We have enjoyed a run of fascinating tournaments on the PGA Tour over the last few weeks and the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida was no exception.
Bryson DeChambeau managed to pip Lee Westwood to the title on a tough final day at Bay Hill.
DeChambeau’s monstrous 370-yard drive over the water at the par-5 sixth was the highlight of his week but he also showed great mental strength to see out the win.
I felt sorry for Westwood, particularly when his perfect drive on the 72nd hole landed in a divot. He still managed to make par but it wasn’t enough with DeChambeau rolling home a testing putt from six feet to win by a stroke.
The American’s big-hitting approach gets plenty of attention but he is also a great putter. He led the putting stats when he won the US Open last year.
It is probably one of the strongest parts of his game.
His approach is fascinating to watch and I’m sure he is encouraging more people to tune in and enjoy the golf.
Westwood said afterwards that he also likes the way DeChambeau tries to overpower the course and “doesn’t understand why everyone is panicking about it”.
I agree. DeChambeau made a birdie on the sixth when he drove over the water but Westwood also made four, despite having 260 yards left for his approach after a more modest tee shot.
Finishing second was a tremendous effort from Westwood, who turns 48 next month.
He is going to be part of the European Ryder Cup team later this year and he showed at Bay Hill that he will be a real asset.
He pushed DeChambeau very hard on Sunday and was unlucky not to take it to a play-off.
It was almost like watching a Ryder Cup match between the two of them.
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy has dropped out of the top 10 in the world rankings.
He entered the final round at Bay Hill in contention but his hopes faded after a closing round of 76.
In his post-round interview, he spoke about needing a spark and you can see he is getting frustrated by the inconsistency.
But you can see that Rory isn’t far away.
He just needs to put it together over the four rounds. He looks like he is putting well so it wouldn’t surprise me to see him in the mix over the next few weeks.
The Players Championship at Sawgrass, also in Florida, is going to be another intriguing one this week.
2016 🆚 2021
The swing of @B_DeChambeau during his amateur debut at Bay Hill and at this year's @APInv. pic.twitter.com/RNTVs9fx6F
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 8, 2021
The PGA Tour foiled DeChambeau’s plan to drive it to the left of the lake on the 18th by announcing the area would be out of bounds.
I have played the tournament twice and I couldn’t picture in my head where he was trying to land the ball but I’m sure he has some other interesting strategies up his sleeve.
From a Scottish perspective, it was good to see Martin Laird up near the top of the leaderboard at the halfway point at Bay Hill.
He didn’t perform as well as he would have liked over the weekend but he will take confidence from putting himself in that position.
Robert MacIntyre was also happy with his week’s work after making the cut and finishing tied 36th.
He has been drawn alongside Westwood and Louis Oosthuizen at TPC Sawgrass, which will be another great experience for him ahead of what we hope is his Masters debut.
Testing times but great to be playing
The European Tour returns to action today with the Qatar Masters and it was an arduous journey to get here.
We had to get tested at the airport and buy a sim card to put in our phones in order to be registered to Qatar’s health app.
We then had to go straight to the hotel and couldn’t leave the room until getting the test result back on Monday night, which meant we couldn’t practise on Monday.
But it is brilliant that we have managed to get a tournament going with the restrictions that are going on around the world and I’m looking forward to a great week.
David Drysdale has been talking about his near miss in Qatar a year ago. He has been a very consistent player on the European Tour but he is still chasing that maiden win.
I thought he was going to end the wait in Qatar last year but he came up against Jorge Campillo who was holing putts from everywhere. Drysdale will take confidence from last year and be fancying his chances.