World primary Scottie Scheffler cruised to a five-stroke victory on Sunday on the PGA Arnold Palmer Invitational to seize his first tour victory in practically a 12 months and a $4m USD winner’s prize.
Scheffler, the 2022 Masters champion, fired a bogey-free six-under par 66 to complete 72 holes on 15-under 273 at Bay Hill in Orlando, Florida.
That was sufficient to defeat reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark, the runner-up on 278 after a closing 70, with Eire’s Shane Lowry, the 2019 British Open champion, third on 279 after a closing 72.
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It was Scheffler’s seventh profession PGA Tour triumph and his first since final 12 months’s Gamers Championship — a title he’ll attempt to defend this weekend. Whereas he’s racked up a bunch of top-ten finishes within the final 12 months, placing woes have value him title after title.
However on the Arnold Palmer, he switched to a brand new mallet-type putter and it paid off with a five-shot victory, the most important hole at Bay Hill since Tiger Woods in 2012.
“I performed a superb spherical of golf,” Scheffler mentioned. “Bought off to a superb begin and simply did my greatest to maintain issues rolling.
“As we made the activate the again 9, I knew I had just a few pictures lead. I didn’t take a look at many leaderboards. I stayed in my very own little area and simply tried to maintain pushing.”
Scheffler matched the low spherical of the week and the 27-year-old American turned the primary reigning world primary to win at Bay Hill since Tiger Woods in 2009.
“Hat’s off to Scottie,” Clark mentioned. “He’s the very best participant on the planet proper now and that’s what the very best gamers on the planet do, they shoot 66 in a closing spherical.”
“It might be borderline unfair if he begins placing actually good,” Clark mentioned. “If he begins placing constructive every week he’s going to be actually onerous to beat.
“Scottie ought to win virtually yearly right here. Together with his ball hanging, this golf course is so demanding tee to inexperienced and he’s been the very best previous couple of years in that class, so I’m not shocked.”
“There’s most likely solely a few gamers on the planet that may reside with him taking part in like that,” Shane Lowry mentioned. “Undecided I’m certainly one of them.”
Rory McIlroy mentioned: “Being as constant as Scottie has been is de facto, actually troublesome on this recreation.
“Anybody can pop up and win an occasion right here or there or get on a superb run, however the constant performances that Scottie’s been placing in week in and week out each time he tees it up, it’s unimaginable.
“This can be a super-tough golf course and to be six beneath at the moment, going out with the lead and lapping the sector is, it’s super-impressive. However all of us knew that he had this in him. His ball-striking is, actually, on one other degree in comparison with everybody else proper now. We knew if he began to gap putts, then this form of stuff would occur.”
Via the previous 12 months, Scheffler mentioned he wasn’t annoyed by his win drought.
“Simply caught with my course of,” he mentioned. “Had a superb couple off weeks with buddies at house to form of reset. Going into this week I attempted to have a superb perspective.”
Now he has a lift of confidence heading into his bid for a Gamers repeat after his second Palmer crown in three seasons.
“Any time you may win Arnie’s event it’s fairly particular,” Scheffler mentioned of the occasion’s legendary namesake. “He meant quite a bit to the sport of golf. It’s really an honour to win right here.”
Scheffler started the day sharing the lead with Lowry, however the Irishman started with back-to-back bogeys.
Scheffler birdied the primary gap on a putt from simply exterior 12 ft, sank a seven-foot birdie putt on the par-5 sixth and birdied the tenth from simply exterior eight ft to surge forward by 4 over Clark.
When he birdied the eleventh from simply past six ft, Scheffler stretched his result in 5 strokes.
Scheffler added a 34-foot birdie putt on the fifteenth to succeed in 14-under and lead by six with no rival capable of muster any credible cost down the stretch.
Each Clark and Scheffler birdied the par-5 sixteenth and whereas Clark added a birdie at 18, it solely trimmed Scheffler’s victory margin.
“I’m tremendous happy,” Clark mentioned. “Clearly developing quick is all the time a bummer. I’ve not all the time liked this golf course and haven’t performed nicely right here and I mentioned to myself this week a high 5 or high 10 right here would simply be an enormous for me. So I believe it’s only a testomony to the place my recreation is at and the way a lot I’ve grown.”
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