ORLANDO, Fla. — Matt Every is finally a winner on the PGA Tour, and he’s still not sure how it happened. ADVERTISING ORLANDO, Fla. — Matt Every is finally a winner on the PGA Tour, and he’s still not sure
ORLANDO, Fla. — Matt Every is finally a winner on the PGA Tour, and he’s still not sure how it happened.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Matt Every is finally a winner on the PGA Tour, and he’s still not sure how it happened.
He was nine shots behind Masters champion Adam Scott going into the weekend at Bay Hill. He was still four back of the Australian he referred to as a “stud” going into the final round Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Every figured even par over the last three holes would do the trick. He made two bogeys.
Even after a hearty handshake from the tournament host and a shiny trophy an arm’s length away from, Every summed up this wild day with just the right words.
“I … I … I can’t believe I won,” he said. “I just … I really can’t.”
The tee shot that he feared might be out-of-bounds on No. 9 somehow bounced along a cart path and led to an unlikely birdie. He surged to a three-shot lead when Scott’s touch with the putter vanished. Even with two bogeys on the last three holes — he missed a 4-foot par putt on the 18th — Every still closed with a 2-under 70.
The last bogey made him sweat out the finish. Keegan Bradley, who birdied the 16th and 17th holes, had a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th that would have forced a playoff. It was similar to the putt Tiger Woods has made so often to win at Bay Hill. Bradley’s putt stayed left of the hole, and he finished one shot behind.
Every finished at 13-under 275, one shot ahead of Bradley, who needed two late birdies for a 72. Scott was third.
In his 92nd start as a pro on the PGA Tour, Every finally won at just the right time and just the right place.
The 30-year-old who grew up 90 minutes away in Daytona Beach used to come to Bay Hill as a kid to watch the tournament. And he beat the Masters champion to earn his own spot in the Masters next month.
Webb rallies to win
PHOENIX — Karrie Webb flew up the leaderboard with a course-record 9-under 63, then waited about 90 minutes to see if anyone could catch her in the JTBC Founders Cup.
No one could, giving the 39-year-old Australian her second victory of the season and second in four years at Desert Ridge’s Wildfire Golf Club.
For the second time in the event, Webb overcame a six-stroke deficit in the final round. In 2011 in the inaugural tournament, she shot a 66 for a one-stroke victory.
The Hall of Famer had 10 birdies and a bogey, playing the back nine in 6-under 30. She birdied five of the last six holes, finishing with a 20-footer on the par-4 18th.
Webb won the Women’s Australian Open for the record fifth time last month and has 41 LPGA Tour victories.
Third-round leader Lydia Ko parred the final three holes to finish a stroke back along with 2013 winner Stacy Lewis, Azahara Munoz, Amy Yang and Mirim Lee.
The 16-year-old Ko finished with a 70. She had a three-stroke lead after birdieing Nos. 2-5, slipped back with bogeys on Nos. 6, 9 and 11 and pulled within one with a birdie on the par-5 15th.
Munoz and Yang, playing together in the third-to-last group, missed long birdie putts on 18 and each shot 67. Lee shot 69 in the next group, also missing a long birdie try.
That left Ko — and her 25-foot try on the last hole was just short and right.
Lewis birdied the final two holes for a 66.
