ORLANDO, Fla. –– Less than an hour before his tee time Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Jason Day could be found alone in a practice bunker in front of the Bay Hill clubhouse, hitting long bunker shots.
Day’s caddie and instructor, Colin Swatton, stood nearby, rolling balls into the bunker, one by one, as his player hit one shot after another under the hot mid-day sun.
About five hours later, Day was in the sand again, this time behind the green at Bay Hill’s par-4 18th hole, the Arnold Palmer Invitational title on the line. Needing to get up and down from about 30 yards to win for the first time in 2016, and with the tourament’s namesake looking on from a cart parked just behind him, Day delivered, blasting out to about 4 feet before converting the par putt for a one-shot victory at Arnie’s Place.