Arnold Palmer Invitational: Tyrrell Hatton holds on for maiden PGA Tour success

Leaderboard

-4 Hatton

-3 Leishman

-2 Im

-1 DeChambeau

Day four

Tyrrell Hatton sealed his first PGA Tour title with a one-shot victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

Englishman Hatton, 28, showed nerves of steel in difficult conditions over the last seven holes for a two-over-par 74 in the final round to hold off the challenge of Australia's Marc Leishman.

Hatton was playing in only his second event since undergoing wrist surgery at the end of last year.

South Korea's Sungjae Im finished a further shot back in third place, while world number one Rory McIlroy, who started the day joint second, tied for fifth after a 76.

Bryson DeChambeau carded a one-under final round to claim fourth place, while fellow Americans Keith Mitchell and Joel Dahmen also shot 71s to finish alongside McIlroy and New Zealand's Danny Lee.

Hatton won his fourth European Tour title in a six-man play-off in the Turkish Airlines Open in November and shortly after playing in the season-ending event in Dubai a fortnight later had an operation on his wrist.

He held a two-shot lead going into the final round at Bay Hill and overcame a disappointing start after bogeying at the first and fifth holes with birdies at the seventh and eighth.

Hatton then double-bogeyed the 11th, but with the pressure on he made par on each of the last seven holes to claim victory.

England's Matthew Fitzpatrick produced the round of the day, shooting a three-under 69, which included five birdies and a double-bogey at the 17th, to climb 27 places and finish tied for ninth.

Day three

Tyrrell Hatton will have to fend off two former winners of the Arnold Palmer Invitational to earn a PGA Tour breakthrough on Sunday.

The Englishman holds a two-shot lead over Marc Leishman and Rory McIlroy, who won this event in 2017 and 2018 respectively, after he carded a round of 73 which was significantly better than average on a difficult day at Bay Hill.

McIlroy bogeyed the last in a round of 73, the same number he'd posted on Friday but a much better effort, while Leishman shot a level-par 72 - a score bettered by just one player, Max Homa, who shot 70.

It was a day of carnage as Rickie Fowler ran up a nine and Sam Burns an eight, both in contention at the time, and we're left with eight players under par, one of which will surely be crowned champion.

Hatton's round began to unravel as he bogeyed the 14th and 15th holes, but a birdie at the 16th steadied the ship and he poured in another at the final hole to move into a clear lead.

It gives him breathing room but McIlroy is lurking, having made just two bogeys and one birdie to go with 15 pars - a neat, tidy performance which perhaps revealed more about his frame of mind that Thursday's dazzling 66.

Leishman is looking for his second win of the year and was similarly strong on Saturday, two bogeys cancelled out by birdies at the sixth and 12th holes.

While Hatton made the final hole appear easy it was anything but, and Sung Kang saw his bid to become the second Korean winner in a fortnight come unstuck, making a seven to fall five back.

Danny Lee did slightly better to make six and is tied with Sungjae Im on three-under, three back, the latter having matched Hatton's closing birdie.

Day two report

England's Tyrrell Hatton carded a 69 to put himself into contention at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill as overnight leader Matt Every tumbled down the leaderboard.

Hatton sits joint top in Orlando on seven under par after mixing five birdies with two bogeys on his second round.

He shares the lead with South Korea's Sung Kang, who climbed 10 places through a second round of four-under 68.

American Every had led proceedings with a 65 on the first day but ended up missing the cut after a horror 11-over 83.

England's Tommy Fleetwood was also on the wrong side of the cut for the first time since 2018.

New Zealand's Danny Lee is third on six under, a shot ahead of a chasing pack including Sungjae Im, Harris English and Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy was two over at the turn after a double-bogey at the eighth but came back to finish one over for the round and five under for the tournament.

Day one report

Matt Every shot an opening-day 65 to claim the overnight lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando.

The American, who started on the back nine, had picked up three shots by the turn and birdied three of the next four holes to join clubhouse leader Rory McIlroy on six under par before edging his way in front with a three at the par-four eighth.

McIlroy, who also played the back nine first, dropped a shot at his second hole but was one-under at the turn and and collected an eagle three at the fourth as he collected five more to finish with a six-under-par 66.

Americans Talor Gooch and Scottie Scheffler will head into the second round tied for third, a shot further back, with Englishman Tyrrell Hatton and Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell among a group of players on four under and Ian Poulter a shot worse off.

However, Justin Rose may need an improvement to make the cut after shooting 73, while Padraig Harrington, Jason Day and Lee Westwood carded 74s, Tommy Fleetwood 76 and Phil Mickelson a 77 on a testing day.

Defending champion Francesco Molinari had earlier withdrawn from the defence of his title with a back injury.

Molinari carded a brilliant closing 64 at Bay Hill last year to claim a two-shot victory, but the winner of the 2018 Open Championship has not recorded a single top-10 finish since a tie for fifth in the Masters last April.

The 37-year-old Italian, who held a two-shot lead at Augusta National before finding water twice in the last seven holes, has slipped from a career-high of fifth to 26th in the world rankings.

In his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday, Molinari admitted he was "a little behind" where he wanted to be at this stage of the season after three missed cuts and a tie for 53rd in the 72-man WGC-Mexico Championship, which does not have a halfway cut.

"The start of the season has not been as good as I hoped for, but it's only the start," said Molinari, who was replaced in the field at Bay Hill by South Korea's Lee Kyoung-hoon.

"There's been a few physical things and technical things but I'm working through it. I think I've got some good planning for the next few weeks building up to Augusta and some good direction to work towards."

Molinari won all five of his matches in Europe's Ryder Cup victory over the United States in Paris in 2018, but is currently 53rd in the qualifying standings for September's contest at Whistling Straits.