Arnold Palmer Invitational: Scottie Scheffler has Oscar worthy win

Scottie Scheffler proved why he’s one of the best participant on the earth on the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday.

He gained greater than 4 strokes on the greens, counting on his new mallet putter to separate himself from the sphere. Scheffler started the day tied with Shane Lowry at 9-under, however gained by 5 photographs after capturing a 6-under 66.

The 2022 Masters champion acquired off to a roaring begin, birdieing the primary gap proper out of the gate. In the meantime, Lowry, who performed alongside Scheffler within the closing group, made a sloppy bogey, shortly giving the Texan a two-shot benefit.

Wyndham Clark additionally started his closing spherical with a gap birdie, which briefly tied the lead, however he gave that shot again on the robust par-3 2nd, dropping again to 8-under and two behind Scheffler.

That was all the assistance Scheffler wanted as he paraded round Bay Hill with out dropping a shot. He deserved an Oscar Award for his efficiency Sunday, as he was the one participant throughout Sunday’s closing spherical to go bogey-free.

Picture by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Photographs

Scheffler’s second birdie of the day got here on the par-5 sixth, which wraps round one in every of Bay Hill’s large lakes. Tommy Fleetwood made information on this gap earlier within the week, going full ‘Tin Cup’ by making a ten on the outlet.

Alas, Scheffler made it by means of his entrance 9 unscathed, carding a 2-under 34 to leap to 11-under for the championship. Each different participant who started their closing rounds within the high 10 didn’t shoot under-par on the opening 9.

The typical rating for these gamers was a 2-over 38.

And but, Scheffler marched on.

On the par-4 tenth, Scheffler made his third birdie, sticking his strategy from 90 yards out to eight toes away. He calmly made the putt to maneuver to 12-under.

On the following gap, the difficult par-4 eleventh, Scheffler discovered his seventh fairway of the spherical, which gave him one other inexperienced mild from 109 yards. He caught his second shot to inside 10 toes once more, resulting in his fourth birdie of the ultimate spherical.

By that time, Scheffler sat at 13-under and held a five-shot lead.

Picture by Brian Spurlock/Getty Photographs

However he was not completed.

Three holes later, on the difficult par-4 fifteenth, Scheffler drained a 34-footer for birdie, his fifth of the day. He gained extra strokes together with his putter than another participant on Sunday, a scary sight for the remainder of the sphere.

Contemplating how effectively Scheffler has performed tee-to-green, all he wanted was a midway respectable week with the putter to have an opportunity at victory.

He had that after which some this week at Bay Hill, as his new mallet putter carried him to victory. For the week, Scheffler gained greater than 16 photographs complete, rating first. However he additionally ranked fourth in strokes gained placing, choosing up near 4.5 photographs on the greens.

For the season, Scheffler ranks 144th in strokes gained placing.

However these struggles didn’t present up at Bay Hill.

As an alternative, Scheffler dominated Arnie’s Place. He picked up yet another birdie on the par-5 sixteenth and completed with two pars to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational for a second time.

“To be 6-under as we speak going out with the lead and simply kind of lapping the sphere is tremendous spectacular, however all of us knew that he had this in him,” Rory McIlroy mentioned of Scheffler’s closing spherical.

“His ball putting is actually on one other stage in comparison with everybody else proper now. We knew if he began to gap putts, then this kind of stuff would occur.”

His victory this week marks his first win for the reason that 2023 PLAYERS Championship almost one 12 months in the past.

Ought to his putter proceed to cooperate subsequent week at TPC Sawgrass, Scheffler may simply go back-to-back. He has discovered one thing together with his putter, and that ought to terrify the remainder of the game.

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. You should definitely try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You may observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as effectively.