Bryson DeChambeau held his nerve to win his eighth PGA Tour title in the Arnold Palmer Invitational as Lee Westwood had to settle for second place after a tense finish at Bay Hill.
DeChambeau carded a closing 71 in difficult conditions to finish 11 under par and a shot ahead of Westwood, with Canada’s Corey Conners two shots further back.
Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth briefly held a share of the lead on the final day but eventually signed for a 75 to finish in a tie for fourth on six under par alongside fellow Americans Richy Werenski and Andrew Putnam.
Rory McIlroy’s Sunday woes continued as he came undone at the Par 5 sixth hole where the Northern Irishman’s gung-ho approach was punished by a couple of water balls.
While DeChambeau stole the show with his long-driving tactics on the hole, his tee-shot on the hole measuring 377 yards into a fairway bunker short of the green, McIlroy’s fate was sealed with an initial drive that came up marginally short of the fairway and then his reload again plunging into the lake.
On the third attempt, McIlroy finally found the fairway – having adjusted his target zone some 30 yards to the right – and then hit an approach from 244 yards to eight feet and rolled in the putt for a double-bogey seven. On his second drive, McIlroy had urged his ball to find dry land. “Go . . . . Go …. Go….Go!” he shouted in vain, his hopes of a final round charge undone.
Afterwards McIlroy admitted that he is lacking “a spark” at the moment as he heads for next week’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. “There was some good parts this week again,” McIlroy said.
“Some stuff that I’m sort of, I don’t know what the word is or how to describe it, but just a little dejected. I don’t know, like, maybe looking to go in a different direction. I need something, I need a spark, I need something and I just don’t seem to have it.”
Pádraig Harrington, who was hospitalised for two days last week suffering from kidney stones, battled well until a final hole catastrophe where he suffered a triple bogey seven in a finishing 76 for 289 that left him in tied-33rd position.
Westwood took a one-shot lead into the final round but there was soon a four-way tie at the top after the 47-year-old bogeyed the third following a wild drive and DeChambeau and Spieth picked up shots on the fourth and sixth respectively.
That tie did not last long as DeChambeau and Westwood both birdied the par-five sixth in wildly contrasting fashion.
Afetr DeChambeau’s huge drive he then missed the green from 88 yards, he produced a superb chip to four feet and duly converted the opportunity.
Westwood’s tee shot left him with 256 yards to the hole and after missing the green in a similar place to DeChambeau, the former world number one also got up and down for birdie.
A bogey from Westwood on the next gave DeChambeau the outright lead and he was fortunate to retain it on the 11th, where his tee shot stopped just short of the water. After finding a bunker with his approach, DeChambeau holed from 50 feet for the most unlikely of pars.
It was Westwood’s turn to hole a long putt on the par-five 12th and the birdie from 28 feet took him back into a share of the lead.
Westwood bogeyed the 14th by three-putting from the front edge of the green, but crucially holed from 20 feet for par on the next after finding a bunker with his approach.
It looked to be advantage Westwood when he found the fairway on the par-five 16th and DeChambeau had to lay up from a fairway bunker, but Westwood missed the green with his approach from just 158 yards and was unable to get up and down.
DeChambeau gave Westwood — who carded a closing 73 — hope when he charged his birdie attempt on the 18th almost six feet past the hole, but the American held his nerve to save par and secure the win.
“It’s been quite a battle,” DeChambeau said in a television interview on the 18th green. “I don’t even know what to say, to win at Mr Palmer’s event, it’s going to make me cry.
“It means the world to me. I got a text from Tiger (Woods) this morning and he obviously had done really well here and we talked about just keep fighting no matter what happens and play boldly like Mr Palmer said.
“My heart has been heavy with Tiger and what’s been going on with him (Woods is recovering in hospital following a car accident) and I just kept telling myself it’s not how many times you get kicked down it’s about how many times you get picked back up and keep going and that’s what I did out there today.”
Westwood told Sky Sports: “ I really enjoyed myself. You don’t get the opportunity to have a proper battle on a good golf course, with a good player, in tough conditions that often for a big title.
“We both played well, it wasn’t easy out there. Bryson hit a lot of good shots and made some nice putts, especially the one at the last when I put some pressure on him.”
Collated final round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard (Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Florida) (USA unless stated, Par 72):
277 Bryson DeChambeau 67 71 68 71
278 Lee Westwood (Eng) 69 71 65 73
280 Corey Conners (Can) 66 69 71 74
282 Andrew Putnam 70 72 69 71, Jordan Spieth 70 69 68 75, Richy Werenski 71 69 69 73
283 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 70 70 70 73
284 Chris Kirk 71 70 69 74, Jason Kokrak 68 73 69 74
285 Keegan Bradley 69 74 64 78, Paul Casey (Eng) 70 69 72 74, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 69 71 71 74, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 70 70 68 77, Charley Hoffman 71 72 67 75, Max Homa 70 70 72 73, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 66 71 72 76, Will Zalatoris 73 68 72 72
286 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 75 70 69 72, Brendan Steele 71 72 71 72, Matt Wallace (Eng) 70 73 72 71
287 Lanto Griffin 69 68 73 77, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 71 74 68 74, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 77 67 66 77, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 69 70 72 76, Harold Varner III 72 72 70 73
288 Harris English 73 70 71 74, Bo Hoag 74 70 71 73, Denny McCarthy 72 73 67 76, Ian Poulter (Eng) 70 73 70 75, Branden Grace (Rsa) 74 71 67 76
289 Jason Day (Aus) 70 72 68 79, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 70 74 69 76, Cameron Tringale 70 75 69 75, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 72 71 72 74, Danny Willett (Eng) 73 71 68 77
290 Jason Dufner 74 70 71 75, Doug Ghim 71 73 65 81, Charles Howell III 74 72 70 74, Kevin Kisner 73 72 67 78, Robert MacIntyre (Sco) 71 71 76 72, Kristoffer Ventura (Nor) 75 70 67 78, Pat Perez 75 71 70 74
291 Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 68 74 75 74, Talor Gooch 73 73 71 74, Mark Hubbard 71 74 72 74, Martin Laird (Sco) 69 67 76 79, Keith Mitchell 73 71 69 78, Kevin Na 71 71 76 73
292 Will Gordon 72 72 72 76, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 69 68 77 78, Zach Johnson 74 70 72 76, Danny Lee (Nzl) 73 71 71 77, Maverick McNealy 71 72 72 77, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 68 76 72 76, Alexander Noren (Swe) 72 71 70 79, Chez Reavie 74 70 73 75
293 Tyler Duncan 72 72 71 78, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 75 65 69 84, Patton Kizzire 76 69 73 75, Patrick Rodgers 73 72 69 79, Brendon Todd 74 70 71 78, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 72 74 72 75
294 John Huh 74 71 72 77, Luke List 71 72 75 76, Steve Stricker 72 71 74 77
295 Lucas Glover 72 74 72 77, Doc Redman 73 73 76 73
296 Victor Perez (Fra) 69 74 78 75, Brandt Snedeker 75 71 75 75
297 Russell Knox (Sco) 74 71 73 79
298 Henrik Norlander (Swe) 71 75 74 78
299 Rickie Fowler 76 70 76 77
