It's not how you start, more a case of how you finish. And Rory McIlroy – the first-round leader – was off and away home before this latest edition of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando, Florida, was decided after a thoroughly disappointing weekend, which saw him drift away from another red cardigan.
American Scottie Scheffler claimed a one-shot victory, profitting from overnight leaders Billy Horschel and Talor Gooch falling off the pace, both closing with costly rounds at Bay Hill. The 25-year-old Texan, who won last month’s WM Phoenix Open after a play-off, looked in trouble after two bogeys in the opening three holes to turn at one over. A crucial birdie at the par-five 12th put him back level and into contention as he took the clubhouse lead at five under.
Several players had been within three strokes of the lead down the back nine, including Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who needed a birdie on the final hole to pull Scheffler in, but missed from 18 feet as he finished two over for the day.
McIlroy had shot an opening-round 65 to jump into the lead before his golfing fallibility was exposed in subsequent rounds of 72-76-76 in finishing on 289 in tied-13th.
In the final round, there were a number of head-scratching moments. One came on the par-3 seventh, where he three-putted from six feet for a double-bogey five, and, then, on the 13th, McIlroy’s approach was headed right to a watery grave from the moment of impact and he actually did well to escape with a bogey.
In truth, there were far too many examples of waywardness in his final round on a course which firmed up and was also beset by a consistently strong wind as McIlroy struggled to gain any forward momentum.
Ultimately, a frustrated McIlroy saw his quest for the title extinguish long before he signed for a 76 to go with his third round 76, as he heads into this week’s The Players championship at Sawgrass knowing his game is close but also susceptible to costly errors.
“I feel punch drunk,” said McIlroy after his final round. “The weekend, it’s like crazy golf. You just don’t get rewarded for good shots. I’m hitting good shots. I’m swinging the club well. I’m chipping well. I’m putting well. But it can knock your confidence whenever the conditions are like this.
“I don’t mind golf courses being penal when you miss, but it’s not rewarding good shots. I think that’s where it starts to get across the line.”
For his part, Graeme McDowell hung tough – with the possibility of earning one of three exemptions into the 150th Open at St Andrews in July also up for grabs – until a disastrous double-bogey seven on the 16th, where he shanked a recovery shot out of a greenside bunker and moved outside the top-10.
McDowell, ranked 399th in the world and with six missed cuts from his last seven starts, signed for a closing 76 for 289 to join McIlroy in tied-13th place.
Tyrrell Hatton shot a 78 in the third round but bounced back with a 69 for 284 but bemoaned the quality of sand in the bunkers:
“I plugged in four bunkers this week. You can say they’re a hazard and you shouldn’t be hitting in them, but typically there’s not many courses we play throughout the year where it plugs as consistently as it has this week.
“I don’t know why that is. Even some of the shots I’ve hit in there have been coming in low and hot, and they’ve still plugged, whereas normally you’d expect them to, on those ones, they’d hit and probably release out a little bit.”
In the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore, world number one Jin Young Ko – playing in her first tournament of the year – shot a final-round 66 for 17-under-par 271 for a two strokes winning margin over Minjee Lee and In Gee Chun with Leona Maguire, 68 for 279, finishing in tied-13th.
On the DP World Tour, China's Ashun Wu overcame a four-strokes deficit heading into the final round to win by four, after a closing 65 for 16-under-par 268 which gave him a four shot winning margin over the trio of Hurly Long, Thriston Lawrence and Aaron Cockerill. Dubliner Niall Kearney, who shot a 69 for 279, finished as leading Irish player in tied 34th.
