Hatton beats stress to take Bay Hill title

ORLANDO — Tyrrell Hatton felt the Arnold Palmer Invitational slipping away Sunday, perhaps unaware that everyone else trying to survive another brutal test at Bay Hill was feeling the same way.

He gave the wrong kind of salute to the 11th hole when he walked off the green after a double bogey cut his lead to one shot. It looked as though he was about to lose his mind.

Instead, he won the tournament with clutch play amid high stress, closing with seven straight pars for a 2-over 74 and a one-shot victory over Marc Leishman.

“The hardest thing for me today was trying to keep myself levelheaded,” Hatton said. “Obviously, there was a few times where I did boil over a little bit, but nothing compared to what I've been like in the past. I feel like with how tough it was — for me — I did a good job.”

He was even better with the clubs in his hands.

Bay Hill served up the most demanding test this side of a major, and Hatton kept it together down the stretch Sunday for his first PGA Tour victory, and his fifth worldwide.

The only time he choked was when he took a gulp of Ketel One vodka — Palmer's favorite drink — during a toast to the King.

Leishman (73) stayed on his heels and said to caddie Matt Kelly walking up the par-5 16th, “Of all the courses on the PGA Tour, this is the last one you'd pick if you had a two-shot lead with three to go.” He then birdied the 16th to get within one. He closed with two pars. It still wasn't enough.

“Tyrrell never gave up,” Leishman said. “He did what he needed to on a really, really tough course.”

It was Hatton's fifth victory worldwide, and first on the PGA Tour, and it came in just his second start since returning from surgery on his right wrist during the offseason.

But the 28-year-old Englishman could only smile when he tapped in a 3-foot par putt on the 18th.