Scheffler rides hot putter to victory
ORLANDO, Fla. — Scottie Scheffler became the No. 1 player in golf with his sublime tee-togreen game. He got hot with the putter Sunday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and was simply unstoppable.
Scheffler made every important putt to build a three-shot lead at the turn and then poured it on with a game so complete he closed with a bogeyfree, 6-under 66 — the lowest score by two shots at Bay Hill in the final round — while playing in the last group.
He wound up winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational by five shots, the largest margin at Bay Hill since Tiger Woods in 2012. And it came a week before Scheffler defends his title at The Players Championship, which had been his last official PGA Tour win.
All that held him back over the last year was the putter. Scheffler switched to a mallet model this week, but far more important was keeping quiet between the ears, thinking more about the stroke than the outcome.
Both were superb. He made every putt inside 15 feet on the weekend to win at Bay Hill for the second time in three years. Puerto Rico Open: At Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, Brice Garnett holed a 15foot birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole to win in his first tournament of the year, sending him to The Players Championship next week and giving him PGA Tour status for the next three years.
Garnett closed with a 3under 69 at Grand Reserve Golf Club, getting back in the game with consecutive birdies on the 13th and 14th and then saving par on the 18th in regulation.
LIV Golf: At Hong Kong, Abraham Ancer regained just enough of the composure that helped him pull out to a five-stroke lead after two rounds to beat Cameron Smith and Paul Casey in a playoff and win the inaugural LIV Golf tournament in Hong Kong.
Ancer’s comfortable lead at the start of the final round gradually disappeared with the Mexican struggling to keep pace with the chasing pack after a 2-over round of 72 at the Hong Kong Golf Club course.
LPGA: At Sanya, China, Bailey Tardy picked up her first victory on the LPGA Tour, shooting 7under 65 in the final round of the Blue Bay tournament on China’s southern island of Hainan to win by four strokes ahead of Sarah Schmelzel.
DP World Tour: At Edenvale, South Africe, Matteo Manassero broke through with his first European tour win in nearly 11 years, shooting 6-under 66 after a storm delay for a three-stroke victory at the Jonsson Workwear Open.