ORLANDO, Fla. – Arnold Palmer didn’t lobby for Rory McIlroy to play at Bay Hill, but he is surprised the world’s No. 1 player isn’t here for his beloved Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“Frankly, I thought he was going to play,” Palmer said Wednesday at Bay Hill during his annual news conference. “For some reason I got it in my mind that he would be playing, but that, obviously, is wrong.
“What his reason or reasoning is, I don’t know, and I’m not going to worry about it.”
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Palmer made a joke late last year that he’d break McIlroy’s arm if he didn’t play. The comment was made in jest, Palmer says, although he admitted that he isn’t sure it came off that way.
“I sort of threw a casual fun at him,” Palmer said. “It was meant to be funny. I guess, I don’t know whether it was or not.”
McIlroy will play next week at the Shell Houston Open, take a week off, then head to the Masters.