Bezuidenhout Soared Through the Wind at Bay Hill

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Alex Miceli | Last updated Mar 6, 2025 6:59 PM ET

With a midday tee time, Christiaan Bezuidenhout took advantage of the somewhat calmer conditions and after a 3-under 69 found his name near the top of the leaderboard, two shots off the lead of Wyndham Clark.

Playing in his sixth Arnold Palmer Invitational, the 30-year-old South African’s game is built for the challenging conditions of Bay Hill.

“We knew it was going to be tough teeing off in the morning,” Bezuidenhout said of a round that included accuracy off the tee and into the greens. “The wind actually died down the last couple of holes now, which was nice. We knew it was going to be tough, so I just tried to give myself putts.”

Making four birdies and only one bogey, the South African hit 13 greens. When he missed a green, he successfully scrambled all five times he missed it.

“This golf course is always going to play hard, with wind, without wind,” Bezuidenhout said. “If you're not going to keep it in play, it's going to be a lot of bogeys on this course. I did that well today and, yeah, I just hit a lot of greens, and I just tried to make a lot of pars today.”

With only one top 10 this year, Bezuidenhout has had 18 rounds under-par including a 69 on Thursday, but none of the solid play has produced a victory.

“I think I learned a lot from past experiences here and past experiences of being in contention to just stay calm,” Bezuidenhout said. “Conditions like today, you just need to be patient. You're going to make bogeys, you're going to hit a good shot that ends up bad, or you're going to hit a bad shot that ends up good. I just stayed patient and I just played to the strong parts of my game.”

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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