Matt Every Wins Battle of Bay Hill
By Tom Kennedy
Matt Every successfully defended his Arnold Palmer Invitational title at Bay Hill after a dramatic finish over the closing holes today. Every, Henrik Stenson and Morgan Hoffman battled it out for the lead throughout the final round but a brilliant birdie at the 18th hole ended up being enough to give the defending Champion a dream defence of his title!
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Things were looking good for super Swede Stenson early in the final round, especially after a superb birdie on the first hole, and it looked like he would cruise to what was looking to be a likely impressive victory. Morgan Hoffman then took over with a barrage of birdies over the first 8 holes, 5 in all to give him a 2 shot lead at that stage. The see-saw nature of the final round continued as Hoffman fell back with 3 bogeys in 5 holes from the 9th and it looked like there could be yet another playoff on the PGA Tour.
Mar 22, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Henrik Stenson tees off on the 2nd during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports
Every had hung in there as well and when Stenson 3-putted 15 to fall back into a tie with him a playoff was still on the cards, the Swede did have 16 to play though and he had played the final 4 holes well all week but unfortunately for him the golf course was looking to take revenge on Henrik as he failed to make birdie on the par-5. A decent tee shot on 17 left him with an outside birdie chance which he could not convert. Moments earlier Every had drained a superb birdie putt to snatch a 1-shot lead, a lead that he would hang onto in the end as Stenson could not birdie the last to force a playoff.
Other highlights in the final round were another albatross, this time by Zach Johnson at the par-5 16th hole with a 5-iron from 205 yards, while the rounds of the day went to Johnson & Every with 6-under par 66s with many shooting 68 including Ernie Els and Jason Day.
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Third round leader Stenson will take some solace from his performance this week at Bay Hill, he is still playing well although he did falter over the closing holes while in contention to win. The Swede will be considered a serious contender for The Masters and maybe not quite peaking at Arnie’s place might stand him in good stead when he arrives at Augusta soon. Matt Every, on the other hand, is surely on Cloud 9 once more and this win puts him in some fantastic company with players like Tiger Woods as multiple winners at Bay Hill.
Other encouraging showings include Morgan Hoffman (the same week his Grandmother died), Matt Jones, Ben Martin, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Louis Oosthuizen amongst many more. Jason Day is coming right into form as well with Augusta around the corner and we all know how well he plays there! It’s going to be an interesting few weeks before they all drive up Magnolia Lane in April. Last words must be to Matt Every though, a wonderful defence of his Arnold Palmer Invitational title!