Daylight savings will arrive one day too late at the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational, as a pop-up thunderstorm that soaked Bay Hill Golf & Lodge and halted play for over an hour on Saturday prevented the third round from finishing. 

Daniel Berger will return to the course on Sunday morning to complete three holes while holding a two-shot lead over playing partner Akshay Bhatia. In a bit of a unique twist brought on by the delay, Berger will start his day with an eagle putt on the par-5 16th, while Bhatia finished with an up-and-down from the bunker for birdie to reach 11 under on the same hole. 

Both players had the option to stop playing at any time after the horn sounded when they were in the fairway or finish the hole. Berger and Bhatia hit their approach shots, but Berger chose to sleep on his 33-footer for eagle, while Bhatia wanted to keep the good vibes rolling and finished out for his birdie amid a heater. 

An eventful front nine saw Bhatia card three birdies, three bogeys and three pars to tread water, but he found some stability on the back nine, keeping a clean card and picking up birdies on Nos. 12, 15 and 16 before PGA Tour officials called the day for darkness at 6:30 p.m. That run put Bhatia in solo second again, two shots clear of Collin Morikawa, Cameron Young and Sepp Straka with two holes to play on Sunday morning. 

Berger began the day with a five-shot lead, extending that advantage to six shots early on the front nine; however, after tearing up Bay Hill over the first 36 holes, he could not find that same magic on the greens in the third round. He lost more than 1.3 strokes on the greens on Saturday, struggling to create any real positive momentum in his third round, which opened the door for players behind him to close the gap a bit going into Sunday. 

The rain delay created slightly softer conditions at Bay Hill, and we saw several players go on a back-nine run to take advantage of the course getting moisture for the first time in weeks. Bhatia was the most notable to close the gap to two, but Straka and Young both made a big move up the leaderboard to get into contention at 9 under in a tie for third. 

Leader

1. Daniel Berger* (-13): Berger will have 20.5 holes to play on Sunday to try and close out his first win on the PGA Tour in more than five years. The question coming into the weekend was how his game would hold up under the pressure of holding the lead, and while that didn’t seem to bother his approach play, he lost strokes off the tee and on the greens on Saturday, which is an indicator of some of that tension starting to creep in. 

The last time he held a 54-hole lead was the 2022 Honda Classic, which he lost on Sunday after holding a five-shot lead, and with a signature event purse on the line, there will be plenty to think about over the next 24 hours as he tries to get his fifth PGA Tour victory. How he starts on Sunday morning with a 33-foot eagle putt could dictate the rest of his day. A two-putt birdie could settle the nerves some and get his lead back to three before the difficult final two holes at Bay Hill — while an unlikely eagle would send a significant message to the field. 

Other contenders

2. Akshay Bhatia* (-11)
T3. Collin Morikawa, Sepp Straka, Cameron Young (-9)
6. Min Woo Lee (-8)
T7. Chris Gotterup, Ludvig Åberg* (-7)
T9. Rickie Fowler, Russell Henley, Harry Hall, Sahith Theegala* (-6)
T13. Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth, Bud Cauley (-5)

*Still yet to finish their third round

Bhatia’s run on the back nine made things quite interesting going into Sunday. He has been terrific so far this season in signature events, but hasn’t had the final round finishes he’s wanted to get in the winner’s circle. Now he gets the chance to apply some heat to Berger in the final pairing and will find out first thing Sunday morning whether he’s two, three or four shots behind going to the final two holes of the third round. In any case, he’s given Berger someone to think about in his rearview mirror for the first time in two days, and he ought to be very comfortable with a late afternoon tee time on Sunday. 

Morikawa continues to lurk on the leaderboard, and if he can string together some made putts on Sunday he will be a threat. Straka’s 66 was the round of the day, nearly matched by Young with a 67, and those two should be freed up to be aggressive again on Sunday to try and make a bunch of birdies and put some heat on the leaders from the penultimate group. 

Woo Lee had a chance to join Straka and Young, but some sloppy putting to close his round kept him from really posting something special. Still, he continues a strong start to his 2026 season, fulfilling some of the promise of his immense talents. 

Updated 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational odds, picksDaniel Berger (-135)Akshay Bhatia (+480)Collin Morikawa (19/2)Cameron Young (19/2)Sepp Straka (13-1)Min Woo Lee (22-1)

You have to assume Berger will make a two-putt birdie when he comes back on Sunday morning, which makes his lead effectively three shots. I do still have some questions about the putter in the final round, and think there’s a chance Bhatia could reel him in. Anyone else is probably going to have to throw caution to the wind and get really aggressive to catch the leaders, and of the chasers i think Young and Woo Lee are the players most likely to play that kind of style.