2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard: Akshay Bhatia puts heat on Daniel Berger in rain-delayed Round 3

Bhatia has momentum rolling on the back nine and will likely not want to hear the horn blow soon for darkness, as he seems in a great rhythm with his swing and appears much more comfortable on the greens than Berger at the moment.

After popping up a chip to 6 feet, Berger couldn’t convert on a big save as he slid his par putt by on the left side of the cup and walked off with a frustrating bogey to fall back to 13 under where he began the day. That means his lead is now just four over Sepp Straka and Cameron Young in the clubhouse, as well as playing partner Akshay Bhatia.

Berger has not been as strong on the greens on Saturday as he was when he tore it up on Thursday and Friday, and we’ll see how he holds up over the rest of the weekend on Bay Hill’s challenging, fast greens.

While we saw a number of players get hot on the back nine after the rain delay, Straka did much of his damage on the front nine, going out in 32 to charge up the leaderboard early. After treading water for much of the back nine, he closed with two birdies in his final three holes to post 9 under and get himself into the mix for his best finish of the young season.

That undid some of his hard work on the back nine and put him back to 3 under where he began the day, which is currently tied for 20th, 11 shots off Daniel Berger’s lead.

He’ll hope to stay in solo second a bit longer than Akshay Bhatia did, as Bhatia dropped two shots immediately after getting to 9 under — but did chip in for birdie at No. 9 to get back to 8 under where he started his day.

So far we haven’t seen anyone post better than 5 under in the clubhouse, which Viktor Hovland did with a 67 earlier in the day, but it certainly seems like conditions have softened just a touch after the rain and will create some chances for the guys coming down the stretch. Young will be looking to set a new low mark for the third round over his final five holes, and try to pull a bit closer to Berger.

Scheffler was a mess on the front nine, going out in 3-over 39 and found himself 13 shots off the lead. After the delay, the World No. 1 has ripped off four straight birdies — most recently including a chip-in on the 14th — and has climbed back into the top 20 at 4 under for the tournament.

He’s still nine shots off Berger’s lead, which seems like too much to overcome, but the three tied in second place are now only four shots clear of Scheffler. If he can pick up another birdie or two coming in, he’ll be knocking on the door of another strong finish at Bay Hill, even if a third victory isn’t likely in the cards.

It certainly appears there will be some softer bounces on and around the greens this afternoon after the rain swept through Bay Hill, and that could provide some opportunities for birdies for those in the chase pack trying to reel in the leader going into Sunday. Berger hasn’t looked quite as sharp to start his third round as he was when he torched Bay Hill the first two days, and we’ll see if that opens the door for Bhatia and others to make a move.

The worst of the rain hit the closing stretch of the back nine, and while they’ve gotten greens cleared, the low area on the 16th fairway is requiring some extra attention. They hope that as the sun dries things up and they have the grounds crew out with the squeegees clearing standing water, the course will be back to playable standards by 4 p.m and the delay will only be an hour and seven minutes.

It will be interesting to see how different the course plays after the rain. The greens have been extremely firm all week and we’ll see if the quick soak from that downpour makes them any more receptive to approach shots this afternoon.

The horn has now been blown to halt play because the 17th green is completely under water during this torrential downpour (that, again, is only on part of the course). The hope is that this will move through quickly and they’ll be able to clear the greens that have been soaked and get play resumed after a short delay.

Spieth tried hitting out of said landscaping and failed to advance the ball on his first try, but did reach the green with his second attempt (and fourth shot of the hole), ultimately making a bogey 6 on a hole that is usually one of the few good birdie opportunities at Bay Hill. That dropped Spieth back to 2 under on his round and 3 under for the tournament, currently tied for 17th, nine shots off the lead.

With those bogeys, Berger’s lead remains five, but there are now five players tied for second five shots behind him — Bhatia, Collin Morikawa, Ludvig Åberg, Sepp Straka and Sahith Theegala. Straka is the big mover of that group, as he’s -4 thru 8 to move 13 spots up the leaderboard and become a threat with a strong front nine performance.

Berger will be looking to make that bogey at No. 2 just a blip on the radar and not a sign of things to come, but if he slides back much further, it will create a very interesting weekend in Orlando.

Scheffler is now 12 shots off the lead, and while we’ve seen him turn it on and get hot on the weekend multiple times this season, it seems a third victory at Bay Hill will have to wait at least another year for Scheffler.

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Hovland opened his round with birdies on Nos. 1 and 2 before adding a lengthy eagle on the par-5 4th and another birdie on the par-5 6th.

He did finally give one back on the tough par-3 7th, but is showing it’s possible to stack birdies on a difficult golf course today. The wind has yet to pick up as expected this afternoon, and there are some decent scoring opportunities out there right now.