Arnold Palmer Invitational 2015: Tee times, pairings for Saturday's round at Bay Hill

Saturday's round at Bay Hill will be overshadowed by March Madness, but the late afternoon should feature a compelling attempt from Rory McIlroy to get in contention for the first time this PGA Tour season.

For the first time this year on the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy looked like the No. 1 player in the world. McIlroy shot up the Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard on Friday morning, posting a 6-under 66 to move 26 spots up the board and into a tie for 6th when darkness fell at Bay Hill.

In two previous starts on the Florida swing, McIlroy hit an array of loose shots and looked far from the player who started the year dominating the Euro Tour over in the Middle East. He posted a win and a second-place finish in those two starts, smoothly carrying over the form from last year that made him the clear No. 1 in the world. It looked like nothing would put a stop to his momentum rolling toward Augusta and the Masters as the overwhelming favorite and dominant No. 1 player.

But a missed cut at the Honda Classic and a few shaky days at Doral, which included a frustrated club toss into the lake, put a dent in that. In his first ever start at Bay Hill, and likely his last event before the Masters, McIlroy needed to play a few crisp rounds and post that mid-60s number we're used to seeing over the past 12 months. He did that on Friday.

Now McIlroy will start the weekend five shots off the 36-hole pacesetter, Morgan Hoffmann. If Hoffmann continues to strike the ball like he has through the first two days at Bay Hill, it's unlikely anyone chases him down. But as we've seen all year on the PGA Tour, Hoffmann should get a run from the many chasers, most prominent of which is McIlroy. The world No. 1 has been steady tee-to-green all week -- an impromptu visit from swing coach Michael Bannon, and a couple laid back days of Masters prep at Augusta, appear to have Rory back on form.

McIlroy will be out in the fourth-to-last group on Saturday, going off at 1:25 p.m. ET with David Lingmerth. He's not in the lead, but he'll definitely be the one getting all the love from the Golf Channel and NBC cameras late in the day at Bay Hill. Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, Harris English, and Brooks Koepka are some of the other top talents playing around Rory later in the day. Hoffmann will play in the final group with Matt Every, the defending champ here, at 1:55 p.m., setting up an estimated 6 p.m. finish on NBC. Here's the full tee sheet for Saturday's third round:

Tee Time	Players
8:30 a.m.	Alex Prugh	Daniel Summerhays
8:39 a.m.	Kevin Streelman	Brandt Snedeker
8:48 a.m.	John Huh	David Hearn
8:57 a.m.	Steven Bowditch	Branden Grace
9:06 a.m.	Hideki Matsuyama	Hunter Mahan
9:15 a.m.	Rickie Fowler	Zach Johnson
9:24 a.m.	Russell Knox	William McGirt
9:33 a.m.	Freddie Jacobson	Carl Pettersson
9:42 a.m.	Danny Willett	Sam Saunders
9:51 a.m.	Vijay Singh	Carlos Ortiz
10 a.m.	Camilo Villegas	Ken Duke
10:09 a.m.	Jason Bohn	Adam Scott
10:18 a.m.	Francesco Molinari	Kiradech Aphibarnrat
10:27 a.m.	Nicholas Thompson	Hudson Swafford
10:36 a.m.	Daniel Berger	Nick Taylor
10:45 a.m.	Zac Blair	Shawn Stefani
10:55 a.m.	Russell Henley	Chesson Hadley
11:05 a.m.	Gary Woodland	Davis Love III
11:15 a.m.	Justin Thomas	Kevin Kisner
11:25 a.m.	Martin Laird	D.A. Points
11:35 a.m.	Spencer Levin	Jason Day
11:45 a.m.	Ryo Ishikawa	Billy Horschel
11:55 a.m.	Charles Howell III	Erik Compton
12:05 p.m.	Steve Wheatcroft	Padraig Harrington
12:15 p.m.	Webb Simpson	Keegan Bradley
12:25 p.m.	George McNeill	Jason Kokrak
12:35 p.m.	Ernie Els	Brendan Steele
12:45 p.m.	Blayne Barber	John Peterson
12:55 p.m.	Brooks Koepka	Kevin Na
1:05 p.m.	Ian Poulter	Sean O'Hair
1:15 p.m.	Matt Jones	Louis Oosthuizen
1:25 p.m.	Rory McIlroy	David Lingmerth
1:35 p.m.	Ben Martin	Danny Lee
1:45 p.m.	Henrik Stenson	Harris English
1:55 p.m.	Morgan Hoffmann	Matt Every

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