Daniel Berger keeps the lead as enough rain takes the teeth out of Bay Hill

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Daniel Berger stopped making as many birdies even after a rain delay took some of the bite out of Bay Hill on Saturday. He still had a two-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational when darkness kept the third round from finishing.

Berger was to return Sunday morning to face a 35-foot eagle putt on the par-5 16th. After watching Akshay Bhatia get up-and-down from a bunker for birdie to close within two, Berger handed the putter to his caddie and decided to wait 13 hours before his next putt.

Regardless of how the third round concludes, Bay Hill had that feeling of being a tournament again instead of the one-man show Berger had made it going into the weekend with a five-shot lead.

That won't be the case for Rory McIlroy, who felt muscle spasms in his back and decided to withdraw about 30 minutes before his tee time. It was his first time withdrawing from a tournament in 13 years, though it was not likely to keep him from The Players Championship.

Scottie Scheffler likely shot himself out of the tournament. The world's No. 1 player went from a bad start to an electric back nine of five birdies in a six-hole stretch, only for his approach on 18 out of ankle-deep rough to bounce off the bank and into the water.

That led to double bogey and a 72, leaving what likely will be a double-digit deficit.

Berger was at 13-under par — even for the round — though his two-shot lead was almost certain to grow when he returns for that eagle putt. Bhatia was 11 under with the daunting finish to come.

“It’s an uncomfortable golf course,” Bhatia said. “And it’s not going to get any easier.”

Cameron Young ran off four straight birdies to start the back nine on a Bay Hill course he has been coming to since he was in elementary school. That led to a 67, and he posted at 9-under 207 along Sepp Straka (66) and Collin Morikawa, who barely beat the darkness for his 70.

Young is pure New York, having grown up at Sleepy Hollow when his father was the head pro. But the Youngs always came to Orlando for a few months in the winter, playing out of nearby Orange Tree and spending some time at Bay Hill. He remembers one year being close enough to Tiger Woods to touch his golf clubs.

But the reach connection is The King. Young has an economics degree from Wake Forest, the alma mater of Arnold Palmer.

“I looked up at his statute going to practice every day at school,” Young said. "He had a tremendous influence on golf in general, and at Wake Forest. So yeah, it definitely is a very, very clear meaning in my head of what this tournament represents and what he represents.

“It would be a huge honor to even have a chance, honestly.”

Players felt like they were on two courses. Bay Hill was a brute before the round was halted for just over an hour because of heavy rain. With so little grass on the greens — dead grass, at that — pools of water formed quickly.

They returned to see greens a little softer, certainly not as scary to putt.

“The rain created a little bit of friction to where your ball was more rolling instead of kind of skidding is how I would describe it,” Scheffler said.

Young described the difference as substantial, enough rain to make the small blades of grass stand up enough for putts to hold their line.

“It went from what we know Bay Hill for on the weekend to just a notch below that,” he said.

Berger traded two birdies on par 5s with a pair of bogeys when he missed the green, nothing like the golf that produced 14 birdies the opening two rounds. But he kept his wits, and kept the lead.

So much depends on the putts — or putt — he takes on the 16th and the final two holes to see how the final round will shape up.

Young isn't sure it matters.

“Anything can happen,” he said. “I don't know what Daniel is going to do, I don't know where I'm going to finish the day. But any time you get a golf course this difficult, and this many good players within a couple shots of each other ... any one of them could take a really difficult golf course and make it look easy.”

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

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)

Cameron Young hits on the 16th hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Fans walk in the rain along the fifth hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Akshay Bhatia hits on the sixth hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Daniel Berger hits out of a bunker on the second hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

NEW YORK (AP) — A counterprotester demonstrating against a “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City” event Saturday lit and threw a device containing nuts, bolts and screws at the protesting crowd after someone from that group used pepper spray on the counterprotest, police said.

Police are investigating the incident that started late Saturday morning when someone from the anti-Islam protest associated with conservative influencer Jake Lang shot pepper spray into a counterprotesting group near the mayoral residence Gracie Mansion, Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Tensions continued to heighten, she said, when someone in the counterprotest lit and threw a device she described as smaller than a football into the protesting crowd of about 20 people.

The device struck a barrier and extinguished itself “a few feet from police officers,” she said. The same person then ran, and another person gave a him a second device, which he then dropped. The devices, which Tisch said were smaller than a football, were wrapped in black tape with nuts, bolts, and screws, as well as a hobby fuse that could be lit. She said it was unclear if they were functioning devices or a hoax.

All three people have been arrested, and an investigation is underway, Tisch said.

Tisch didn’t report any injuries during a news conference and said she believed Mayor Zohran Mamdani was not in the residence at the time.

Lang was previously charged with assaulting an officer with a baseball bat, civil disorder and other crimes before receiving clemency as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Jan. 6 defendants last year. Lang recently announced that he is running for U.S. Senate in Florida.

Lang has also protested in Minneapolis during the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

Tisch said about 20 people showed up to the protest tied to him on Saturday, and the counterprotest had about 125 people at its peak.

FILE - In this July 28, 2014 file photo, a wrought iron gate secures the entrance to Gracie Mansion, on the Upper East Side in New York on Monday, July 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - Jake Lang, center, walks away from counter protesters after an altercation near Minneapolis City Hall, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura,File)