(Orlando) Scottie Scheffler played the kind of golf that wins a US Open and that’s what the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational looked like on Sunday at the Bay Hill course.
Posted at 7:01 p.m.
Updated at 8:12 p.m.
In a final round presented under some of the toughest conditions in forty years, Scheffler hit crucial putts to save two unusual pars and finished the day with a par-72 to win the tournament by one stroke.
With this victory, Scheffler now has two titles in one month on the PGA Tour after winning the Phoenix Open. He has just climbed to fifth in the world. This time, he had to work hard and resist the pressure as all golfers who could aspire to victory had a most nerve-wracking day.
“To be perfectly honest, I’m exhausted right now,” Scheffler said after his round. This course is a real torture. I’m really happy that I didn’t have to play overtime. »
Barely ten players finished the day under par while the average score was 75.48, only slightly lower than in last year’s final.
“I feel stoned honestly,” Rory McIlroy said after two rounds of 76 over the weekend. “It’s like crazy golf!” We are never rewarded for our good moves. In these conditions, it’s as if we felt that we weren’t playing as well as we do. »
Overall, Scheffler finished the tournament at 5 under, one stroke ahead of Billy Horschel (75), Tyrrell Hatton (69) and Viktor Hovland (74).
Horschel was the last golfer to have a chance to join Scheffler in the lead as he had to wedge a 30-foot putt for the birdie on the final hole. His ball, however, never came close to reaching the cup.
Hovland had his chances, but ended up in the pit at 17and and had to settle for a bogey. While he needed a birdie at 18andthe Norwegian missed the target by 18 feet.
Hatton, a Bay Hill champion two years ago, pulled off the feat of recording seven birdies on a tough, breaking course with blazing fast greens where the ball seemed to slide as much as it rolled.
He finished his day over an hour with the leading group and looked like he had done well enough to at least force an overtime, but Scheffler was unfazed.
Even when he got into trouble at 15andhidden behind a tree, he was able to get out of his mess by sending his ball just in front of the green before finishing the job with a 20-foot putt to save his par.
Then at 16anda par-5, Scheffler played luck by recovering again from a situation that could have been catastrophic by using his “wedge” to avoid the water hazard and send his ball six feet from the cup to save another normal.