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After that looong golf offseason (ha!), opening week didn’t disappoint

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ORLANDO, Fla. — The long ball helped Bryson DeChambeau outlast Lee Westwood on Sunday to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, only the key shots were as much with his putter as his driver. RELATED: Leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Bryson DeChambeau DeChambeau holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the front nine and a 50-foot par putt early on the back nine. He closed it out with a nervy 5-foot par putt for a 1-under 71 and a one-shot victory over the 47-year-old Westwood. It matched the low score of the day, one of only three rounds under par in the toughest final round at Bay Hill in 41 years. DeChambeau and Westwood were never separated by more than one shot over the final 15 holes, a fascinating duel of generations that came down to the last shot. For the second straight day, DeChambeau revved up thousands of fans on the par-5 sixth hole by smashing driver over the lake and leaving himself 88 yards away on the 565-yard sixth hole. Westwood was 168 yards behind him, and raised both arms to jokingly mimic DeChambeau’s reaction from the day before. They both made birdie. DeChambeau appeared to be in trouble on the 11th when he narrowly missed going in the water off the tee, caught a plugged lie in the front bunker and gouged it out to 50 feet. He made that for par to stay ahead by one. Westwood tied him with a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-5 12th, only to give it back with a three-putt on the 14th. The tournament turned on the par-5 16th, where it was Westwood who had the advantage. DeChambeau’s drive went up against the lip of a bunker and he had to lay up short of the water. Westwood had 158 yards and hit a poor short iron that came up short of the green. He chipped nicely, except that it rolled out 6 feet by the hole on the lightning-quick greens and he missed the birdie for a chance to tie. DeChambeau was one ahead going to the 18th when he hit his most important drive of the day — in the fairway. Westwood’s tee shot settled in a divot, and he did well to get it on the green and two-putt from 65 feet. DeChambeau’s birdie putt slid by some 5 feet and he shook his arms in celebration when the par putt dropped. Westwood closed with a 73, not a bad score considering the average of 75.49 was the highest for a final round since 1980. Corey Conners stayed in the mix until the very end. The Canadian holed a 15-foot eagle putt on the 16th to get within one shot, only to find a bunker on the par-3 17th and miss a 6-foot par putt. With a bogey on the final hole, he shot 74 to finish alone in third. Jordan Spieth was part of a four-man race on the front nine and briefly tied for the lead with a birdie on the par-5 sixth. That turned out to be his last birdie of the day. He took bogey on three of his last four holes for a 75, dropping him into a three-way tie for fourth with Andrew Putnam (71) and Ricky Werenski (73). For Spieth, it was his third top-five finish in his last four events. DeChambeau said he received a text Sunday morning from Tiger Woods, who is recovering from serious leg injuries from his car crash in Los Angeles. He said Woods, an eight-time Bay Hill winner, told him to “keep fighting.” He also considered the words from Arnold Palmer to “play boldly.” He needed all of that with the fight Westwood gave him, and the test Bay Hill provided. “It’s been quite a battle this whole entire time,” DeChambeau said. DeChambeau rose to No. 1 in the FedExCup rankings with his ninth PGA TOUR victory, and he became the first player this season with multiple victories, to go along with his U.S. Open title in September. It matched the longest it took for a multiple winner on the PGA TOUR since 1969. Nick Price won his second title in the 21st week of the season in 1994. Rory McIlroy, who started four shots out of the lead, was never in the mix. He came undone on the par-5 sixth, where he hit two tee shots into the water and then hit the fairway, green and made the putt to salvage double bogey. He shot 76.

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Corey Conners initially switched into a Ping G400 LST driver at the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills. The club has served him well. He’s ranked in the top 20 of Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in each of the past five seasons, qualifying for three TOUR Championships, winning on the PGA TOUR and playing in the Presidents Cup in that span. Now, for the first time in five years, Conners is making a driver switch. He’s using Ping’s new G430 LST driver at this week’s Hero World Challenge. Five years is certainly a long time to use a particular driver model, especially since new technologies hit the market every year. Conners, however, hasn’t had much reason to upgrade. He’s one of the TOUR’s top drivers, after all. The Ping G400 LST driver – which was first released to the public in July 2017 – was also in the bag for his 2019 Valero Texas Open victory. Conners told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday that he’s been through roughly 10 different G400 LST driver heads throughout his five years playing the model, but he finally found something better. Although he said that his former G400 LST gamer is “maybe even a touch faster” than the new Ping G430 LST driver, he found that the new G430 technology significantly increased consistency on off-center strikes. Conners already was known as a straight driver. He ranked 20th in Driving Accuracy last season, but he could further increase that advantage thanks to the new driver. At this year’s Presidents Cup, Conners revealed his secrets to success off the tee. “I think just having good rhythm has always been sort of a hallmark of my game and something that I focus on every week. … That allows me to hit the ball solidly, and usually it results in it going where I am looking,” he said. “I … just take some practice swings, try and feel the body moving in sync, (take) a few practice swings … with my right foot kind of behind me a little bit, feeling the body moving, club staying in front of the body, and that helps with my rhythm, as well.” Now he’ll be applying those principles with a new club in the bag.

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