Matt Every and Rulings Upend Stenson at Arnold Palmer Invitational

OK, it wasn’t politically correct, but Matt Every admitted that when Henrik Stenson missed his putt to tie at the 18th, he was thinking, “You’re already in (the Masters). That’s it. I need to get in.”  

Stenson, in the top five in the world, already has his Augusta National invitation for the Masters in 2015.

For Every, it was a back-to-back victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, an event with Tiger Woods’ name on he trophy eight times. And he will now get his invitation to the Masters.

Playing in warm and humid conditions with gentle winds that frequently affected the golf ball, Every just kept plugging along, never leading the tournament until he made birdie at the 18th hole. He finished two groups ahead of the 54-hole leader, Stenson, and had to wait and hope.

Every trailed until the 12th hole when he tied Stenson at 18 under par. Stenson went to 19 under at the 12th and then fell back to 18 under at the 15th with a three-putt.

Meanwhile, Every confessed he had an inkling as early as the eighth hole that he might be able to win.

His playing companion, Ben Martin, had hit an 8-iron to the eighth hole, and it came up short. Every was shocked that it didn’t reach the green because they did not feel that much wind. Eight was the club he wanted to hit also. He almost changed his mind.

“I knew if I hit the shot I had envisioned, it was going to be all right,” Every said. “I just fricking hit this perfect draw 8-iron right through the wind to like two feet, and there I was like, all right, it’s playing tough out there.”

Stenson wasn’t brilliant, just steady. But at the sixth hole, he and Morgan Hoffman were put on the clock due to a ruling for Hoffman. That put them behind their ideal time position. To say that he was displeased about continually being timed is an understatement.  

“We were five, six minutes out when they started timing us on six,” Stenson said. “Then, ruling on nine, we kind of lost some ground.”

Stenson noted that the last groups, which typically have the largest crowds, often get behind and are not penalized. He felt they had just about caught up by the 12th hole.

“You have to back off every now and again for some mobile phones and stuff like that. You’re not playing the quickest when you’re out in the last group,” Stenson argued. “I didn’t see the point of the officials influencing potentially the outcome of this tournament towards the end there. I felt like they could have let us go from 15 onwards.”

He said he was not the one on the clock. But apparently it was still unnerving. He could have just decided to accept the fine and continue at his own pace, but that's easier said than done.

Regardless, even he admitted that it was three-putting the 15th and the 16th that did him in.

The winner, Every, credited the changes he has made in the last six to 12 months for being able to capture his second victory. He added a trainer, and when Tiger Woods and Sean Foley went their separate ways, Foley had time available to work with Every.

The biggest recent change they made was his eye line over the ball, which he said was huge.

“It’s been tough for me to take to the course, and this week kind of freed me up a little,” he said about their progress. “I played great all week and just kind of kept snow-balling.”

All the way to Augusta, Georgia.

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour or PGA of America.