Arnold Palmer Invitational: Scottie Scheffler with Oscar-worthy showing, crushes field

Scottie Scheffler proved why he’s the best player in the world at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday.

He stretched four more shots on the green and relied on his new mallet putter to distance himself from the field. Scheffler started the day in a nine-under tie with Shane Lowry, but shot a six-under 66 to win by five strokes.

The 2022 Masters champion got off to a strong start with a birdie on the first hole. Meanwhile, Lowry, who played alongside Scheffler in the final group, hit bogey and immediately gave the Texan a two-stroke advantage.

Windham Clark also started the final round with a birdie on the first and briefly took the lead, but he gave it back on the tough par-3 second and fell to 8 under and two behind Scheffler.

That was all the help Scheffler needed to parade Bay Hill without dropping a shot. He was the only player to finish Sunday’s final round without a bogey, and Sunday’s performance was Oscar-worthy.

Scheffler’s second birdie of the day came on the par-5 sixth hole, which surrounds one of Bay Hill’s giant lakes. Tommy Fleetwood made the news earlier in the week by hitting his 10 on this hole and playing the full ‘Tin Cup’.

Unfortunately, Scheffler made it through the front nine unscathed and shot a 2-under 34 to move to 11 under and win.All other players who started the final round within the top 10 Couldn’t shoot under par on the opening nine.

The average score for these players was 2 over and 38.

Still, Scheffler kept moving forward.

On the par-4 10th, Scheffler nailed his 90-yard approach to 8 feet for his third birdie. He calmly made the putt and moved to 12 under.

On the next hole, the difficult par-4 11th, Scheffler found the seventh fairway of the round and gave the go-ahead again from 109 yards. He brought his second shot within 10 feet again for his fourth birdie of the final round.

At that point, Scheffler was at 13 under and had a five-shot lead.

Photo by Brian Spurlock/Getty Images

But he wasn’t done yet.

Three holes later, on the difficult par-4 15th, Scheffler sunk 34 feet for birdie, his fifth of the day. He took more putter strokes than any other player on Sunday, a terrifying sight for the rest of the field.

Considering how well Scheffler played from tee to green, all he needed to have a chance at winning was a halfway decent week with the putter.

That continued this week, with a new mallet putter helping him win. Scheffler took over 16 total shots this week, ranking him first. However, he also ranked fifth in strokes gained in putting, with a 4.347 shot on the flat stick.

This season, Scheffler ranks 144th in strokes gained on the green. That was the only weakness in his game.

“If he really starts to putt better, that would be borderline unfair,” Clark said of Scheffler.

“I don’t want to speak ill of anyone, but if he starts having positive performances week in and week out, it’s going to be really hard to beat him. But that’s a good thing. It’s made me better in my ball striking and in every part of my game. He’ll push me to get better. He’s like a barometer right now and I have a lot of room to catch up and improve.”

Photo by Mike Ehrman/Getty Images

While others were complaining, Scheffler’s putting problems didn’t show up at Bay Hill. Instead, he took control of Ernie’s Place.

He made another birdie on the par-5 16th and finished with two pars to win his second Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Rory McIlroy said of Scheffler’s final round: “It’s very impressive to come out in the lead today at 6 under with one lap to go, but we all knew he had the talent.” Ta.

“Honestly, his ball striking is on another level compared to other players. I knew something like this was going to happen once he started holing his putts.”

His win this week is his first since the 2023 PLAYERS Championship nearly a year ago.

If his putter continues to cooperate at TPC Sawgrass next week, Scheffler could easily make it back to back. He discovered something with his putter. That should surprise the rest of the sports world.

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.