Jason Day was hitting out of the sand to a green sloping toward a water hazard. If he got up and down for par, Day would win the Arnold Palmer Invitational by one stroke.
The shot was not easy, and the circumstances made it harder. The crowd ringing the 18th green at Bay Hill Club and Lodge included the tournament host, Palmer, who was seated in a cart a few yards away with an unimpeded view of Day’s sandy soliloquy.
Day blasted out, and the ball stopped 4 feet from the pin. Palmer nodded in approval, and everyone else, taking their cue from the king, roared.
Photo: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY
Day said he had felt more uncomfortable over the putt than the bunker shot, but he holed it with authority for a closing two-under-par 70 and a 72-hole total of 17-under 271.
With the victory, Day, a 28-year-old from Australia, became the first wire-to-wire leader of this tournament since Fred Couples in 1992.
Kevin Chappell, who was looking for his first PGA Tour victory in his 150th start, led for stretches of the final round before settling for second with a 69 and a 16-under total.
“I didn’t feel comfortable over any shot today,” Day said.
His playing competitor, Troy Merritt, started the day two strokes back and appeared to have shot himself out of contention when he made a double bogey at No. 9 to fall four behind. However, Merritt reeled off five consecutive birdies and was in the thick of the battle until his second shot at 18 found the water hazard. He settled for a tie for third at 14-under with Henrik Stenson after both closed with 71s.
As Day made his way to the scoring area, he stopped to shake 86-year-old Palmer’s hand. He said he thanked Palmer for what he had done for the game. The trophy ceremony followed, but those few moments with Palmer were Day’s best compensation.
Day said that for years he had watched his fellow competitors, including Tiger Woods, an eight-time champion who has become a mentor, have their royal audiences with Palmer.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Day said, adding: “Just very pleased to be able to shake his hand.”
It was fitting that Day sealed the win, his eighth on the PGA Tour, by scrambling for a par, because he had spent the whole day back on his heels.
He bogeyed three of the first six holes, saying: “I didn’t know where any of my iron shots were going.”
He had his five-iron dialed in on the 17th, where his tee shot landed 12 feet from the pin, and he made the birdie putt for what proved to be his margin of victory.
“I was thinking: ‘Don’t panic, be patient with yourself, and when you get that opening like I did on 17, make sure you take it,’” Day said.
Finishing more than an hour before Day started was the man he is to supplant at No. 2, Rory McIlroy, who matched his best score of this wraparound season with a 65. In four previous fourth rounds, including the Northern Trust Open and the World Golf Championships event outside Miami, McIlroy’s average score was 71.
“If I can just limit the mistakes somewhat, I felt like I was on the right road to doing that at Doral,” said McIlroy, who closed with a 74 there.
He said he had compounded his errors by allowing a bad shot to derail him mentally or by trying to recover with a highlight-reel shot.
“Trying to make up for the bad shot I just hit instead of maybe giving myself that 12 to 15-foot putt for par,” he said.
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