Scottie Scheffler started the day with a share of the lead and made the turn in 34 to take the outright lead by three shots. He made four birdies on the back nine for a bogey-free 66 to win by five shots at 15-under, the largest margin of victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational since Tiger Woods won by five in 2012. Scheffler is now due to defend his title at The Players Championship next week.
“I think it has a lot to do with keeping the mind as quiet as possible. Part of the problem is just trying too hard. It’s frustrating to not have the best of myself, just because I know that I can putt really well. It’s not like I’ve been a bad putter my whole career. I’ve just gone through a stretch where it’s been tough.
“I think this week I did a really good job of not letting the misses get to me. Teddy did a really good job of keeping me in a good head space and we stayed positive out there and I hit a lot of good putts, a lot of good putts this week.”
The American switched his putter to a mallet model this week and led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting in the final round at 3.892 strokes, his best round on Tour since the second round of the 2021 Shriners Children’s Open. He gained 4.347 strokes putting for the week, his highest total since his first win at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open.
“I like not having to line the ball up. I line this putter up well in the middle of the face. It’s very good visually. And yeah, I try not to focus too much on the results, but my process was really good this week and the results so far are pretty tough to argue with, I would say.”
American Wyndham Clark finished second at 10-under after closing with a 70.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry carded a 72 backing up his top-5 finish last week with third place at 9-under.
Americans Russell Henley and Will Zalatoris also shot 72s and tied for fourth at 7-under.
Zalatoris earned an exemption to the 2024 Open Championship via The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) as the top player not otherwise exempt; the spot will go to the next-highest finisher that is not exempt via another category on June 1 if Zalatoris qualifies via another category by then.
