Hatton hangs on at Bay Hill for 1st PGA Tour victory

Tyrrell Hatton carded a 2-over 74 on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational to hang on for his first career PGA Tour title.

The Englishman battled through another tough day at Bay Hill en route to the one-shot victory over Marc Leishman. He entered the final round with a two-shot lead, which quickly disappeared with bogeys on Nos. 1 and 5.

After back-to-back birdies before making the turn, Hatton made a sloppy double-bogey on No. 11. He thought he had played himself out of the tournament, but with players on the leaderboard crumbling around him, he was pleasantly surprised to learn he was still in front on No. 14.

The 2018 European Ryder Cup team member made seven consecutive pars to close the final round, which was good enough to fend off his playing partner, Leishman.

"To hold on and win here, at such an iconic venue, I'm just over the moon," Hatton said after his round, according to Christopher Powers of Golf Digest.

It marks the fifth victory of Hatton's professional career. His last was the 2019 Turkish Airlines Open in November prior to undergoing wrist surgery that sidelined him for three months. Hatton finished tied for sixth at the WGC-Mexico Championship in his return to golf, which was his only start before winning at Bay Hill.

Here's how the top of the leaderboard finished:

Leishman pushed Hatton until the final hole but couldn't pull off the birdie to force a playoff. Still, the Aussie added another quality result to a season that already includes a win at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Sungjae Im followed up his breakthrough week at the Honda Classic with a solo-third effort at Bay Hill. He held a share of the lead for a brief moment but double-bogeyed the 13th to fall off the pace.

The most disappointing final round belonged to Rory McIlroy, who entered the day as the betting favorite to win. At one point, the world No. 1 was tied for first, but he carded two double-bogeys to close his front nine and drop out of contention. He collected his seventh straight top-five finish worldwide and will attempt to defend his Player Championship title next week.