ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

Every takes time, repeats at Bay Hill

Matt Every celebrates after sinking a putt for birdie to take the lead and win the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Reinhold Matay)
Matt Every celebrates after sinking a putt for birdie to take the lead and win the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, March 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Reinhold Matay)

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 -- the second time the final group was out of position -- and closed with a 70 to extend a peculiar streak on the PGA Tour. It was the ninth consecutive tournament in which a 54-hole leader failed to win, and the Swede let this one get away.

He regained the lead with birdies on the 11th and 12th holes as Morgan Hoffmann began to fade, and Stenson had a one-shot lead until a three-putt bogey from 45 feet on No. 15 and a three-putt par from 40 feet on the fringe at the par-5 16th.

"Really, problems kind of started on 15," Stenson said. "We got on the clock again, which when you're coming down the stretch you want to be able to have five extra seconds."

He said he rushed his first putts on the 15th and 16th, and the three-putts were "really what cost me the tournament."

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.

Rory McIlroy, in his final tournament before he goes for his third consecutive major and the career Grand Slam at the Masters, closed with a 70 and tied for 11th. The world's No. 1 player had only one round in the 60s in his three events on the Florida swing.

"The main goal was to come here and try to win," said McIlroy, who played Bay Hill for the first time. "Couldn't do that. At least I got a couple of things out of this week, which is good."

Zach Johnson holed a 5-iron from 207 yards on the par-5 16th for the second albatross in two days, after no one had made a 2 on a par 5 since Bay Hill began in 1979.

David Lingmerth (Arkansas Razorbacks) shot a 3-under 69 Sunday and finished in a tie for 13th place at 10 under. He won $118,125 for the tournament.

Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) had a 4-under 68, finished in a tie for 35th at 6 under and won $29,098.

LPGA

Kim holds off Lewis

PHOENIX -- Hyo Joo Kim birdied five of the last eight holes to outlast Stacy Lewis on Sunday at Desert Ridge in the JTBC Founders Cup.

The 19-year-old Kim closed with a 5-under 67, holing a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th to beat Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) 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.

CHAMPIONS

Dawson closes strong

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Marco Dawson won the Tucson Conquistadores Classic on Sunday 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, 51, shot a 3-under 69 to finish at 13-under 203 in the first-year event at Tucson National, the longtime home of the PGA Tour's defunct Tucson Open.

Dawson won in his 21st start on the 50-and-over tour. He's winless in 412 PGA Tour starts and has one victory in 161 events on the Web.com Tour.

Dawson bogeyed the par-4 15th to fall into a tie with Bart Bryant at 12 under. On the 16th, Dawson's birdie putt barely tumbled in, and Bryant made a bogey after driving into a bunker.

Bryant had a 70 to finish second for the second consecutive event. He lost a playoff to Lee Janzen last month in Naples, Fla.

WEB.COM

South African wins by two

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Dawie van der Walt won the Chile Classic on Sunday for his first Web.com Tour title, closing with a birdie for a 6-under 65 and a two-stroke victory.

The South African finished at 21-under 263 at Mapocho and earned $108,000. He won two European Tour events in South Africa in 2013.

Erik Barnes was second after a 66. He birdied the final three holes.

Third-round leader Craig Barlow was another stroke back along with Wes Roach. Barlow had a hole a hole-in-one on No. 8, but bogeyed Nos. 15 and 16 in a 69. Roach shot 68.

Three players with Arkansas connections all finished in a tie for 16th place. Tag Ridings and Andrew Ladnry, both former Arkansas Razorbacks, and Zack Fischer of Little Rock all finished 13 under and each won $8,145.

Former Razorback Sebastian Cappelen finished in a tie for 48th at 8 under and won $1,730.

Sports on 03/23/2015

Upcoming Events