ORLANDO, Fla. -- Kevin Kisner, who learned Wednesday night that he was in the field and scrambled to get to Orlando for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, shot a 3-under-par 69 Thursday on a Bay Hill Club course he had never seen.
Kisner only made the field because Bubba Watson withdrew to attend the funeral of a friend who died Tuesday -- a former University of Georgia golfer and teammate whom Kisner, 31, also knew.
David Miller, a former all-America golfer at Georgia, is the friend of Watson's who died. The school announced the passing, as did Ted Scott, Watson's caddie, via Twitter.
"I knew him pretty well, and it's really sad," said Kisner, ranked 282nd in the world and in his fourth year on the PGA Tour. "It's a really unfortunate deal and I'm not sure of all the details. I played a round with him and Bubba when I was in school; they came back and played with us with a couple of times.
"They were pretty close friends. Really a sad deal. He had two little girls."
Kisner tied for 60th at last week's Valspar Championship and had returned home to Aiken, S.C., not expecting to play this week.
He was sixth on the tournament alternate list as of Wednesday behind Fabian Gomez, Michael Putnam, Bryce Molder, Aaron Baddeley and J.J. Henry. But Kisner learned in the afternoon that none of the other alternates was on site.
"I was kind of in a tough situation,'' said Kisner, who is 111th in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup standings. "Should I drive down there and sit on the range all day if I'm first alternate? They said nobody's been injured, nobody's been to the doctor. I'm playing the next two, so it was a difficult situation. I've got a big schedule coming up. Luckily I didn't have to sit on it very long.''
All of the other alternates had informed PGA Tour officials that they would not travel to Orlando if they were not in the field by 5 p.m.
"Bubba withdrew at 5:30, so it was total luck of the draw,'' said Kiser, who didn't immediately know the reason Watson pulled out. "I hadn't said no yet because I knew I could drive down here.''
Still, that would have been a long journey to make a morning tee time. Kisner said a friend, Doug Huffer, offered to fly him to Orlando in his single-engine Bonanza.
"We were trying to get it to go as fast as it could go,'' Kisner said. He arrived at his hotel at midnight, was at the golf course just after 6 a.m., and teed off with Adam Scott and Brooks Koepka at 8:11 a.m. -- having never seen the course.
"If I don't shoot at least 3-under tomorrow, I know my new strategy,'' Kisner said. "Don't practice and only sleep about four hours.''
