Matt Every Defends at the 2015 Arnold Palmer Invitational

In just his second win on tour, his other being last year's rendition of the tournament, Matt Every has won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill again, successfully defending the title from the likes of Henrik Stenson, Matt Jones, and Morgan Hoffman. He won with a final score of 19-under (-19) with 66 on today's round, good enough for a one shot lead over Stenson. This win gets Every into the Masters in a couple of weeks, as well as putting into the Top 40 for the World Golf Rankings.

The leaderboard was looking slightly different with just a few holes to play. Stenson, who was in the final group, was at 19-under until a bogey on the 15th. Every, on the other hand, was putting for birdie on the 18th hole. He holed a downhill 18-foot putt that was barely on the green, which ended up just being enough. Stenson needed a birdie on his last hole to force a playoff, but was unable to. This is a huge contrast to Every's win last year, where he bogeyed the 18th hole after missing a four foot putt and had to hope no one would catch up to him.

The Florida native is just the fourth winner of the AP Invitational since 2008. Since then, Tiger's won four times, Every twice, and Martin Laird and Ernie Els once. This tournament also marks the ninth tournament in a row in which the 54-hole leader has failed to win the tournament.

In other news, two players each made an albatross this week, Daniel Berger and Zack Johnson. Berger's came during yesterday's round, where he holed out on the 6th hole (par 5) to mark the first albatross in the history of the AP Invitational. Just a day later, Johnson would hole out from about 200-yards away on the 16th hole. Johnson was 8-under on his round at that point, but finished off with a 66. Incidentally, 1979 marks the last time an albatross was carded at Bay Hill.

Finally, here is how our picks finished off:

1) Billy Horschel: T43 at 5-under (-5)
2) Henrik Stenson: 2 at 18-under (-18)

Like I said, it's only a matter of time before Stenson wins again. Horschel finished okay also.

And that's the end of another tournament as well as the end of the Florida Swing. Be sure to join us next week for the Valero Texas Open.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Matt Every after holing the putt that would win him the tournament on the 18th hole 

(Michael Cohen/Getty Images))

2015 Arnold Palmer Invitational Weekend Update

We're halfway through this year's edition of the Arnold Palmer Invitational from Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida. It's been an interesting few rounds with some pretty low scores all around. The leader going into the weekend is Morgan Hoffman at 13-under (-13), with a three shot lead over Harris English, Henrik Stenson, and 2014 winner Matt Every. The cut has also been set at 2-under (-2), which is the lowest cut in the tournament's history

Bay Hill has been playing perfect scoring-wise, especially this morning, where the greens were soft and vulnerable with no wind at all. Many players took advantage of this, including Morgan Hoffman, who make nine birdies (6 alone on the front nine) which aided in a 65 on the day. The low round of the day however was a 64, shot by Australian Danny Lee (T6).

Probably one of the most common picks this week was Henrik Stenson and for good reason. He's probably playing the best golf of his career right now and always seems to be in contention. I'm confident he'll get another win in no time. He shot a solid 68 66, which included 4 hole birdie streak on the last few holes today. This is really good considering that the back nine at Bay Hill has seen less scoring than the front nine so far.

A less common pick this week was Rory McIlroy, who is 8-under T6. Rory shot a 66 today, which was his first sub-70 round for him in 8 rounds on the PGA Tour. He also had a nice 5 hole birdie streak on the front nine today. This is Rory's last event before the Master's, which is the major that he's yet to win.

Finally, here's how our picks are doing:

1) Billy Horschel: T23 at 5-under (-5)
2) Henrik Stenson: T2 at 10-under (-10)
3) Graeme McDowell: CUT

Good work from Billy and Stenson. It looks like GMac might be in a little slump as of now, considering how he's playing. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing!

Be sure to check our Results post Sunday evening to see who won,


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Can Hoffman hold on to the lead for his 1st PGA Tour win? (Charles King/Orlando Sentinel)

The 2014 Barclays Picks - Results

The four rounds of the first playoff event of the 2014 FedEx Cup are now over and this year's winner of The 2014 Barclays at Ridgewood Country Club is Hunter Mahan, who shot a 6-under 65 today to win the tournament at 14-under, a two shot lead over Stuart Appleby, Cameron Tringale, and Jason Day. This is Mahan's first win of 2014 and his first win since winning the 2012 Shell Houston Open.

Mahan's 6-under 65 was the low round of the day and was shot by several other players as well. With this win, Mahan earns precious FedEx Cup points. He started the week ranked 62th on the points list but due to his win, he is now on top of the rankings. A good finish also ensures a fair amount of points too. For example, Morgan Hoffman just barely made it into the tournament being ranked 124th earlier this week, but he finished T9 today and has now shot up 52 points to 72 on the points list.

It just goes to show how important these playoff events are for players. A win or even good finishes in a few of these events can put you in a great position to win the FedEx Cup when its all said and done. Henrik Stenson did just that last year, winning the Deutsche Bank and Tour Championship (both playoff events), thus winning him the FedEx Cup.

With so much movement in the FedEx Cup points list in the upcoming weeks, its not too hard to see why the FedEx Cup Playoffs bring such excitement year after year. 

Finally, here is how our picks finished the tournament:

1) Graeme McDowell: T38 at 3-under (-3)
2) Rickie Fowler: T9 at 9-under (-9)
3) Jason Day: T2 at 12-under (-12)

An okay finish for GMac; he probably doesn't like it seeing how he needs to be playing his best golf now to ensure he gets on the European Ryder Cup team. And of course its not surprising to see Fowler and Day near the top. They certainly deserve every cent they're earning given the way their playing as of lately.

Stay tuned for our coverage of the next FedEx Cup playoff event, the 2014 Deutsche Bank Championship.

-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Hunter Mahan wins The 2014 Barclays (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)