Matt Every repeats at Bay Hill

Matt Every overcame a four shot deficit on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, topping Henrik Stenson to win at Bay Hill for the second consecutive year.

What Happened

Stenson entered the final day with a two shot edge over Morgan Hoffmann at Bay Hill, but it was pretty clear from the start that it was going to be a back and forth round. Other players made small runs, but it quickly became a race between Stenson, Hoffmann and Every, with each guy having at least a share of the lead down the stretch. Hoffmann’s day was derailed with a back nine 39 and it actually pushed him behind Matt Jones at the conclusion of play. Stenson’s ball striking was solid like it usually is, but the putter that gave him the lead abandoned him on Sunday as Justin Ray pointed out on Twitter after the round.

After a bogey on the par-4 15th, Stenson couldn’t take advantage of the par-5 16th, coming away with only a par while Every played two groups ahead on the 18th. With the two men tied, Every sent his approach to the back of the green and had a 20 footer to go one ahead of Stenson.

Stenson couldn’t make a birdie on either of his final two holes, giving Every the one shot win and his second career victory on the PGA Tour.

Final Leaderboard

• 1. Matt Every -19
• 2. Henrik Stenson -18
• 3. Matt Jones -17
• 4. Morgan Hoffmann -15
• 5. Ben Martin -14

What The Win Means For Every

Whenever you win on the PGA Tour, it’s a big deal but for Every, coming back to Bay Hill and taking the title from Stenson on the final day is massive when you look at what he’s done since winning last year. In the 24 events he’s played since the win in 2014, Every’s results break down like this:

• Wins: Zero
• Top-10’s: One (2014 St. Jude)
• Top-25’s: Zero, outside of the 2014 St. Jude
• Made Cuts: 13/24
• One WD and one DQ.

It hasn’t been the easiest of times for Every since that win, which is something he admitted to after the round.

Every went to work with Sean Foley, who apparently made some subtle changes a few weeks ago, and it’s obviously paid off in a huge way. No one’s going to confuse Every for Tiger or Rory, or even someone like Billy Horschel, but there’s a refreshing attitude about him that in my opinion, is good for the game. He doesn’t exactly have the cleanest past, but the way that he talks about himself with no filter and honesty is something we don’t see enough of in sports in 2015, and especially in golf. The reaction to his win on Twitter from many of the tour pros should tell you that he’s incredibly popular with the other players too, and while it would be nice to see him win at a different venue, if you’re going to have tremendous success at one place, you could do a whole lot worse than Bay Hill.

The particulars:

• Every earns $1,134,000 for the victory.
• Gains entry into the Masters.
• Jumps from 158th to 22nd in the FedEx Cup.
• Moves from 96th to 40th in the Official World Golf Rankings.
• Joins Jerry Heard, Gary Koch, Tom Kite, Loren Roberts, Ernie Els and Tiger Woods as the only multiple time winners at the event.

Best Moments

Shots

Daniel Berger’s double eagle:

#TourSauce

That wasn’t the only time Rory did that either…

 

Videos

Tweets

Images

(When a TOUR player gives you a ball and you want to make sure everyone knows it… ) http://t.co/BoJNun024r—
PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 22, 2015

GIF of the Week

Parting Shots

• Notables to miss the cut: Paul Casey, J.B. Holmes, Graeme McDowell, Graham DeLaet, Retief Goosen, Angel Cabrera and Robert Streb.
• Injury report:
  • Brooks Koepka withdrew after eleven holes in the final round after apparently dislocating a rib while on the range. With him qualifying for Augusta for the first time, obviously it makes sense for him to try and be healthy. Also:

• Early in the fourth round, Keegan Bradley was penalized two shots for “improving his lie” by sweeping sand off of the fringe which was in the way of his ball just off the green. You’re not going to find a bigger proponent of simplifying the Rules of Golf than myself, and all credit to Bradley for asking for an official after the hole was complete, but I would think that these guys or their caddies should have a better grasp of the rules than that.
• On Stenson: The three putts down the stretch killed him, but his ball striking was pure all week. Apparently he wasn’t thrilled that his group was put on the clock on Sunday, but hey, when you’re over a full hole behind, you should expect to get warned if not penalized. The slow play issue isn’t going away any time soon but I have to think that the players would play a little quicker if the players felt like they were going to actually be disciplined.
• On Rory: You know you’re in a pretty good place when you can finish tied for 11th in a big event and never really feel like you even played that well. I’m slightly concerned about his chances going into the Masters just because he’s said that he’s still fighting a right to left miss, which is pretty much the worst thing you can take to Augusta aside from chipping yips.
• Apparently Arnold is handling a new course out at Castle Stuart for his first design in Scotland. John Huggan has some interesting thoughts on that development in the Scotsman.
• Lastly, your ridiculous story of the day is right here.

Next Week

Steven Bowditch defends at the Valero in a tournament that I can barely remember from last year, probably because TPC San Antonio is one of the worst courses on tour. The field is actually pretty good though, with Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell and Jordan Spieth headlining. it’s also the last chance for players outside of the top-50 in the OWGR to qualify for the Masters, which is of particular importance to players like Harris English, Marc Warren, Matt Jones, Francesco Molinari and Graham DeLaet.