Round 4 - Rory McIlroy ends 18-month drought with Arnold Palmer title

March 18, 2018

Rory McIlroy ended an 18-month PGA win drought in sensational fashion Sunday with birdies on five of the last six holes to capture the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Four-time major champion McIlroy outdueled American Bryson DeChambeau and major winners Tiger Woods, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson with an amazing putting display on the Bay Hill greens.

"It's so nice to see everything come together finally," McIlroy said. "I wasn't that far away. It takes something to click into place. Something clicked into place with my putting obviously."

McIlroy fired an eight-under par 64 to finish 72 holes on 18-under 270 and defeat DeChambeau by three strokes.

"I'm just proud of myself to hang in there over the past few months with injury and everything," McIlroy said. "To get my first PGA win in I don't know how long, it feels really great."

The 28-year-old from Northern Ireland took his 14th US PGA Tour triumph, his first since the 2016 Tour Championship, and served notice he is a solid threat to complete a career major Grand Slam by winning the Masters in three weeks.

McIlroy had not won since the day Palmer died in 2016 but snapped his skid on the course where Palmer used to greet winners as they exited the 18th green.

"It's a little bit ironic that I come here and win," McIlroy said. "He set a great example to all of us players. If all of us could handle ourselves the way Arnie did the world would be a better place.

"I wish I walked up that hill to get a handshake from him but I'm so glad to put my name on that trophy."

DeChambeau fired a closing 68 to take second on 273, one stroke ahead of England's Rose, who fired a 67, and two in front of Sweden's Stenson with Woods and US compatriot Ryan Moore fifth on 278.

McIlroy sank a 15-foot birdie putt at 13 and followed with a 21-foot birdie putt at the par-3 14th to seize a two-stroke lead at 15-under.

"That gave me a lot of momentum coming in after not getting a birdie on the par-5 12th," McIlroy said.

Stenson and DeChambeau each birdied 13 to pull within one shot, but McIlroy answered with a 40-foot birdie chip from off the 15th green for his third birdie in a row and two-putted from 21 feet for birdie at the par-5 16th to seize a three-stroke advantage.

"To be able to chip in, that was a bonus and gave me a little leeway going into the last few holes," McIlroy said.

Of his approach at 16, McIlroy added, "This was massive, probably the best drive I hit all week."

DeChambeau sank a 15-foot eagle putt to pull one stroke behind McIlroy only to have the European star sink a 25-footer for birdie, raising his arms in victory.

McIlroy charged into a share of the lead early, opening with five pars before making back-to-back clutch birdie putts, a 10-footer at the sixth and 12-footer at the par-3 seventh.

Another 10-foot birdie at the ninth left McIlroy on 13-under with Stenson after the Swede made bogey at eight, missing the green on his approach and botching a six-foot par putt to set up the back-nine battle.

Woods, making his second comeback bid after four back operations, chased his first victory since the 2013 World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational.

The 14-time major champion, mired in the longest win drought of his career, has shown form in back-to-back weeks to excite fans for his chances at the Masters, which begins April 5.

"I felt pretty good out there," Woods said. "I hit the ball a little better than I did last week. I felt like I putted well the entire week."

Woods, wearing his trademark red shirt and black pants, managed his 10th consecutive PGA par-or-better round, his longest such streak in six years.

Woods began the back nine with his fourth birdie of the day as an electric atmosphere built around the Orlando course where he owns eight titles.

At 12, Woods blasted from a bunker to four feet and sank the birdie putt, then made a 14-foot birdie putt at 13 to pull one shy of the lead.

But Woods blasted his tee shot at the 16th out of bounds left and made bogey on the course's easiest hole.

"I didn't decide what I was going to do," Woods said. "I had three different shots. I didn't commit to it, bailed out on it. It's on me."

Woods made a bogey at 17 and closed with a 12-foot par putt.

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Round 3 - Henrik Stenson takes solo lead in Florida

March , 2018

Henrik Stenson, who began his third round tied for the lead with Bryson DeChambeau, followed up an opening-round 8-under 64 (his low round in 10 starts at Bay Hill) and a second-round, bogey-free 3-under 69 with a 1-under 71 in round three to take the solo 54-hole lead. He will enter the final round with a one-stroke lead over DeChambeau.

Stenson, who lives in Orlando, went 29 holes without a bogey before recording a bogey-5 on the par-4 8th. He has four bogeys on his scorecard this week, with three coming in the third round.

He is in position to become the seventh international winner of the Arnold Palmer Palmer Invitational: Marc Leishman (2017), Jason Day (2016), Martin Laird (2011), Ernie Els (1998, 2010), Vijay Singh (2007) and Rod Pampling (2006).

Should he win on Sunday, he would become the fifth winner in his 40s this season (Pat Perez, Ryan Armour, Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey) at the age of 41 years, 11 months, 13 days. It would also mark the first time since 2004 that there were three or more consecutive winners in their 40s:

8/29/2004 Buick Championship Woody Austin 40
9/6/2004 Dell Technologies Championship Vijay Singh 41
9/12/2004 RBC Canadian Open Vijay Singh 41
9/19/2004 Valero Texas Open Bart Bryant 41
9/26/2004 84 LUMBER Classic Vijay Singh 41

Bryson DeChambeau followed his 66 and 67 in rounds one and two with an even-par 72 on Saturday, offsetting three bogeys with three birdies and hitting 15 of 18 greens.

Making his 56th PGA TOUR start, DeChambeau is in search of his second victory (2017 John Deere Classic). En route to his victory at TPC Deere Run, DeChambeau began the final round four strokes back but birdied his final two holes to win by one stroke over Patrick Rodgers.

Tiger Woods, who entered the weekend T17 after rounds of 68-72, posted a 3-under 69 in round three and is T10, five strokes back of leader Henrik Stenson.

Bay Hill is one of three courses Woods has eight wins, including Torrey Pines, home of the Farmers Insurance Open, and Firestone CC (South), home of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. No player in PGA TOUR history has ever recorded nine wins at one venue.

Woods has now posted nine consecutive rounds of par or better, a streak he hasn’t matched since 2013:

WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play 66-65-67-71 (won)
Arnold Palmer Invitational 69-70-66-70 (won)
Masters Tournament 70-73-70-70 (T4)

Rory McIlroy eagled the par-5 12th and then birdied two of his final three holes (Nos. 16 and 18) en route to a third-round, 5-under 67. McIlroy’s 67, where he was 6/7 in scrambling, is his lowest score on TOUR since the first round of the 2017 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

He has finished no worse than T27 (2016) in three previous starts at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and finished T4 last year at 9-under, two strokes back of Marc Leishman.

A week ago, McIlroy missed the cut at the Valspar Championship (74-73), one of two missed cuts in his previous four starts this season.

Justin Rose, the highest-ranked player in the field, followed his second-round 71 with a 5-under 67 in the third round, three strokes back of fellow 2016 Olympic medalist Henrik Stenson.

Rickie Fowler, who is serving on the Arnold Palmer Invitational host committee, finished bogey-double-bogey to post a 2-under 70 in round three.

2016 champion Jason Day posted a 5-under 67 on Saturday and is T18. Day has recorded a win (Farmers Insurance Open) and a runner-up (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) in his last two TOUR starts and has finished no worse than T11 in his four starts this season.

Defending champion Marc Leishman (T35) followed up back-to-back 70s with a 1-over 73 in the third round. Leishman, who is coming off a career-best, sixth-place finish in the FedExCup standings, has three top-25 finishes in eight starts this season.

Round 2 - Stenson hanging on to lead, joined by DeChambeau

March 16, 2018

Sweden's Henrik Stenson birdied three consecutive holes and clung to a share of the lead Friday as Tiger Woods slipped back in the second round of the US PGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Stenson, the 2016 British Open champion and 2017 Rio Olympics runner-up, fired a bogey-free three-under par 69 to stand alongside American Bryson DeChambeau on 11-under 133 after 36 holes at Bay Hill.

Woods, a 14-time major winner and eight-time champion at the Orlando course, opened and closed the front nine with bogeys but rallied late to shoot a level-par 72 and stand seven shots back on 140 after 36 holes as he works to find consistent top form ahead of next month's Masters.

Stenson, whose only victory since his lone major title came last year at Greensboro, began on the back nine and saved pars from seven feet at the par-five 16th and 15 feet at the par-three 17th after finding bunkers off the tee.

He also sank a nervy five-footer for par at 18 after blasting out of a greenside bunker.

"Today wasn't as good as yesterday obviously but the important part for me was 16, 17 and 18," Stenson said. "I scrambled for par on all three after hitting some not-so-good golf shots, kept patient and made three in a row coming home. Three in a row on this golf course is not bad."

Stenson sank four-foot birdie putts at the par-four fifth and par-five sixth holes then dropped a 20-footer at the par-three seventh.

"My putting more than anything. I've been hitting it really close this week," Stenson said of his key to success. "If you're rolling it really good you're setting up something from three to four feet."

Staying below the hole on most greens has been pivotal, Stenson said.

"They are definitely slick when you approach on the high side and that's why you have to leave your approaches on the lower side," Stenson said.

Woods, again attempting to return in the wake of four back operations, stumbled at the start. His tee shot found the left rough and led to a bogey. At nine, Woods had a three-putt bogey from 61 feet.

- Eagle lifts DeChambeau -

"Today was just a bad day," said Woods, who dropped his approaches at the 12th and 16th inches from the cup for tap-in birdies to reach level par for the day, then narrowly missing a 14-foot birdie putt at 18.

"Today was a hard fight, it was a grind," he said. "I didn't hit the ball close. I didn't hit the ball well. but I was just hanging in there trying not to shoot myself out of the tournament."

DeChambeau, who won his first PGA title at last July's John Deere Classic, closed the front nine with three consecutive birdies, starting the run with an 18-footer at the par-three seventh.

He put his approach inches from the cup at 12 to set up a birdie and dropped a seven-foot eagle putt at the par-five 16th, then closed with a four-foot birdie putt that left him level for the lead.

American Talor Gooch was third on 135 with South Korean An Byeong-hun fourth on 136 and American Charley Hoffman another stroke adrift. Rickie Fowler headed a group of five on 138 while four-time major champions Rory McIlroy and Ernie Els were among those six strokes back on 139.

Round 1 - Tiger Woods 4-behind leader Henrik Stenson

March 15, 2018

Tiger Woods' rolled in six birdies, including a 71-footer at the seventh hole, to leap into contention Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational led by Henrik Stenson.

Woods, the 14-time major champion and eight-time winner at Bay Hill, started early and showed the peak form that sparked his best finish in five years last week.

"It was just getting a feel for playing tournament golf again and I think I have it," said Woods, who is playing the fifth US PGA Tour event since returning in January from spinal fusion surgery last April.

"I'm not thinking as much around the golf course. I can just see it, feel it and go. That's because I've got my 'feels' back."

Three weeks before the start of the Masters, the year's first major tournament, Woods showed none of the back pain that sidelined him most of the past two seasons. He has undergone four back operations, doubting at one stage if he would ever return to competitive golf.

"I enjoy just playing again. After what I've been through, just playing feels good," Woods said.

Told that Las Vegas oddsmakers were making him the Masters favorite based on his past week's performance, Woods said, "A lot of gamble-holics out there."

"We have a long way to go. It's just the first day. I've got three days to go and hopefully I can cap it off with a nice win."

Sweden's Stenson made nine birdies against a lone bogey to open with a 64.

American rookies Aaron Wise and Talor Gooch were tied for second on 65.

Jimmy Walker, the 2016 PGA Championship winner, holed out from 132 yards for an eagle on the 18th fairway to complete an opening 67 that left him tied with Rickie Fowler and Bryson DeChambeau, one stroke ahead of Woods.

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy was set to match Walker and Fowler but closed with a double-bogey to finish on 69.

The day's electricity came from Woods, the 42-year-old superstar who has not won a major since the 2008 US Open and hasn't captured any title since the 2013 World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational.

Woods, who also won his eighth Bay Hill crown in 2013, birdied all four par-5 holes and played the rest of the round at level par, two birdies undone by one bad tee shot and a double-bogey disaster.

"People have been so supportive. It has been a great atmosphere overall since I've come back and started playing again," Woods said.

Woods, whose 79 career PGA titles are three shy of Sam Snead's career record, began on the back nine and sank a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-5 12th. He followed with a 17-foot birdie putt at the par-4 13th and dropped in a six-footer for birdie at the par-5 16th.

At the par-3 second, Woods found a bunker but blasted out inches from the cup to save par. He stumbled on his next swing, sending his tee shot way right and out of bounds on the third hole on his way to a double-bogey six.

But Woods responded with birdies on three of the next four holes, sinking a four-footer at the par-5 fourth and a three-footer at the par-5 sixth.

That set the stage for his greatest putt of all. On the far edge of the seventh green, Woods curled the ball to the right, watched it pick up speed and roll into the cup from 71 feet for a birdie that brought a smile to his face and a raised hand to acknowledge the crowd's cheers.

"I just wanted to get down in two. I didn't want to drop another shot," Woods said. "I'm lucky it hit the hole or it was probably eight feet by."

But the work wasn't over. At his final hole, the par-4 ninth, Woods found a greenside bunker and blasted out 11 feet past the cup, then sank the clutch par putt.

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