ORLANDO, Fla. — Matt Every had a tongue-in-cheek response when he heard Tiger Woods was not ready to play the Arnold Palmer Invitational this year. He said he told Woods, “Don’t worry, man, I’ll hold it down for you until you get back.”
He did that and more.
Every was dressed in a blue shirt, not red, but the moment sure looked familiar on the 18th green Sunday at Bay Hill. He made an 18-foot birdie putt for a 6-under 66, gave an abbreviated fist pump and held onto the trophy for one more year with a one-shot victory over Henrik Stenson.
“You watch tournaments on TV and guys make a 20-footer on the last and everybody goes nuts,” Every said. “It’s cool to close one out like that.”
Every rallied from a four-shot deficit last year for his first career victory, helped in part by Adam Scott’s collapse in the final round.
This one was even sweeter.
Every came from three shots behind Sunday by matching the low score of the final round, and he was never seriously close to bogey on the back nine on his way to another handshake with Palmer and another trip to the Masters.
Needing a birdie to force a playoff, Stenson was wide left on a 20-foot putt at the 18th.
“It feels great,” Every said about his return to Augusta National. “When Henrik missed that putt, that was the No. 1 thing on my mind: `You’re already in. Miss it – I need to get in.”‘
Stenson was angry with being put on the clock on the 15th hole and closed with a 70 to extend a peculiar streak on the PGA Tour. It was the ninth straight tournament in which a 54-hole leader failed to win.
Every finished at 19-under 269 and became the first player since Payne Stewart in 1987 to win at Bay Hill with all four rounds in the 60s.
LPGA: Hyo Joo Kim birdied five of the last eight holes to outlast Stacy Lewis in the JTBC Founders Cup at Phoenix.
Kim, 19, closed with a 5-under 67, holing a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th to beat Lewis by three strokes for her second LPGA Tour title.
Lewis shot a 68. She pulled within a stroke with a birdie on the par-4 16th, but three-putted for bogey on 18.
Kim finished at 21-under 267 at Wildfire Golf Club.
Kim is the fifth South Korean winner in the first six events this year – and the other winner, top-ranked Lydia Ko, was born in South Korea.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Marco Dawson won the Tucson Conquistadores Classic for his first Champions Tour’s title, breaking a tie with a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 16th hole and closing with two pars for a two-stroke victory.
Dawson shot a 3-under 69 to finish at 13-under 203.
Bart Bryant had a 70 to finish second for the second straight event. He lost a playoff to Lee Janzen last month in Naples, Florida.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Organizers canceled the Madeira Islands Open because of continuing bad weather in Santo Antonio da Serra, Portugal.
Heavy winds and rain sweeping the Portuguese island for three days, leaving the Clube de Golf Santo da Serra flooded. The field was only able to complete the first round on Saturday.
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