ORLANDO, Fla. -- The way to win a golf tournament these days is not to be leading -- until it is over.
Easier said than done, of course, and not typically the way any player who is under the duress of championship golf would want to approach it. The idea is to get ahead, to give yourself some room for mistakes, to make the others chase you.
But for the better part of two months on the PGA Tour, that strategy has not led to victory. It makes sense that you would want to be leading going into the final round, but it didn't do Henrik Stenson much good on Sunday.
Just as it hasn't resulted in victory in any of the previous eight weeks either.
The streak is up to nine straight tournaments after Matt Every came from behind Sunday, shooting a final-round 66 at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge to capture his second straight Arnold Palmer Invitational.
And it was a bit of a nightmare scenario for Stenson, who led by 2 shots at the start of the day, lost the lead, regained it on the back nine, only to stumble home with consecutive 3-putts -- ones he blamed on a rules official who put him and Morgan Hoffmann on the clock for slow play.
"I'm a little bit disappointed with the outcome, but I'm as much disappointed with the PGA Tour officials for putting us on the clock on 15, starting to chase us down the stretch," Stenson said after finishing a shot behind Every. "And that's not really the way to close out a golf tournament.
"It's hard enough to finish out a golf tournament and play those finishing holes without being on the clock. I didn't see the reason for that really. I didn't even read my putt more than just one quick look on 15. Three-putted that one from long range. Morgan got a bad time on 16 on the second shot. I kind of rushed my putt from the back fringe.
"It's just hard when you don't feel like you can take the time that you want to take. That surely didn't help the cause."
To be clear, Stenson was not in danger of being penalized. The next time a PGA Tour rules official doles out such a penalty to a pro at a regular tour event will be the first in some 20 years. (China's Guan Tianlang got a 1-stroke penalty at the 2013 Masters.) When a group is out of position, you are told to speed it up -- as was the case for Stenson and Hoffman, playing in the last twosome of the event.
It happened on the sixth hole and again on 15. But when you are out of position, you only get a warning if you have a bad time after being put on the clock -- taking too long to play any particular shot. Stenson never had a bad time. He would have needed that to occur twice for a penalty stroke to be added.
And once you are off the clock, there is no danger of a penalty until the process is again put in place by being out of position.
So it can be argued that he didn't deal with the situation very well -- with the pressure of being in the last group contributing.
"I didn't think of it until someone brought it up here yesterday," Stenson said referring to the streak of 54-hole leaders failing to go on to win. "Probably seven for seven leading going into the last round. So thanks for jinxing me.
"Nothing I care too much about in that sense. You're going to win some and you're going to lose some. I was there until the end and, like I said, you can't 3-putt two holes in a row when it's a tight ballgame. You got 3-, 4-shot cushion, you can be a bit sloppy. Not in the situation I was in.
"It was just a packed leaderboard. I had 3 shots down to those guys, but they go out a little bit earlier and play a little more aggressive. I was trying to keep to my plan. I think I did that pretty well. Wasn't as sharp on the greens today as the days early on and then had those two 3-putts there on 15 and 16. That's what cost me the tournament."
And that is the difficulty in winning. Going out last, as Stenson did, subjects him to those coming after him. They can fire away in the knowledge that perhaps they were not expected to win. Certainly Every -- who has struggled for most of the year since his victory at Bay Hill in 2014 -- didn't figure to do it again.
But a 66 with a 17-footer for birdie on the last hole, coupled with a guy who got rattled by a rules official, can have that result.
Every had a Masters invitation on the line and played the back-nine in 3 under par without a bogey. It was excellent golf, but perhaps without the same kind of pressure that the No. 3 player in the world -- who hasn't won on the PGA Tour since his victory at the 2013 Tour Championship -- accumulated.
"I just kept plugging along," Every said. "I did a really good job of just forgetting about the past, good or bad. If I hit a great shot, made birdie, all right, I'm done with it. Same if I missed one."
Every continues a trend of different winners in this PGA Tour season that dates to last October -- 19 and counting -- the longest such streak since 1994.
What does it mean? Lots of guys can win, and it's not easy to do so when you have an advantage.
But it doesn't mean much as far as the year's first major championship is concerned in a few weeks. Every earned himself an invitation on Sunday, but not necessarily the green jacket. A year ago he came off a big high here -- then missed the cut at Augusta National and decided to revamp his game.
The last time the winner of Palmer's tournament went on to win at Augusta? Tiger Woods -- in 2002. He did it in 2001, too.
Stenson, when he shakes off the anger of rules officials getting in his way, will emerge and feel pretty good about things. He could have gone to No. 2 in the world with a victory. He'll likely be much more pleased three Sundays from now if he is the first male golfer from Sweden to be holding a major championship trophy.
"My goal is to play as good as I can and be up in contention as many times as I can, and the more times I'm there the more tournaments I will win," Stenson said. "It's not like I haven't won something. Just get back out there and try again. [I've got] Houston coming up in two weeks and then Augusta.
"It's still a lot of good practice to feel [in] the head and be out there in contention today."
