Every has another Palmer victory

Matt Every had a tongue-in-cheek response when he heard Tiger Woods was not ready to play the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida, this year. He said he told Woods, “Don’t worry, man, I’ll hold it down for you until you get back.”

He did that and more.

Every was dressed in a blue shirt, not red, but the moment sure looked familiar on the 18th green Sunday at Bay Hill. He made an 18-foot birdie putt for a 6-under 66, gave an abbreviated fist pump and held onto the trophy for one more year with a one-shot victory over Henrik Stenson.

“You watch tournaments on TV and guys make a 20-footer on the last and everybody goes nuts,” Every said. “It’s cool to close one out like that.”

Every rallied from a four-shot deficit last year for his first career victory, helped in part by Adam Scott’s collapse in the final round.

This one was even sweeter.

Every came from three shots behind Sunday by matching the low score of the final round, and he was never seriously close to bogey on the back nine on his way to another handshake with Palmer and another trip to the Masters.

Needing a birdie to force a playoff, Stenson was wide left on a 20-foot putt at the 18th.

“It feels great,” Every said about his return to Augusta National. “When Henrik missed that putt, that was the No. 1 thing on my mind: ‘You’re already in. Miss it – I need to get in.’ ”

Stenson was angry with being put on the clock on the 15th hole – the second time the final group was out of position – and closed with a 70 to extend a peculiar streak on the PGA Tour. It was the ninth straight tournament in which a 54-hole leader failed to win, and the Swede let this one get away.

He said he rushed his first putts on the 15th and 16th, and the three-putts were “really what cost me the tournament.”

Spokane’s Alex Prugh shot a 73 and finished at even-par 288 in a tie for 62nd.

LPGA

Hyo Joo Kim birdied five of the last eight holes to outlast Stacy Lewis and win the JTBC Founders Cup at Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix.

The 19-year-old Kim closed with a 5-under 67, holing a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th to beat Lewis by three strokes for her second LPGA Tour title.

Champions Tour

Marco Dawson shot a 3-under 69 to win the Tucson Conquistadores Classic in Tucson, Arizona, for his first Champions Tour title.

Dawson, 51, broke a tie with a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 16th hole and closed with two pars for a two-stroke victory over Bart Bryant, who had a 70 to finish second for the second straight event. Bryant lost a playoff to Lee Janzen last month in Naples, Florida.

Dawson finished at 13-under 203 in the first-year event at Tucson National, the longtime home of the PGA Tour’s defunct Tucson Open. He won in his 21st start on the 50-and-over tour.