Tiger Woods has won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard at Bay Hill Club & Lodge for an eighth time. He beat England's Justin Rose by two strokes.
With the victory, Woods has returned to Number 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time since October 2010. By winning the tournament eight times, he has tied Sam Snead's PGA Tour record of the most titles in a single event.
Woods was never really threatened through the final round, one that had to be completed on Monday following a severe thunderstorm had halted play on Sunday.
Rickie Fowler was Woods' closest challenger for most of the day and he got to within two shots after a birdie at the 14th. But the young Californian put two balls in the water on the par-5 16th and ran up a triple bogey eight. In the end Fowler fell back into a tie for third place.
Woods cruised the last two holes and could afford to play the difficult 18th safely. He narrowly missed a monster putt for par across the final green, but he was happy to tap in for a five and a two-shot win.
"It's a by-product of hard work, patience and getting back to winning golf tournaments," he said.
Woods now has 77 victories on the PGA Tour and is closing in on Sam Snead's record of 82. He's also cemented his place as favourite going into the Masters in a couple of week's time.
Justin Rose finished strongly at Bay Hill playing the last 13 holes in four-under-par to secure second place on his own.
Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Florida Mar 21-24, purse $6,200,000, par 72
1 Tiger Woods (USA) 69 70 66 70 275 2 Justin Rose (Eng) 65 70 72 70 277 T3 Mark Wilson (USA) 71 68 70 71 280 T3 Keegan Bradley (USA) 74 69 66 71 280 T3 Gonzalo Fdz-Castano (Esp) 69 71 68 72 280 T3 Rickie Fowler (USA) 73 67 67 73 280 7 Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 69 73 66 73 281 T8 William McGirt (USA) 74 70 70 68 282 T8 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 71 69 71 282 T8 Bill Haas (USA) 69 66 73 74 282 T8 Jimmy Walker (USA) 69 69 70 74 282 T8 Ken Duke (USA) 70 68 70 74 282
Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage
