ORLANDO, Fla. — Golfer Scottie Scheffler learned how to win in 2022.
In 2023, he’s shown he can repeat.
Scheffler hopes to do it again and again and again during the coming weeks, beginning with Sunday’s final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He closed with three birdies and five during his final seven holes to card a 4-under 68 and sit one shot out of the lead held by 36-hole leader Kurt Kitayama.
Scheffler is tied with Viktor Hovland a shot back on crowded leaderboard featuring big-name players and big-time winners.
“So many talented players out there,” Scheffler said. “It should be a really fun battle.”
Scheffler’s rare closing ability leaves him well positioned on what should be a chaotic final round.
The 26-year-old defended his Phoenix Open title Feb. 12 and aims to go 2 for 2 Sunday at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Two more chances soon await, culminating April 6-9 with the Masters — where the gritty free-swinging Texan joined the game’s elite.
All Scheffler’s focus is on the next 18 holes on a golf course where one slip-up can snowball and course conditions teeter on the edge.
“The minute you try and force around this golf course, you’re running into a spot where you’re going to make another bogey and things are going to spiral out of control from there,” he said.
Record-setting heat and winds gusting above 20 mph prevented anyone from separating from the pack. Moving day instead turned into a logjam.
Kitayama began the day 9-under with a 2-shot lead but made 7 on the par-5 4th hole after hitting his drive into the homes bordering the fairway. The 30-year-old seeking his first PGA Tour win had to fight to finish even-par.
A birdie putt outside 15 feet on the 18th hole put him in Sunday’s final pairing with Hovland.
“Just proud of the way I fought,” Kitayama said.
Low scores were available to those on their games.
No one was dialed in like Hovland. The 25-year-old Norwegian started seven shots behind Kitayama but carded a brilliant bogey-free 66 to ascend 19 spots up the leaderboard.
Hovland took a step toward exorcising his demons on the weekends at Bay Hill. He was the 36-hole leader in 2021 but went 77-78 on the weekend. Paired in the final pairing with Scheffler last year, Hovland followed a 75 with a 74 to finish a shot back.
“It was just really, really solid,” Hovland said after Saturday’s round. “I wasn’t really close to making a bogey the whole day.”
Pierceson Coody, a 23-year-old Korn Ferry Tour star and national champion at Texas, set the early tone for the day with a 66 in the day’s fifth of 36 pairings. The round featured even birdies and just one bogey, highlighting Coody’s comfort level he developed playing in the winds of the Lone Star State.
“I won my fair share of college events and amateur events in some really tough conditions,” he said.
The grandson of 1971 Masters winner Charles Coody, a Palmer contemporary, now faces a potentially career-changing Sunday after earning a spot on a sponsor’s exemption.
“It’s a massive opportunity for him,” Tour star Rory McIlroy said.
Tyrrell Hatton, the 2020 API winner, also matched the day’s low round with a bogey-free score and led the field in strokes gained putting.
“You always got to putt well here,” the 31-year-old Englishman said. “That’s just a massive thing. The greens get pretty brutal.”
Given Bay Hill’s ability to bare its fangs, opportunities abound for many players.
In 2022, five different players held the lead, two golfers broke 70 and six carded scores in the 80s.
Yet those closest to the lead have ultimately prevailed in recent years.
Scheffler trailed by two shots after 54 holes last year, 2021 winner Bryson DeChambeau by 1 and Hatton held his 54-hole lead. Francesco Molinari, the 2019 winner, was five back and carded a Sunday 64.
Nine players are within four shots of Kitayama, including American stars and multiple major winners Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. Each sits at 5-under.
McIlroy, who won in 2018, is three back after bogey-free 68.
“Any time you can go bogey-free on the weekend at Bay Hill you’re doing something right,” he said.
Maybe no golfer has done more right than Scheffler lately.
Winless on Tour entering last season, Scheffler seeks his sixth win in 26 starts and a fifth stint as world No. 1. Top-ranked Jon Rahm floundered to his second straight 76 and will lose the top spot if Scheffler wins.
Three players in the top 5 are former API winners. All would cherish winning Palmer’s prestigious event. A $3.6 million payday is at stake.
More favorable scoring conditions are forecast, but Hovland is skeptical given his past two Sundays at Bay Hill.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said.
