(Orlando) Scottie Scheffler became the No. 1 golfer in the world thanks to his play between the tee box and greens. He shined with his putter on Sunday and easily won the Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament.
Scheffler made all the important putts to build a three-shot lead at the halfway mark. He completed his round avoiding bogeys and delivered a card of 66 (minus 6), the best score by two strokes during the final round at Bay Hill.
He ultimately won the tournament with a five-shot lead over his closest pursuer, the largest gap at Bay Hill since Tiger Woods’ triumph in 2012. And Scheffler achieved this performance a week before he started defending his Players Championship title, his last victory on the PGA Tour before this weekend.
Scheffler had struggled on the greens over the past year. He switched to a mallet style putter this week and everything fell into place.
He made all his putts 15 feet and under during the weekend and triumphed at Bay Hill for the second time in three years.
Wyndham Clark stayed two shots behind Scheffler through the first eight holes. However, he sent his ball into the long grass at the ninth and made bogey. He didn’t make another birdie until the 16th.e hole and settled for a score of 70.
Clark nevertheless obtained a purse of 2.2 million US dollars for his second place.
Shane Lowry, who started the final round tied with Scheffler, had a tough day. He posted a card of 72 and finished alone in third place.
Canadian Nick Taylor finished tied for 12the ranked 12 shots behind the winner following a round of 71. He concluded the tournament one shot ahead of his compatriot Corey Conners (74), who was part of the group tied for 18e rank.
Mackenzie Hughes (72) finished tied for 30e rank and Adam Hadwin (74), tied for 52e rank.