Shane Lowry fights back to take third as Scottie Scheffler wins Arnold Palmer Invitational with flawless final round

Shane Lowry recovered from a poor start to fight back and take third place at the prestigious Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The Offaly native started the final round in a share of the lead alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler who produced a commanding final-round display to ease to a five-shot victory.

Lowry and Scheffler started the day level on nine under par, but the American soon moved three clear as Lowry made a bogey-bogey start and his top-ranked opponent birdied the first from 13 feet.

The 2019 Open champion dropped another shot on the seventh before his fortune began to change following a fine approach on the ninth, which resulted in his first birdie of the day.

With the title out of reach by the turn, Lowry headed for home with six straight pars before adding back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th to get back to nine under and take third place on his own, eventually finishing six shots behind Scheffler.

Lowry missed out on a share of second as US Open champion Wyndham Clark holed a 25-footer on the last to complete a 70 and finish on 10 under.

The 27-year-old champion, Scheffler, claimed his seventh PGA Tour title and looks in ominous form ahead of next month's Masters at Augusta as six birdies in a flawless closing 66 turned the final round into a procession.

"I played a good round of golf," Scheffler, who next week defends his Players Championship title at Sawgrass, said on Sky Sports. "Got off to a good start and just did my best to keep things rolling.

"I didn’t look at many leaderboards today; I just tried to stay in my own space and keep pushing.

"As we made the turn on the back nine I knew we had a few-shot lead but I really don’t like this 18th hole to be honest so I needed a big lead going into the