ORLANDO - If this was his last Bay Hill Invitational - he has hinted at it for years - Arnold Palmer didn't pick a bad way to go out.
Palmer, the tournament host and course owner, came to the 18th hole Friday afternoon with a chance to break 80, no small feat for a 74-year-old man playing alongside men a third his age.
After hitting his driver into the fairway, Palmer had 221 yards to the pin and hit the driver off the turf. With his famous follow-through, Palmer lashed at the ball and saw it land short and run up onto the putting surface. He missed the 20-foot birdie putt but made par for 79, a nine-shot improvement on his first round.
"(Thursday) was a disaster, but (Friday) was a slight bit better," Palmer said. "I'm just not hitting the ball real solid. I did hit a couple of good ones on 18, and that kind of helped make my day."
TRYING AGAIN: Scott Verplank is back to try again after his playoff loss to Craig Parry two weeks ago at Doral. Verplank couldn't help but laugh about the circumstances, which saw Parry hole a 176-yard 6-iron second shot for eagle to end the tournament.
"Doral was obviously a unique deal, a unique way to end the tournament," said Verplank, whose 68 on Friday at Bay Hill put him in a tie for sixth, four shots behind leader Shigeki Maruyama. "I played well there, but I didn't really feel like I was doing physically all of the things I was hoping to be doing. I snuck into a playoff and had one hand on the steering wheel of that car and then I got my other hand slammed in the door."
Verplank was referring to the Ford GT, a limited edition $140,000 car that went to the winner.
AROUND BAY HILL: The cut of 144, par, claimed Ernie Els, whose streak of PGA Tour cuts made ended at 30. Els, who won the Sony Open in Hawaii this year, had the second-longest cut streak on tour. Tiger Woods extended his to 119. The next best streak is 19 by Mike Weir. ... Maruyama is trying to become the second to win in each of the past four years along with Woods. Three other players have won in each of the previous three seasons: Jim Furyk, Justin Leonard and Retief Goosen. ... Tom Watson, 54, was one of 73 players to make the cut. It was his first made cut on the PGA Tour in a nonmajor since the 2002 Colonial. Watson has made the cut in 18 of 20 appearances at Bay Hill, including 15 in a row from 1979-94.
