AUSSIE BLOWS IT IN ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL
Picture by courtesy of Greenwood/Getty Images(c)
ADAM SCOTT FINISHES THIRD BEHIND
FIRST-TIME WINNER MATT EVERY
FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
ORLANDO, Florida -- The first tournament Matt Every attended as a kid
growing up in nearby Daytona Beach was the Arnold Palmer Invitational
presented by MasterCard.
He never could have imagined winning there. Sunday, he did.
"It's hard," an emotional Every said after a final-round, 2-under 70 gave him a one-shot victory at Bay Hill and the first of his career on the US PGA Tour. "It's tough, man. You just never know if it's going to happen. You get there so many times. It's nice to get it done."
He had plenty of help from Masters champ Adam Scott, who entered the weekend with a seven-shot lead and was up by four over Every entering the final round.
But the Aussie had an uncanny collapse with a 76 to tumble to third, two shots back. Keegan Bradley, who began the day three back, needed to make a 30-foot putt on the 18th to force a playoff, shot 72 to finish second.
I can't believe I won,” said the 30-year-old Every, who earned 500 FedExCup points, a spot in the Masters for the first time and well over a million dollars in prizemoney.
“Being close to winning out here, I mean it can be kind of discouraging because if you don't win you just wonder if it's ever going to happen.
“I don't see how it could get much better than this, being so close to where I grew up and all the fans out there that were cheering me on. It was awesome.”
At times, so was Every.
He made four birdies in a five-hole stretch in the middle of his round to surge past a struggling Scott, taking the lead for good with a birdie on the par-4 13th.
In the end, though, he had to hang on in a wild final hour.
After finding the right rough on the par-5 16th, Every’s second shot struck a tree and he was forced to lay up short of the green. His next shot landed 25 feet behind the hole and he two-putted for bogey, opening the door for Scott.
Playing in the group behind Every, Scott reached the 16th in two but three-putted from 20 feet.
Every bogeyed the 18th, too, but could finally breathe a sigh of relief when Bradley missed his putt to tie.
“I kept telling myself, ‘Maybe it’s going to be somewhere special,’” Every said about going for his first win. “This is really cool.”
He never could have imagined winning there. Sunday, he did.
"It's hard," an emotional Every said after a final-round, 2-under 70 gave him a one-shot victory at Bay Hill and the first of his career on the US PGA Tour. "It's tough, man. You just never know if it's going to happen. You get there so many times. It's nice to get it done."
He had plenty of help from Masters champ Adam Scott, who entered the weekend with a seven-shot lead and was up by four over Every entering the final round.
But the Aussie had an uncanny collapse with a 76 to tumble to third, two shots back. Keegan Bradley, who began the day three back, needed to make a 30-foot putt on the 18th to force a playoff, shot 72 to finish second.
I can't believe I won,” said the 30-year-old Every, who earned 500 FedExCup points, a spot in the Masters for the first time and well over a million dollars in prizemoney.
“Being close to winning out here, I mean it can be kind of discouraging because if you don't win you just wonder if it's ever going to happen.
“I don't see how it could get much better than this, being so close to where I grew up and all the fans out there that were cheering me on. It was awesome.”
At times, so was Every.
He made four birdies in a five-hole stretch in the middle of his round to surge past a struggling Scott, taking the lead for good with a birdie on the par-4 13th.
In the end, though, he had to hang on in a wild final hour.
After finding the right rough on the par-5 16th, Every’s second shot struck a tree and he was forced to lay up short of the green. His next shot landed 25 feet behind the hole and he two-putted for bogey, opening the door for Scott.
Playing in the group behind Every, Scott reached the 16th in two but three-putted from 20 feet.
Every bogeyed the 18th, too, but could finally breathe a sigh of relief when Bradley missed his putt to tie.
“I kept telling myself, ‘Maybe it’s going to be somewhere special,’” Every said about going for his first win. “This is really cool.”
SCOTT STUMBLES WITH PUTTER
Adam Scott entered the weekend with the world No. 1 ranking within reach.
He left frustrated after a final-round 76 to finish two shots back of Every.
"Sometimes you've got to be hard on yourself; sometimes you don't," Scott said. "And I think I was getting into a really good spot and had an opportunity here to run away with an event and really take a lot of confidence. I'm annoyed that I didn't do better today."
The biggest culprit was his putting. Scott took 63 putts over the final two rounds, including 32 on Sunday.
He made just one putt over 6 1/2 feet all day and three-putted from 20 feet after reaching the par-5 16th in two with a chance to tie Every for the lead.
Instead, Scott missed from just inside four feet and was left to wonder what might have been.
Adam Scott entered the weekend with the world No. 1 ranking within reach.
He left frustrated after a final-round 76 to finish two shots back of Every.
"Sometimes you've got to be hard on yourself; sometimes you don't," Scott said. "And I think I was getting into a really good spot and had an opportunity here to run away with an event and really take a lot of confidence. I'm annoyed that I didn't do better today."
The biggest culprit was his putting. Scott took 63 putts over the final two rounds, including 32 on Sunday.
He made just one putt over 6 1/2 feet all day and three-putted from 20 feet after reaching the par-5 16th in two with a chance to tie Every for the lead.
Instead, Scott missed from just inside four feet and was left to wonder what might have been.
Had Scott won he would have taken over the top spot in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career.
"Today was a bit shaky," the Aussie admitted. "It was just a little out of sorts for whatever reason. And my short game just wasn't there. So that needs to be tightened up and probably shows that I need to do a bit more work on it to hold up under the pressure."
Perhaps a trip to Augusta National will help.
Scott, who will defend his Masters title there in three weeks, will spend the next couple of days there before going home to the Bahamas.
"If nothing else, it's a good reminder on how much putting practice I need to do for going to the Masters and just how important it is," he said. "And if I think back to last year, I made every putt that you expect to in that last round and ultimately that's, I guess, maybe what gave me the chance to win."
A FEW FIRSTS"Today was a bit shaky," the Aussie admitted. "It was just a little out of sorts for whatever reason. And my short game just wasn't there. So that needs to be tightened up and probably shows that I need to do a bit more work on it to hold up under the pressure."
Perhaps a trip to Augusta National will help.
Scott, who will defend his Masters title there in three weeks, will spend the next couple of days there before going home to the Bahamas.
"If nothing else, it's a good reminder on how much putting practice I need to do for going to the Masters and just how important it is," he said. "And if I think back to last year, I made every putt that you expect to in that last round and ultimately that's, I guess, maybe what gave me the chance to win."
Erik Compton was never really in contention on Sunday but his final-round 69 was good enough to earn him a tie for fifth at 9 under.
In 92 career starts on the US PGA Tour, the double heart transplant recipient’s only other top 10 came at last year’s Honda Classic, where he tied for fourth.
The only time Compton did check the scoreboard in the final round?
“Well, Arnold Palmer was on 16, and he gave me the thumbs up,” Compton said. “It’s kind of hard to hit a shot when you’re in contention and he’s looking at you.”
Meanwhile, reigning FedExCup champion Henrik Stenson picked up his first top 10 of the season, also tying for sixth. It was his first top 10 on TOUR since winning the 2013 TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola.
Likewise, Brandt Snedeker tied for eighth for his first top 10 of the season.
Russell Knox followed up two 71s with a disappointing 72-74 weekend which placed him T43 on level par 288.
At least that was a lot better than the only other Scot in the field, Martin Laird, who had a 76 on Saturday and a 78 on Sunday to fill the last place among the 76 qualifiers on nine-over 297.
Padraig Harrington had a nightmare 80 in his final round for 293 and a share of 67th place.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72) Players from USA unless stated
275 Matt Every 69 70 66 70
276 Keegan Bradley 71 67 66 72
277 Adam Scott (Australia) 62 68 71 76
278 Jason Kokrak 67 71 67 73
279 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 69 73 69 68, Erik Compton 72 68 70 69, Francesco Molinari (Italy) 67 70 69 73.
SELECTED TOTALS
282 Graeme McDowell (N Ireland) 68 77 67 70 (T10)
284 Brian Davis (England) 70 74 71 69, Ian Poulter (England) 68 71 69 76 (T20)
287 Gonzalo Fernandez Castano (Spain) 66 77 74 70 (T35)
288 Russell Knox (Scotland) 71 71 72 74, Jamie Donaldson (Wales) 67 71 74 76 (T43)
291 Paul Casey (England) 67 79 72 73 (T60)
293 Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 70 70 73 80 (T67)
295 Greg Owen (England) 76 69 74 76 (T72)
297 Martin Laird (Scotland) 71 72 76 78 (76th)
Labels: US PGA TOUR
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Sunday, March 23, 2014
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