Daniel Berger opens up five-shot lead at Arnold Palmer Invitational

[p]The 32-year-old American is sitting at 13 under par at the midway point, after carding an impressive 68 at Florida's challenging Bay Hill course.[/p][p]Despite having sunk nine birdies a day earlier, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/berger-daniel/vNKbvcSM/"]Berger[/a] said he had played even better on Friday, as "the course was a little tougher."[/p][p]"[b]The green speeds are up there. The pin positions are tough[/b]," he said.[/p][p]"[b]It's just one of those courses. It's treacherous[/b]," Berger added.[/p][embed guid="b40327de-66f9-42b5-8f97-570afbf506a3" url="https://x.com/PGATOUR/status/2030101376542343234" social-type="twitter" /][p]A four-time winner on the PGA Tour, whose last triumph came at Pebble Beach in 2021, Berger started his second round with intent, immediately sinking a 24-foot putt from the fringe for a birdie on the opening hole.[/p][p][b]"I hit a nice putt, just walked it in. Good start to the day[/b]," said Berger.[/p][p]Though he recorded his first bogey of the week at the par-three seventh, two-putting after finding a bunker, it was smooth sailing for the native Floridian on the back nine, where he picked up three more birdies.[/p][p]After multiple injuries, Berger has enjoyed a strong start to 2026, finishing sixth at the season-opening Sony Open in Hawaii in January.[/p][p]He missed three months of golf last fall after breaking the ring finger on his right hand -- just the latest setback for Berger, who was absent for 10 months over 2022 and 2023 with back issues, and struggled for consistency when he returned in 2024.[/p][embed guid="6c5e51f5-6866-4a69-b569-60e8ba7a4141" url="https://x.com/PGATOUR/status/2029986434606588207" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bhatia-akshay/hO3IOL5C/"]Akshay Bhatia[/a] sat in second place after notching the day's best round with a 66 that featured seven birdies, including a 36-foot chip-in on eight.[/p][p]"[b]I'm just going to keep plodding along... (Berger) could run away with it and I could be playing for second or it could be a little bit of a challenge[/b]," he said.[/p][p]"[b]There's a lot of guys within six shots of the lead, which is not much around Bay Hill[/b]."[/p][h2]'Carnage'[/h2][p]Sweden's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/aberg-ludvig/67ZVNhdN/"]Ludvig Aberg[/a] and recent Pebble Beach champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/morikawa-collin/0UlRrMgE/"]Collin Morikawa[/a] were among the players a shot further back on seven under par, along with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/theegala-sahith/WQd3jNo0/"]Sahith Theegala[/a], who shot up the leaderboard with a bogey-free round of 67.[/p][p]The American managed five birdies, holing in from a bunker on the 10th and putting from 14 feet on the 16th.[/p][p]Theegala expressed relief at keeping his scorecard flawless with a clutch 10-foot par putt on the final hole.[/p][p]"[b]It was a great round, to go around this place with no bogeys. That putt on the last for sure meant a lot[/b]," he said.[/p][p]Theegala predicted conditions would become even tougher, with the greens expected to get firmer still over a hot weekend.[/p][p]"[b]Part of the reason why I love this place is just, it's straight carnage... these first few days were probably as good as scoring gets out here[/b]," he said.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mcilroy-rory/djwanksN/"]Rory McIlroy[/a] -- gearing up to defend his Masters title next month -- also carded one of Friday's best rounds, declaring himself "very pleased" to finish in 68 after an erratic even-par opening round.[/p][p]McIlroy carded five birdies and a solitary bogey on the par-four eighth, where he found the water but prevented further damage with a 10-foot putt.[/p][p]"[b]I really felt like that kept any momentum that I had for the round going. I played the last 10 holes really, really well[/b]," he said.[/p][p]World number one [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/scheffler-scottie/bXfIuBYu/"]Scottie Scheffler[/a] capped a frustrating day with a bogey on 18 to finish three under par, in a tie for 15th.[/p]