ORLANDO, Fla. – After missing a short birdie attempt on the 16th green Sunday, Henrik Stenson raised his putter and seemed poised to break it over the top of his head. It’s easy to see, then, where things went wrong for the big Swede during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Stenson started the final round with a one-shot lead, and he appeared ready to turn a number of close calls at Bay Hill into a victory after rolling in birdies on two of his first four holes. But he made just one more birdie the rest of the way and could only watch as Rory McIlroy raced past him to claim victory.
“I got the pace wrong on a couple of putts. Whipped it by on 15 and I left it short on 16,” Stenson said. “They’re very slick and undulated, and when you get the grain slightly wrong, you’re going to look a bit of a fool at times. It’s very shiny around the hole and you’ve got to get the pace right, and I was off on a couple of them.”
Full-field scores from the Arnold Palmer Invitational
Arnold Palmer Invitational: Articles, photos and videos
Stenson bogeyed his final hole to finish his second straight round of 1-under 71, this time needing 30 putts. At 13 under, he ended up alone in fourth place, four shots behind McIlroy – the fourth time since 2014 that he has finished T-5 or better in this tournament that he has yet to win.
Despite yet another close call in his hometown event, Stenson opted to view things with a positive slant following a missed cut at the Valspar Championship and with a week off before his final start of Masters prep at the Houston Open.
“I haven’t felt comfortable with my swing and my long shots for quite some time, and it’s starting to come along in the right direction for sure,” Stenson said. “I hit a lot of good shots out there this week, even though maybe the confidence is not as high as some of the shots were. So we’ll keep on working on that. It’s a good time of the year to start playing well.”
Source: Internet
