ORLANDO — The leaderboard at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando was jammed with top golfers chasing young American Morgan Hoffmann, who used a blazing finish to seize the first-round lead Thursday. Hoffmann, 25, eagled the par-five sixth, his 15th hole, from a greenside bunker and nearly holed out from the fairway at his last hole for a tap-in birdie to register a bogey-free six-under-par 66 at Bay Hill. “Pretty crazy, right?” said the 137th-ranked Hoffmann. “It can turn around pretty quickly. Holing out at the sixth was a nice little bump-up there. And I love finishing (like that) at the last hole.” Englishman Ian Poulter, who eagled the par-five 16th, fired a 67 to join Americans Kevin Na, Jason Kokrak, Ken Duke and John Peterson one shot off the pace. Australian Adam Scott, Sweden's Henrik Stenson, Irishman Padraig Harrington and Americans Brandt Snedeker, Billy Horschel, Keegan Bradley and defending champion Matt Every were among 11 players tied on 68. World No. 1 Rory McIlroy hit 17 greens in regulation but failed to take advantage of opportunities in posting 70 in his first visit to Bay Hill. “I felt like I was seeing good signs out there with my game,” said McIlroy, 25, who is honing his game for a bid to complete a career grand slam at next month's Masters. McIlroy was eager to make his dinner date with tournament host Arnold Palmer. “I'm excited for it. I've been looking forward to it for a few weeks now knowing that I was going to be able to spend a little time in his company,” he said grinning. Ko shares lead In Phoenix, New Zealand's world No. 1 Lydia Ko fired a first-round 66 Thursday to seize a share of the lead in the weather-disrupted first round of the US LPGA Founders Cup. Ko, at 17 the youngest golfer ever to claim the world No. 1 ranking, shook off the weather delay that pushed back the start of the round by four hours. Teeing off on 10, she had three birdies in her first nine holes. She added birdies at the first, third and fifth before her only miscue of the day, a three-putt bogey at the seventh. She rebounded with her seventh birdie of the day at the par-four eighth and capped her round with a par to share the clubhouse lead with Germany's Sophia Popov and Americans Kim Kaufman and Tiffany Joh. Darkness halted play with half of the 132-strong field yet to finish. Popov and Joh both posted rounds with six birdies and no bogeys, while Kaufman had seven birdies with one bogey to join the leading group. They were one stroke in front of South Korea's Chun In-gee and Thailand's Moriya Jutanugarn, both in the clubhouse on 67, with Dewi Claire Schreefel of the Netherlands also at five-under through 10 holes. Madeira blown off course In Portugal, strong winds forced the players back to the clubhouse at the Madeira Islands Open Thursday, making play impossible and leaving the organizers no choice but to reduce the tournament to 54 holes. Gusts reached 47 mph and stayed steadily above 35 mph throughout the day, causing balls to move on the greens at the mountain-top venue. The first round was scheduled to start Friday. — Agencies
