Scheffler comes up clutch with pars needed to win Bay Hill

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler played the kind of golf that wins a traditional U.S. Open, and that's what the Arnold Palmer Invitational felt like Sunday at Bay Hill.

In another final round that featured some of the toughest scoring conditions in four decades, Scheffler made key putts to save two unlikely pars, followed with a pair of lag putts and closed with an even-par 72 for a one-shot victory.

Scheffler now has two PGA Tour titles in the last month, having picked up his first victory at the Phoenix Open. That one was loud. This one was stressful for everyone with a chance.

The scoring average was 75.48, by a fraction lower than it was a year ago. Only 10 players finished the tournament under par.

Billy Horschel was the last player with a shot at catching Scheffler with a 30-foot birdie putt on the last hole that never really had a chance. Horschel shot 75 and tied for second along with Tyrrell Hatton (69) and Viktor Hovland (74).

Hovland was still tied for the lead until catching a plugged lie in the front bunker on the 17th and having to two-putt from 50 feet on the fringe for bogey. Needing a birdie on the last hole to catch Scheffler, with whom he was paired, the Norwegian missed from 18 feet.

Hatton, who won at Bay Hill two years ago, somehow managed seven birdies on a course that was baked and brittle, with greens running about 14 on the Stimpmeter and so few blades of grass that putts were sliding as much as they were rolling.

He finished more than an hour ahead of the leaders, and it looked as though it might be enough to at least force a playoff.

Scheffler was simply tough as nails.

He was in deep trouble on the 15th, in the pine straw and behind a tree, when he tried to hit a punch hook up the