Fan tipped read to Every on Bay Hill-winning birdie putt

Matt Every had just hit his approach shot into the par-4 18th at Bay Hill, his 72nd hole of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. If he made the 17-foot birdie putt he left himself, perhaps he would win at the King’s Orlando digs for a second consecutive year.

“I walked up to the green and this guy in the crowd kept like coughing like, ‘Straight putt, straight putt,'” Every said Sunday.

“I was like, This guy is a really d— if he’s lying to me,” drawing laughter, “because it’s a pretty important moment.”

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Straight in. That’s what Matt Every saw. He couldn’t believe it. He went to his yardage book, hoping to find some kind of advice on a putt that could get him back to the Masters. But he went with his read and stroked the downhill putt, knowing that it wouldn’t come up short.

It looked good right off the blade, but it had to feel like an eternity before it reached the cup.

“The last three feet I was begging for it to hang and I was like, ‘Gosh, these are the ones that always lip out. Be so cool to see this one dive in’ and it did,” Every explained.

The putt went in, Every made birdie and pumped his fist as he finished off a final-round 66 to give him a 72-hole total of 19 under par. Just a few minutes later, Henrik Stenson missed a sliding birdie putt to force a playoff. Every had won again at Bay Hill. It was the kind of finish Every hoped would someday happen for him.

“It was cool because you watch tournaments on TV and guys make a 20-footer on the last and everybody goes nuts,” he said of his second PGA Tour win. “It’s cool to close one out like that.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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