Day’s tough saves lead to win
Arnold Palmer was watching him. Tiger Woods was texting him.
Jason Day, his ball in a bunker on the 18th hole, was thinking only about how to navigate nearly 100 feet in two shots to get the par he needed to win the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday in Orlando.
Out of sorts with his swing all afternoon, Day delivered his best at the end.
The bunker shot was just as he pictured, and Day made the 4- foot par putt to close with a 2- underpar 70 and outlast Kevin Chappell for his first win of the year.
“I was able to walk up there and have a special moment with the King,” Day said. “That’s something I always wanted to do.”
He couldn’t have imagined having to work this hard.
There was a four- man sprint over the final two hours at Bay Hill, and it was all about who made the fewest mistakes. Day got his out of the way early. He lost a two- shot lead on the front nine, recovered with a 9- iron out of the rough and over a bunker to a foot on the ninth hole for birdie, then made two clutch shots at the end.
Day was one shot behind Chappell, who was in trouble on the 18th hole, when he hit 5- iron to 12 feet on the par- 3 17th and made birdie. Chappell made his lone bogey of the back nine on the final hole and shot 69, and then could only wait to see if Day could beat him.
“I had a chance to win, and that’s all I can ask for,” Chappell said after his fourth runner- up finish on the PGA Tour, and second this season.
Day, who finished at 17- under 271, became the first wire- to- wire winner ( no ties) at Bay Hill since Fred Couples in 1992. Day’s eighth career PGA Tour victory moved him to No. 2 in the world behind Jordan Spieth. LPGA: Sei Young Kim matched Annika Sorenstam’s Tour scoring record of 27- under, closing with a 10- under 62 for a five- stroke victory over Lydia Ko in the Founders Cup in Phoenix. Sorenstam set the mark at the Standard Register PING in Phoenix in 2001.
Kim also matched the tournament record of 62 set Thursday by Mi Hyang Lee.
“It’s a dream come true,” Kim said. “I scored 10- under. It’s my best score ever, ever.”
Kim missed a chance to break the marks when her 18- foot birdie try on the par- 4 18th slid left.
“Congratulations to Sei Young on her outstanding play this week,” Sorenstam said. “I thought she was going to make that last putt.”
Ko made four straight birdies on the back nine in a 65. Champions Tour: Woody Austin holed out for eagle from a greenside bunker on the par- 5 15th and won the Tucson Conquistadores Classic for his first PGA Tour Champions title. Austin, 52, bogeyed the par- 4 final hole after driving left into the water and ended up beating Jim Carter by a stroke, finishing with a 7- under 65 for a 16- under 200 total. European Tour: India’s SSP Chawrasia pulled off a two- shot win over defending champion Anirban Lahiri and Korea’s Jeunghun Wang with a birdie on the final hole at the $ 1.66 million Hero Indian Open in New Delhi.