Bay Hill Club & Lodge | Orlando, Fla. | March 4-10, 2024
ORLANDO, Fla. (March 10, 2024) – When Scottie Scheffler won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in 2022, it was just his second career PGA TOUR victory. In the two years since then, the 27-year-old Texan has won the Masters, the PLAYERS Championship and two other PGA TOUR events, ascended to the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking and spent a total of 77 weeks in that position.
Scheffler added yet another accolade to his remarkable resume Sunday, shooting a stunning 6-under par final-round 66 and lapping the field to secure his second Arnold Palmer Invitational victory and become just the eighth player to win the tournament more than once. He moved to the top spot in the FedExCup standings and took home a $4 million winner’s check in the PGA TOUR’s fourth Signature Event of the season.
Wyndham Clark (10-under-par 278) finished second, Shane Lowry (279) was third, and Will Zalatoris and Russell Henley (281) tied for fourth.
“It’s really special,” Scheffler said. “Mr. Palmer meant a lot to me, meant a lot to us as professional golfers and the game of golf, and so it’s very special to be able to sit here and wear his red sweater again. I’m very proud to be the champion of his tournament.”
Scheffler teed off in the final round of the 59th Arnold Palmer Invitational tied with Lowry, but didn’t waste any time separating himself from the 2019 Open Championship winner. His birdie on the first hole combined with Lowry’s consecutive bogeys to start the round opened the door for the world No. 1 to step on the gas. He held a three-stroke lead over Clark, the defending U.S. Open champion, at the turn.
After hitting his approach shots inside of eight feet on both the 10th and 11th holes and converting the birdie putt on each occasion, it was time to fit him for the red cardigan. He drained a 34-foot, 8-inch birdie putt on 15 and followed with a short birdie putt on 16 to slam the door.
Seemingly the only weakness in Scheffler’s game of late has been on the greens – he entered the week 144th on the PGA TOUR in strokes gained putting – but he steadily improved with the flat stick throughout the week. He had 31 putts Thursday and just 24 Sunday, ranking first in the field in strokes gained putting (3.892 strokes) for the final round. He played his final 25 holes without a bogey.
“I think it has a lot to do with keeping the mind as quiet as possible,” Scheffler explained. “Part of the problem is just trying too hard. It’s frustrating to not have the best out of myself, just because I know that I can putt really well. It’s not like I’ve been a bad putter my whole career. I’ve just gone through a stretch where it’s been tough.
“I think this week I did a really good job of not letting the misses get to me. (Caddie) Teddy (Scott) did a really good job of keeping me in a good head space. We stayed positive out there, and I hit a lot of good putts this week.”
Added Clark: “It would be borderline unfair if he starts putting really good. I never want to wish ill on anybody, but if he starts putting positive each week it’s going to be really hard to beat. He’s kind of the barometer right now.”
Shooting 66 in the final round was remarkable enough for Scheffler, but the fact that the day’s scoring average was 73 on firm and fast greens made that figure stand out even more.
“There’s probably only a couple of players in the world that can live with him playing like that – not sure I’m one of them,” Lowry quipped. “He obviously played really well, but when he hit the bad shots he got them up and down, and that was key. He holed the right putts at the right time.”
Scheffler’s seven career victories have all come since the start of the 2022 calendar year, giving him more than any other PGA TOUR player during that timeframe. His winning score of 15-under-par 273 was the lowest since Rory McIlroy shot 18-under in 2018.
