Strong Asian presence at finish as Scheffler wins Arnold Palmer Invitational

World number one Scottie Scheffler of the US cruised to a dominant five-stroke victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard on Sunday ahead of his Players Championship title defence even as Korea’s Byeong Hun An and Indian-American Sahith Theegala brought in top-10 finishes at Bay Hill in Orlando, Florida.

Theegala produced a fine 4-under 68 despite two late bogeys to take a share of sixth place, his third top-six finish in seven 2024 starts while An made up for a disappointing show by Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama to ensure an Asian presence on the leaderboard with a closing 68 and tied eighth place 11 strokes behind the winner.

Theegala, who started Sunday in shared 25th place birdied three times between the fifth and the eighth holes. Two more after the turn were however nullified by as many dropped shots though one further birdie helped him to a 5 under total for the week at the $20 million Signature Event. At the top Scheffler was comfortably ahead of the rest on 15 under par 273.

With his final round of 76, Matsuyama, had who started the final round just two off the lead, finished tied 12th, with Korea’s Sungjae Im taking a share of 18th place with a 74, the PGA Tour said. It was An’s second top-10 at the event which is held in honour of 62-time PGA. 

Tour champion Arnold Palmer and the 32-year-old can now look forward to the Players at The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass from Thursday. “I think I'm feeling good right now, and if I make fewer mistakes, I think I can do well next week,” said An, who was fourth at the Sentry and lost in a playoff at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January.

Now based in Orlando and some 30 minutes from Bay Hill, An did leave the tournament with a tinge of disappointment where he had a third round 76 on Saturday. 

“It's one of my favourite courses. I was looking forward to this week because I think the golf course suits me well, but I was disappointed with my performance yesterday. I hope I can come back next year and do well,” said An.

“I don't think I did anything particularly well today compared to yesterday, but I think I birdied the holes I should have birdied and hit some good shots to get to 4 under.”

Scheffler had the day’s lowest round with a bogey-free 66 to secure his seventh victory. It was his first title in nearly a year following his last success at the 2023 Players and his margin of victory was the largest since eight-time winner Tiger Woods won by five in 2012. It was also Scheffler’s second title in three years at Bay Hill.

“It's really special. 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 read sweater again,” said the 27-year-old,.

“Like some of you all had mentioned, it had been a while since I won. I did win in the Bahamas, but as far as a PGA Tour event, it had been almost a year, and so there had been a lot of chatter about my game and the state of where it was at, and so it was nice to kind of come in here with a good mental attitude and to perform well under pressure and I think today's round was really special for me going forward.”

Reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark was second with a 70 while co-overnight leader Shane Lowry settled for third place with a 72.

For Clark (-10) it was a second career runner-up placing and the first since losing in a playoff at the 2020 Butterfield Bermuda Championship while Lowry recorded back-to-back top-five finishes for the first time since the Masters Tournament and RBC Heritage in 2022 at both of which he was tied for third.