Leishman keeps McIlroy at Bay
Australian describes winning Arnold Palmer Invitational as ‘an honour’
Australia’s Marc Leishman sank a 51-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole on Sunday and held off a charging Rory McIlroy and two others to capture the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
One-putting the last four holes at Bay Hill, the 33-yearold Aussie surged late to claim his first US victory since 2012.
“It just all came together,” Leishman said. “To do it here is really good. It was just an unbelievable day.”
Leishman fired a finalround three-under par 69 to stand on 11-under 277 for 72 holes at the famed Orlando, Florida, layout in the first event since the death of tournament namesake Palmer, the golf legend who had hosted the event annually.
“Mr. Palmer was a very special guy,” Leishman said. “To win it in honour of him was huge.”
Americans Kevin Kisner and Charley Hoffman, co-leaders entering the final round, each fired 73s to share second on 278 with McIlroy and England’s Tyrell Hatton sharing fourth on 279 and Canada’s Adam Hadwin on 280.
McIlroy will jump past Australia’s Jason Day to become world No. 2 on Monday with American Dustin Johnson still atop the rankings, but a closing bogey ended his title bid in what became a four-man shoot-out down the final holes.
“Around here, things can change so quick,” Leishman said. “You’ve just got to stay right in it, not think about
Sunday’s final round (USA unless noted): 277 —
278 — 279 — 281 —
Marc Leishman (AUS) 71-6671-69 Charley Hoffman 68-66-71-73, Kevin Kisner 70-67-68-73 Rory McIlroy (NIR) 74-71-65-69, Tyrell Hatton (ENG) 72-69-67-71 Adam Hadwin (CAN) 70-7069-71
280 —
Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 67-68-7868, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 70-68-7469, Lucas Glover 68-69-72-72
Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 78-66-70-68, Hudson Swafford 73-72-69-68 Rickie Fowler 74-72-65-72 Brian Harman 72-70-73-69, Billy Horschel 72-73-67-72, Justin Rose (ENG) 71-70-70-73, Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG) 67-69-72-76
Danny Lee (NZL) 75-70-73-67, Luke List 71-71-72-71, Pat Perez 74-7069-72, Michael Kim 72-71-70-72, Kyle Stanley 73-68-69-75, Greg Chalmers (AUS) 69-72-69-75
Wang Jeung-Hun (KOR) 71-6877-70, Jamie Lovemark 72-69-75-70, Jason Day (AUS) 70-71-75-70, Vaughn Taylor 71-71-73-71, Martin Kaymer (GER) 73-71-68-74
282 —
283 — 284 — 285 — 286 —
what’s the end result, just focus on what you’ve got to do. I was focused on my putts and luckily they all went into the hole.”
Leishman’s first victory in front of his family was enough to qualify him for the Masters in three weeks at Augusta National, where he shared fourth in 2013.
His only prior US PGA victory had come in the 2012 Travelers Championship.
His lone European Tour title was at the 2015 Nedbank Challenge. McIlroy tapped in for birdie at the par-5 16th to join Hoffman one off Kisner’s lead, but Kisner found the rough at the par-3 14th and missed an eight-foot par putt, leaving the trio deadlocked in front as the drama unfolded.