Watson pulls out of Arnie’s Invitational
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Double Masters champion Bubba Watson has withdrawn from the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which starts today, following the death of a childhood friend.
Watson said: “I am sad to withdraw from the Arnold Palmer Invitational. A close childhood friend of mine passed away unexpectedly last night.
“My thoughts and prayers are with his young family at this sad time. I have chosen to withdraw so I can attend the funeral and pay respect to my friend and his family.”
Watson will be missed and so will the absent Tiger Woods who has dominated this event in the past. Woods loves Bay Hill to bits – he has won this tournament eight times – but last week confirmed his game still isn’t up to scratch.
The Orlando event Arnold wraps up the US Tour’s Florida swing and comes before two Texas tournaments before the Masters gets underway in three weeks.
Rory McIlroy is determined to warm-up for his Green Jacket bid in style and is the 11-2 favourite this week ahead of super Swede Henrik Stenson who just missed out in last week’s Valspar Championship won by Jordan Speith after a thrilling play-off with Patrick Reed and Sean O’Hair.
Another strong field will battle it out with the likes of Rickie Fowler, Jason Day and Adam Scott all in the mix – the latter will be keen to make amends for last year’s bitter disappointment when his last round 76 saw him lose by two to Matt Every after opening his account with a 62!
