2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard
2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard.
The details
Venue: Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Bay Hill, Florida
Date: March 7-10, 2019
Par: 72
Yardage: 7,419 yards
Course summary: Bay Hill is a course that suits the bigger hitters on the tour due to Arnold Palmer’s changes to the course in 2009. The fairways have been made wider and there have been a number of changes to the bunkering which has increased the number of potential flag positions. Water hazards come into play on nine of the holes and it is the ultimate risk-and-reward course.
Purse: $9.1m
Defending champion: Rory McIlroy
2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational leaderboard
2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational report: What happened at Bay Hill?
Francesco Molinari produced a wonderful final round charge to beat off the likes of Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
With a spectacular 64, Molinari posted a clubhouse lead of 12-under-par and left it to the remainder of the field to try and catch him. In the end, they weren’t even close.
Momentum was with the Italian throughout the final day and he was seriously in with a shout after brilliantly chipping in at the 8th.
One. Shot. Back.
Here comes @F_Molinari. ?? #LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/sBo1WxxKYd
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 10, 2019
From there, the rest of his round followed suit in swashbuckling Arnold Palmer fashion.
A birdie at the 12th saw him move into a tie for second, as those around him failed to make any meaningful progress.
Clinical.@F_Molinari moves into a tie for 2nd.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/uzkm7tF7Wv
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 10, 2019
But it was the closing putt that was the highlight of the round for The Open champion, a 44-footer for birdie which led to a fist-pump that emulated his Carnoustie celebration.
72nd hole … from 44 feet.@F_MOLINARI IS CLUTCH!
He takes the lead by TWO!#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/cCRqqtcPAq
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 10, 2019
Arnie would have been proud.
Molinari’s challengers fell away one by one – Rory perhaps being the most disappointing, but we’ll get onto that…
Fitzpatrick just couldn’t get anything going and didn’t really see a putt fall all day.
His fellow countryman, Matt Wallace, threatened to finish strongly as he eagled the 16th. But back-to-back bogeys followed and he fell into a tie for 6th.
You may have noticed that, strangely, no Americans have featured in this round-up – and there is an astonishing reason behind that.
For the first time since the 2010 Open at St Andrews, no one Stateside finished inside the top 5.
Positive times for European golf, for sure.
Click here to read Joe Hughes’ full round up of the 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
European Tour schedule 2018-19
PGA Tour schedule 2018-19
Click here to see all the results from the 2019 PGA Tour season
