Berger Finding His Groove at Bay Hill

ORLANDO, Fla. (March 6, 2026) – Daniel Berger’s second round at Bay Hill Club & Lodge was not as dominating as his first, but the 32-year-old from Plantation, Fla., seems to have found quite the groove as he takes a five-stroke lead into the weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at 13-under-par.
 
The former Florida State Seminole seems to have the home-state cooking working for him as his last five rounds at Bay Hill have resulted in a mesmerizing 22-under-par.
 
“It definitely makes it easier,” he said after his first round. “I get to drive my own car up here, slept in my own bed last week… I think the biggest thing for me is just getting in a bit of a rhythm.”
 
He’s found it.
 
“I feel like I hit ’em better today and the score wasn’t quite as low, but yeah, it’s just one of those courses,” Berger said of sitting on the lead. “It’s treacherous. You just got to stay patient and take what the course gives you, and when you have an opportunity, you got to take advantage because there’s not that many of ’em out there.”
 
A bogey on the par-3 7th today is the only blemish on his scorecard so far this week, but he’s not focused on anything but staying true to his game and concentrating solely on himself.
 
“You play like as if you’re starting the round at even par and you’re not playing other guys,” Berger explained as he looks toward the weekend. “You’re playing the golf course and yourself. You’re controlling what you can control. And it’s not like I’ve done it a million times, so I can’t really tell you exactly how it’s going to feel, but I know what I have to do, and so if I do those things, then it will be a good week.”
 
Friday’s best two rounds came from Akshay Bhatia and Sahith Theegala, at 6-under-par and 5-under-par, respectively. Bhatia (-8) has leaped into second place and Theegala is tied for third with Ludvig Aberg and Collin Morikawa at 7-under-par.
 
“Solid,” Bhatia reacted when asked of his play today. “Putted nice, drove it better. I got up and down quite a bit. Tough golf course. Honestly, I thought I shot 5-under, but 6 sounds a little bit better.”
 
Trailing Berger by five strokes, he knows the weekend will not be a cakewalk.
 
“I mean, this golf course is hard,” Bhatia said after carding seven birdies today. “It’s still hard to win a golf tournament, especially when conditions get tough and the moment gets big. So, yeah, I’m just going to keep plodding along.”
 
“Again, he (Berger) could run away with it and I could be playing for second or it could be, you know, a little bit of a challenge. There’s a lot of guys within six shots of the lead, which is not much around Bay Hill.”
 
Third round coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. ET on GOLF Channel, followed immediately on NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET.