McIlroy wins Arnold Palmer Invitational; Tiger’s rally stalls

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy drained a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole to putt a stamp on his 8-under round of 64 on Sunday to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Fla.

McIlroy birdied five of his final six holes at the Bay Hill Golf Club to finish at 18-under for the tournament and secure his first PGA Tour victory since the 2016 Tour Championship.

“Just to be able to create my own little bit of history on the 18th green here is pretty special,” McIlroy told NBC Sports after his round. “I’m just really proud of myself to have hung in there over the past few months, nearly a year with injury and everything else that has happened … it feels really nice.”

Bryson DeChambeau was the last player on the course with a legitimate shot to catch McIlroy, but his birdie putt on the 17th hole slid wide of the cup and he settled for second place at 15-under. Justin Rose claimed third at 14-under, with overnight leader Henrik Stenson finishing another shot back after carding a 1-under 71 on Sunday.

Tiger Woods was tied with McIlroy for the best round of the day at 5-under when he stepped to the 16th tee box trailing the leaders by one. Uncertain how he wanted to attack the hole, Woods attempted to let loose on his driver and carry the ball 315 yards. He instead hit the dreaded “double cross,” yanking his drive out of bounds.

Woods wound up with a bogey on the par-5, which played as the easiest hole on the course during the tournament. He followed with a bogey on the following hole, all but eliminating himself from contention. Woods parred the 18th hole to finish 3-under for the day and 10-under for the tournament, tied for fifth place with Ryan Moore.

“I was caught, I didn’t decide what I was going to do,” Woods said of his tee shot on the 16th hole. “In the back of my mind I said, ‘Why don’t you just bomb it over the top?’ … I didn’t commit to it. I bailed out on it and hit a bad shot, and that’s on me for not committing.”

Meanwhile, McIlroy was putting his foot on the gas. Playing several holes behind Woods and one group ahead of Stenson and DeChambeau, McIlroy was already 3-under for the day when he reeled off four consecutive birdies beginning at No. 13. That included a chip-in from off the side of the 15th green, and stellar putting throughout the round.

McIlroy dropped to No. 13 in the Official World Golf Rankings after missing the cut at the Valspar Championship last week, and had not finished better than a tie for 20th in four PGA Tour events this year. McIlroy said he made an adjustment to his swing this week while also trying to regain more “feel” with his putter, and entered the tournament feeling more in control of his game in general.

He backed that up by leading the field in driving distance, proximity to the hole, scrambling, strokes gained putting, overall putting average and one-putt percentage. McIlroy needed just 100 putts for the tournament, the fewest he has ever needed to get through four rounds.

“Not just my putting, sort of everything,” McIlroy said of what he worked on fine-tuning this week. “Worked on my swing, ball-striking, iron play. I kept saying the last few weeks that I wasn’t that far away. It just takes something to click into place, and something clicked into place with my long game. Obviously something clicked into place with my putting. This is the result, it’s just so nice to see everything come together finally.”

McIlroy said the victory was even more special coming at Arnold Palmer’s event, the golfing legend who died on the day of McIlroy’s last PGA Tour victory.

“It means a lot,” he said. “It’s a little bit ironic that I come here and win. He set a great example to all of us players to try to follow in his footsteps. If everyone on Tour could handle themselves the way that Arnie did, the game of golf would be in a better place. He was a fine man, and I was very lucky to have spent time with him.

“To be able to win his event, I wish I walked up that hill and got a handshake from him, but I’m so happy to have put my name on that trophy.”

Bay Hill marked the first back-to-back tournaments of the year for Woods, who has now posted 10 consecutive rounds of par or better and has moved up to No. 35 in the FedExCup standings with consecutive top-five finishes for the first time in almost five years. Some oddsmakers have established him as the favorite for the Masters next month, and McIlroy has put himself back in that conversation as well with Sunday’s dominating performance.

“I felt pretty good out there,” Woods said. “I hit the ball probably a bit better than I did last week. Even though I got up there, I just knew that I needed to keep making birdies. When I got to 16, I figured I needed to make three birdies over the final three holes to maybe force a playoff. Even that wouldn’t have been good enough with how Rory’s playing.

–Field Level Media