much larger than their physical appearance. According to at least one player, they are getting involved in serious issues of life and death.

“These vegetables are crazy, they are crusty,” Michael King said. “I don’t know, I think 10 greens are probably dead. Fertilizer is the only thing that keeps it alive. But there are almost nothing.”

Most people in the wild are praying that there is enough fertilizer left in the tank to survive on Sunday afternoon. Collin Morikawa, in particular, hopes to end a long winning streak in the game that will be included in his 28-year-old season with a collated (and growing) PGA Tour resume.

Cardigans wait for Morikawa on the other side of a horrible Sunday in Bay Hill, but that’s all: Sunday will be the toughest test for everyone. With the leader in the final round, the wind is expected to catch again. Can golf courses on the edge survive the extra challenge? This is a question that everyone thinks of on Saturday night, but contrary to Lowry on the 18th, hope is not high.

“The sun is there and it will get worse,” Morikava said.