Tiger Woods stole the show early with his 4-under 68, but the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational wasn't done delivering great major winners on its leaderboard. Henrik Stenson (-8), Jimmy Walker (-5), Rickie Fowler (-5), Patrick Reed (-4), Justin Rose (-3) and Rory McIlroy (-3) are all among the leaders after Round 1.

In fact, there are currently eight (!) major winners in the top 20 after 18 holes. Eight! 

Stenson's 8-under 64 paced the day, which is no surprise given his outrageous historical success at Bay Hill (more on that in a minute), and he was chased both on the board and on the course by Fowler and McIlroy all day. Fowler closed hard with five birdies in his last 11 holes, while McIlroy went the other way. He had five in his first 10, but faded late with a double at the last. 

It's still early in the tournament and anything can happen, but this week's event at Bay Hill is certainly shaping up to be a slugfest between the biggest of golf's heavyweights. Tiger belongs to his own planet, of course, but unlike last week at the Valspar Championship it would appear that the other stars orbiting Woods are ready to rock and roll with the 79-time winner. That means a win for all of us watching at home.

Here are five takeaways from Round 1 at Bay Hill.

1. Rory struggles with ... driver? Wait, what? If I would have showed you the following numbers before the first round and asked you what you thought McIlroy shot, you would have said 57.

  • Strokes gained on approach shots: 6th in field
  • Strokes gained around green: 63rd
  • Strokes gained putting: 7th

And yet, he was 111th in strokes gained off the tee. McIlroy hit two tee shots out of bounds. He hit it in the water on No. 4 -- but saved par -- and almost hit a house on No. 18 (the double). His iron game looked much sharper (four approaches inside 12 feet), and he putted beautifully. I can't believe I'm saying this, but if he straightens the driver out on Friday, he should be in good shape.

2. Stenson loves Bay Hill: All nine of Stenson's birdies came on the final 15 holes, and he shot a 31 on the back side with a bogey. The key? He only had 20 putts and finished second in strokes gained in that category. There are few zones in golf like the one Stenson gets in when he's really rolling along, and that showed on Thursday. Again, this should not be a huge surprise.

3. Fowler throws darts: Fowler hit six approach shots under 10 feet and made birdie at four of those holes (his average proximity to the hole was 19 feet). His score honestly could have been a lot better than 67. His putter still didn't exactly catch fire (he only made 72 feet of putts, one more than Tiger made on the 7th hole), but it was good enough (top 60 in the field) for him to rock something in the mid-60s. You could have had me putt for Fowler on Thursday with the way he was hitting it, and I (we) would have shot something under par.

4. Justin Rose gets rebound of the day: Rose was 4 over through six holes, but played his final 12 in 7 under to card a 3-under 69. Lions like Rose don't fade quickly, but his rebound was as good as I've seen this year.

"You have a choice, basically," said Rose. "You tell yourself a different story. Yeah, I could have been frustrated, obviously, after five holes and thinking about Friday and the cut and what if and what might be. But ... I chose to tell myself a different story, I wasn't out of this golf tournament. So I kind of had a bit of ... I guess it's a bit of a deep-rooted confidence that come Sunday things will even themselves out ..."

5. The disruption: We generally think of guys like McIlroy and Fowler as "young guys," but they have nothing on 21-year-old Aaron Wise (-7), 24-year-old Bryson DeChambeau (-5) and 26-year-old Talor Gooch (-6). Those guys were lights out in the first round, and I'm curious to see how they mix in with Hall-of-Fame veterans and seasoned superstars. All three have had success over the last year, but this is a different level of tournament with a different caliber of leaderboard.

For the rest of our commentary along with highlights from Round 1, see below. If you are unable to view the updates, please click here.

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