Matt applies gloss finish to retain the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Post by Sports Writer Derek Clements 

MATT  EVERY successfully defended the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, but he had more than a little bit of help from Henrik Stenson, of Sweden.

Stenson, who has set winning a major as his target for 2015, now heads for Augusta and The Masters but he will know that if he putts as he did at Arnie's event then he will have no chance of landing that elusive major on that particular golf course. Only those who can put the ball in the right spots on the greens and avoid three-putting have a chance of winning the Green Jacket. Normally, you would put Stenson near the top of that category but he threw away his victory chance at Bay Hill by three-putting the 15th and 16th greens when he was leading the tournament.

Stenson said he felt rushed over those crucial putts after he and playing partner Morgan Hoffman were put on the clock on the 15th hole.

“I didn't really have much time to look at my putt and rushed that one a little bit, the first one and three-putted,” the Swede said. “Morgan got a bad time on his second shot on the 16th and again I kind of rushed my putting there and three-putted that one. That's really what cost me the tournament. Those two three-putts on 15 and 16.

Highlights from the final days play at the Arnold Palmer invitational

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWDoE4FWjtY

“We might have been a couple minutes out for sure but then again it's normally not the quickest when you're playing in the last group. More people, more movement. You have to back off every now and then for some mobile phones and stuff like that."

The group was initially timed on the sixth hole and then slowed further by a ruling on the ninth, where Hoffmann’s approach missed the green and he was given a drop from a temporary fence. Stenson had started the day with a two-shot lead but Hoffman had caught him the by the fifth.

Every's victory came as a surprise to everybody other than the player. “It's a weird game,” Every said. “Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards and I feel like that's what I did.”

At the end of last season, he was frustrated with his form after missing six cuts his final 13 starts of the year. He started working with Sean Foley, who quickly worked out that the player's alignment was all over the place.

In layman’s terms, Every was lining his eyes up to hit a draw but everything else was set up for a fade, which is the shot he likes to play. Foley adjusted his eye line over the ball. “From a sensory standpoint, he was crossing himself up,” Foley said “I’ve worked with a lot of players who could never make that change because it would look too scary to them.”

Every took the changes on board and said that he knew a good week was just around the corner. Nobody played better than him in the final round. His 66 was tied for the lowest round of the day with Zach Johnson, who recorded an albatross at the 16th.

The champion dropped a shot at the first hole but had seven birdies, which included three in a four-hole stretch around the turn and a 17-feet birdie putt at the last. Needing a birdie on the 18th to force a playoff, Stenson’s 20-footer missed.

Rory McIlroy finished in a tie for 11th after a final round of 70. He admitted that his game wasn't quite where he wanted it to be but said he was confident it would be by the time he arrived at Augusta.