USA TODAY International Edition
DeChambeau wins at Bay Hill; Larson wins in Las Vegas
‘ Incredible Bulk’ overpowers PGA Tour field; Kyle Larson gets 1st Cup win after ban.
ORLANDO, Fla. – Bryson DeChambeau was the star of his own blockbuster all week on the par- 5 sixth hole at Bay Hill in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
He wasn’t a bit player on the other 17 holes, either.
Inspired by the tournament’s namesake and moved by a Sunday morning text exchange with Tiger Woods, the bulked- up basher relied on more than his brute strength to hold off a strong cast of challengers to win by one over Lee Westwood.
On a windy day when only three of the 72 players broke par and the field averaged 75.5 – the highest final- round scoring average since 1980 – DeChambeau held his nerve, holed a 38- footer for birdie on the fourth, a 50- footer for par on the 11th and a gut- check 6- footer for par on the 18th in winning his eighth PGA Tour title.
DeChambeau, the reigning U. S. Open champion, was one of the three to break par with his 1- under- par 71 and finished at 11 under to become the first multiple winner of the season.
“It’s amazing to win Mr. Palmer’s tournament – it’s going to make me cry,” DeChambeau said. “He’s had an influence on me for the longest time and will continue to do so for the rest of my life.”
DeChambeau slipped on the XL red cardigan the winner receives – “It barely fits,” he said – and referenced Palmer and Woods and how proud he was to wear it.
“When I got that text, I’m like, wow, that’s pretty amazing that he is thinking of me when he’s in his tough times that he’s going through right now,” DeChambeau said of Woods, who is recovering in a Los Angeles hospital after a horrific single- vehicle rollover crash that left him with serious, multiple injuries in his right leg, ankle and foot.
“So I just texted him, I said, ‘ Keep moving forward, keep going forward. You’re going to get through it. You’re the hardest- working person I’ve ever met and you’ll persevere through this pretty much.’ One of the things that we talked about was, it’s not about how many times you get kicked to the curb or knocked down. It’s about how many times you can get back up and keep moving forward.
“And I think this red cardigan is not only for Mr. Palmer, but I would say it’s a little bit for Tiger as well, knowing that place he’s in right now.”
DeChambeau had become the tournament’s biggest attraction earlier in the week as he said he’d try to drive the par- 5, 550- yard sixth if conditions were optimum; it would require a blast of 340 to 350 yards across the lake guarding the hole.
He didn’t give it a go in the first two rounds but huffed and puffed and unleashed in the third round and whacked a drive of 370 yards. While he wasn’t going for the green, his line remained very aggressive and his bomb ended up 70 yards short of the putting surface. The fans lined up behind the tee went bonkers as the Incredible Bulk thrust his arms to the sky in celebration.
He repeated the scene on Sunday and uncorked a drive of 377 yards that wound up 88 yards short of the green. He made three birdies and a par on the hole.
DeChambeau grabbed a share of the lead with a birdie on the fourth and never fell out of the top spot.
Westwood, 47, who has won European Tour titles in four decades and has 25 in all, was trying to become the first player in PGA Tour history to go 10 years or more between victories two different times. But Westwood couldn’t run down DeChambeau.
“We had a really good battle,” Westwood said.
Corey Conners ( 74) finished in third at 8 under. At 6 under in fourth were Andrew Putnam ( 71), Richie Werenski ( 73) and Jordan Spieth ( 75).