Daniel Berger handles the 'US Open in spring' by building 5-shot lead at Bay Hill

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Daniel Berger loves playing in Florida in March. For most everyone else Friday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Bay Hill made it feel like a spring preview of the U.S. Open.

Berger was on his game again in the most demanding conditions, leaning on a steady diet of fairways and greens and feeling just as good about his lag putts as he did the five birdies he made in a round of 4-under 68 that gave him a five-shot lead.

“You've just got to stay patient and take what the course gives you,” Berger said. “And when you have an opportunity, you've got to take advantage because there's not many of them out there.”

Berger was at 13-under 131.

Akshay Bhatia posted the low round of a balmy afternoon with a 66 to get within five of the lead. Ludvig Aberg (71), Collin Morikawa (71) and Sahith Theegala (67) were another shot back.

Staying patient was a challenge.

“It felt like Sunday afternoon greens, but it's only Friday,” Harris English said after a hard-earned 72. “I might have fixed three ball marks today because you can't find them. It's the U.S. Open in spring.”

Morikawa came up with a color chart for the greens, which already were yellow by Wednesday.

“They’re getting brown and they’re going to be very, very brown — if not purple — by Sunday, and that’s just part of this week,” he said. “Yeah, that's the color scale we tend to see.”

Ben Griffin was one inside the cut line of 2-over 146 when he faced a 30-foot par putt on the 18th. He ran that nearly 15 feet by the hole, missed it and was cleaning out his locker.

Scottie Scheffler was stunned when his bunker shot on the 15th rolled out by the hole and never stopped rolling until it went off the green 30 feet away. He chipped that in for par. But on the 18th, his 30-foot birdie putt that he barely touched raced some 10 feet by for a bogey and a 71, leaving him 10 shots behind.

He turned and slung his golf ball into the water to vent, and after signing his card was asked how much tougher it would be on the weekend.

“They’re already dead. I’m not sure how much deader they can get. Like 15 is completely dead," he said. “When it hit the green, I thought I hit it to 3 feet. And then it bounced crazy forward. I don't know how that happened.”

He turned to his caddie, Ted Scott, and said, “How did that ball bounce forward?”

“Same way the ball bounced backward on 9,” Scott replied.

“It’s been like this before,” Scheffler said. “Typically here if you go late Friday, they’re pretty much already dead. It’s not anything unusual. It’s a good test. It’s hard.”

This is what Bay Hill has become in recent years. The cut at 2-over 146 actually was lower than it has been the previous two years when the Arnold Palmer Invitational became an elevated event.

Xander Schauffele finished with two straight bogeys to ruin an otherwise solid round of 71. Rory McIlroy played in the morning and had only one bogey in his round of 68 to move up the leaderboard, only for Berger to match his score. McIlroy was nine shots back.

“If we don't get any rain the next couple days — which it looks like we won't — it's going to be really difficult,” McIlroy said. “It's difficult even if you hit the ball in the fairway. You're hitting good iron shots to 35, 30 feet all the time, and then you're not going to make a lot of those.”

All of that makes the task of catching Berger a little more daunting.

He opened with a 25-foot birdie putt, and his three birdies on the back nine where in the 6-foot range. But he was rarely under much stress on the long putts that he lagged reasonably close, no small task on greens with so little grass.

Berger is among those who has not earned a Masters invitation, so this could be a big week. A win gets him in. Even a runner-up finish would get him in through the world ranking.

In front of him are 36 holes on a course that doesn't allow anyone to get too comfortable.

“It's a place where you can’t really force it, you can’t really try to make things happen. It’s just going to happen,” Aberg said.

It happened to Justin Thomas, who is competing for the first time since the Ryder Cup in September because of surgery on his lower back. This was not an easy re-entry. The two-time PGA champion opened with a 79 and followed with another 79.

“I’m trying as hard as I can to give myself a little bit of grace of how long I haven’t played and how difficult this sport can be,” Thomas said. “But at the same time, I expect more out of myself. I don’t think there’s any situation where I feel like I should shoot 14-over par for two days.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, reacts to a missed putt on the second green during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Friday, March 6, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Scottie Scheffler watches his shot land on the first green during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Friday, March 6, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Collin Morikawa lines up hit shot on the first hole during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Akshay Bhatia hits from the bunker on the first hole during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Daniel Berger walks up the 18th fairway during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Friday, March 6, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors Friday in a deal to resolve a felony criminal case that arose immediately after he was fired for having an inappropriate relationship with his executive assistant.

The deal was struck on the same day a judge planned to hear a challenge to Moore’s arrest in December on three charges, including felony home invasion. Those charges were dropped in exchange for Moore pleading no contest to trespassing and malicious use of a telecom device in a relationship.

“Things have changed,” Judge J. Cedric Simpson said.

Moore had confronted the woman with whom he had been having an affair and blamed her for his dismissal, even threatening to kill himself with butter knives in her apartment, authorities said.

Assistant prosecutor Kati Rezmierski told the judge that the case changed “based on additional evidence and investigation as well as consultation” with the woman through her lawyer.

“What we do believe the evidence supports is criminal misbehavior in the context of an intimate partner relationship,” Rezmierski said.

Outside the courtroom, Moore's attorney said the three initial charges, which included stalking, were not supported by facts or law.

“The dismissal of those charges validates the concerns we raised about the investigation from the very beginning. Mr. Moore is pleased to put this behind him and move forward,” Ellen Michaels said as Moore and wife Kelli stood nearby.

Moore declined to comment on the outcome as they left together.

“Appreciate it,” he said.

Rezmierski also declined to comment. Sentencing is scheduled for April 14. One of the charges carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail, though Michaels predicted there would no additional time in custody beyond Moore's two nights in jail following his arrest.

“This is not the kind of case that somebody is punished by jail,” she said.

Michaels said she advised Moore to plead no-contest to help him move on with his family and avoid a trial.

“He has had the opportunity to be with his daughters, to be with his wife, to be home for the holidays, to take his kids to swim lessons,” she said. "As somebody who’s come up the coaching tree and became a head coach at a young age, that is something that he has missed out on.

“I can tell you that losing his job and and being at home, he has embraced it as an opportunity to reconnect to his family, to spend time with his kids and to become the man he wants to be," Michaels said.

Moore, 40, was fired on Dec. 10 after two seasons as the successor to Jim Harbaugh, who won a national championship before leaving to lead the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.

In dismissing Moore, the university cited an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Rezmierski has said the woman ended the affair a few days before Moore’s firing and spoke to the school.

University of Michigan spokesman Paul Corliss said the school had no comment on Moore's no-contest plea.

At a hearing in February, Moore’s attorney said investigators left out key details when they obtained an arrest warrant for him. Michaels noted, for example, that a magistrate wasn’t told that Moore and the woman had a professional relationship.

Michaels said repeated text messages and phone calls had a legitimate purpose as the football team prepared for a bowl game and were not evidence of harassment. Police said Moore's assistant did not answer a dozen calls or respond to some messages from him before his dismissal.

A message seeking comment from attorney Heidi Sharp, who is representing Moore’s former executive assistant, was not immediately returned.

Michaels has accused the lawyer of giving information to police to “villainize Mr. Moore and maximize the chances of obtaining a large settlement from the deep pockets of the University of Michigan.”

Moore signed a five-year contract with a base annual salary of $5.5 million last year. According to the terms of his deal, the university did not have to buy out the remaining years of his contract because he was fired for cause.

Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the assistant prosecutor's name to Kati Rezmierski instead of Katie Rezmierski.

Sherrone Moore appears with his attorney, Ellen Michaels arrive for a hearing, Friday, March 6 2026, at Washtenaw County 14A-1 District in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Jordyn Pair/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Washtenaw County assistant prosecutor Kati Rezmierski takes her seat as Sherrone Moore appears for a hearing, Friday, March 6 2026, at Washtenaw County 14A-1 District in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Jordyn Pair/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Sherrone Moore appears with his attorney, Ellen Michaels, right for a hearing, Friday, March 6 2026, at Washtenaw County 14A-1 District in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Jordyn Pair/Ann Arbor News via AP)

Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore arrives for a court hearing with his wife, Kelli Moore, left, and attorney Ellen Michaels, Friday, March 6 2026, at Washtenaw County 14A-1 District in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Jordyn Pair/Ann Arbor News via AP)