ORLANDO, Fla. – British Open champion Francesco Molinari delivered another big moment on the 18th green at Bay Hill, without wearing a red shirt and leaving the flag stick in the cup. His 45-foot birdie putt capped off an 8-under 64 to come from five shots behind Sunday and win the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Molinari watched the birdie putt kiss off the pin and into the cup, and the normally reserved Italian raised his fist and hammered it down in celebration, knowing that would make him hard to beat.

He started so far back that Molinari finished nearly two hours before the round ended. It gave him a two-shot lead at 12-under 276, and no one got closer than two shots the rest of the way.

“To do it here at Arnie’s place, knowing my wife and kids are watching from home, it’s very special,” Molinari said.

He won for the fourth time in the last nine months, and in his first start since signing a new equipment deal.

Tiger Woods, who missed this week with a sore neck, has delivered so many birdie putts over the year on the 18th, usually to win and with Palmer on the side of the green waiting to congratulate him. Molinari’s was longer than anything Woods ever made, from a slightly different angle. But he knew the history from so many highlights.

“It’s a pretty iconic putt,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I’m the first guy to make it with the flag in, though, so that’s the real difference.”

The new Rules of Golf allow the flag to be left in for putts in the green, and most players leave it there on long putts.

“Obviously, you’re trying to lag it close to the hole and it came out on a great line and maybe a little firmer than I wanted, but the line was just right and incredible to see it going in,” he said. “I’ve seen so many putts on TV like that and to do it yourself it’s really amazing.”

Matt Fitzpatrick managed only two birdies in his round of 1-under 71 and made a 3-foot par putt to finish alone in second. Rory McIlroy started the final round one shot behind and never got anything going. He had two birdies, two bogeys and a 72 to tie for sixth.

Perhaps it was only fitting that the claret jug was at Bay Hill, which served as part of the Open Qualifying Series. Sung Kang also had a big putt on the 18th hole, this one from 12 feet for par that sewed up the third and final spot offered for the British Open at Royal Portrush this summer.

The other two spots went to Sungjae Im, the 20-year-old South Korean who closed with a 68 and tied for third; and Honda Classic winner Keith Mitchell, who made eight birdies in his final round of 66 to tie for sixth.

Tommy Fleetwood, who shared the 36-hole lead at Bay Hill, recovered from a 76 that knocked him out of contention by closing with a 68 to join Im at 9-under 279 along with Rafa Cabrera Bello (69).

Roger Sloan (71) of Merrit, B.C., was the top Canadian at 4 under while Adam Hadwin (73) of Abbotsford, B.C., was 2 under.

“I was just trying to hit good shots, give myself chances,” Molinari said. “I knew it was not going to be easy. The course was firm and fast yesterday and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy for the guys in the lead, so I thought there was an outside chance. And yeah, just started making putts, one of my best putting rounds ever.”

It was another disappointment for McIlroy, who has played in the final group in three of his five PGA Tour events, and for the ninth time without winning dating to the start of 2018. He rallied from two back to win at Bay Hill a year ago.

This time, he was in good position just one shot behind Fitzpatrick. But after a 25-foot birdie putt on the third hole to briefly tie for the lead, McIlroy played the next 12 holes with two bogeys and 10 pars.

Fitzpatrick didn’t have much going, either. He regained the lead with a birdie on No. 4, un aware of all the action on the other side of the course.

Molinari tied for the lead with an 18-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole, took the lead with a two-putt birdie on the 16th and then set the target with his big birdie on the 18th. It turned out to be too much for anyone to catch him.

No one got closer than one shot to him the rest of the day.

Molinari has four victories worldwide in his last 17 starts over the last nine months, and the Italian pointed to the first of those victories for sparking his turnaround. He played in the final round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth tied with McIlroy, closed with a 68 and won by two.

“It’s hard to point a finger at one thing,” Molinari said. “I think obviously confidence has to do a lot with it. When I won last year, playing with Rory in the last few groups, it wasn’t easy at all. So from there I started building my confidence and just saying I could get it done.”

And he did.

Molinari closed with a 62 to blow away the field in the Quicken Loans National. He played bogey-free on the final day at Carnoustie for his first major. He became the first European to win all five matches at the Ryder Cup. And he delivered a charge that was most appropriate on Palmer’s home course.

“I got everything out of it,” he said.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Rory McIlroy seems to have everything going his way at Bay Hill except for recent history.

With three birdies over the last four holes, McIlroy had a 6-under 66 on Saturday that left him one shot behind Matt Fitzpatrick and in the final group of a PGA Tour event for the third time in five starts this year, and the ninth time dating to the start of 2018.

That’s a sign of consistently good play.

There’s also some frustration from not having won from the final group since the Irish Open in 2016.

And by the look of Bay Hill in the warm, late afternoon – greens that looked yellow, fairways feeling tighter in such firm conditions – it won’t be any easier.

“Just what I needed,” McIlroy said. “I did everything I needed to do today to get myself back in the golf tournament, and excited to have another chance tomorrow.”

Fitzpatrick managed to avoid bogeys on a Bay Hill course so firm he could barely find any pitch marks on the greens Saturday. It led to a 5-under 67 and a one-shot lead as he goes for his first PGA Tour title.

He was at 9-under 207, which spoke to the difficulty of a fast, fiery course that would have made Arnie proud. It was the highest 54-hole score to lead at Bay Hill since Ben Crenshaw was at 210 in 1993.

That would have surprised no one who had to play it, especially late in the warm afternoon.

Fitzpatrick wasn’t aware that Keegan Bradley and Tommy Fleetwood, the co-leaders after 36 holes, had quickly gone in reverse. But it didn’t take him long to figure it out. He hit a sand wedge from 115 yards to just inside 10 feet, and he couldn’t even find where the ball landed.

“So when you see that, you know it’s going to be in for tough, fiery greens,” Fitzpatrick said. “But the condition of the greens is fantastic and they have been all week, so I think that that’s what make it’s so great. You can still hit to 30 feet, 40 feet and just have a perfectly great putt, just because they’re so good.”

McIlroy started quickly and was just hanging around until his big finish. He hit pitching wedge that settled a foot away for a tap-in on the 15th, hit a pitch over the bunker from right of the green on the par-5 16th for a 4-foot birdie, and then finished with another pitching wedge to 10 feet for one last birdie.

Those birdies were big. The pars weren’t bad, either.

“I felt for part of the round today that I was hanging on,” McIlroy said. “You hit it up to 25, 30 feet, you take your two-putts, you move on and know you’re not going to lose any ground on the field.”

That finished put him where he wanted – the final group.

McIlroy also was in the final group at Kapalua to start the year, three shots behind Gary Woodland. He was in the final group in Mexico City two weeks ago, four shots behind Dustin Johnson. This presents a better opportunity against Fitzpatrick, a five-time winner on the European Tour over the last four years.

But there are plenty of others still in the mix.

Fitzpatrick looked at the electronic leaderboard next to him and figured every name had a chance.

Fifteen players were within five shots of the lead.

“There’s water around here, the greens are firm, the rough’s thick,” Fitzpatrick said. “Today someone was saying it’s a bit like a U.S. Open, which I could totally see. It only takes a couple of water balls from the top five guys, a few dropped shots early and all of a sudden you sort of are not looking like you’re in a great position.”

The list included Fleetwood, who made a 6-foot putt on the 18th hole for his first birdie of the day and a 76. He also was five back.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., fired a 68 to sit at 3 under and tied for 23rd along with fellow Canadian Roger Sloan (74) of Merrit, B.C.

Bradley didn’t have a par until the sixth hole, and only one of those was a birdie. He missed the fairway on No. 1 (bogey), hit into a bunker on No. 2 (bogey), three-putted for bogey on No. 3 and had another bogey from the bunker on No. 5.

He rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 75, and while that big fist pump seemed out of place for someone who endured such a tough day, he had reason to cheer. After all that, Bradley was just three shots behind.

Aaron Baddeley and Matt Wallace each had a 69, while Kevin Kisner had a 70. They were at 7-under 209, still very much in the game.

“The golf course is playing brutal, and just nowhere to get it close to the pin,” Kisner said. “Greens are firm, hitting a lot of long irons, and it’s a true test.”

McIlroy sees some similarities to his victory last year at Bay Hill. He started slowly and began to hit his stride, playing a little bit better each day. He also went to one of the Disney parks after finishing early Friday, just like last year when he was at Magic Kingdom and rode Space Mountain.

This year’s ride?

“Tower of Terror,” he said, and that might be appropriate if the conditions at Bay Hill stay this way.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Bay Hill provided a few dramatic turnarounds, good news for Henrik Stenson, not so much for Phil Mickelson.

Through it all, Tommy Fleetwood and Keegan Bradley kept a steady march of solid golf Friday and wound up tied for the lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, four shots clear of anyone else going into the weekend on a course that has been tough all week.

Fleetwood used two new clubs to produce two eagles, which carried him to a 6-under 66. Bradley, with the renewed confidence of a player who last year ended six years without a PGA Tour victory, made all but one of his six birdies on the par 4s and had a 68.

They were at 9-under 135, the highest score to lead Bay Hill through 36 holes since 2013.

Tiger Woods wound up winning that year, which won’t be the case. Woods is home nursing a sore neck. That also was the last time Mickelson was at Bay Hill, and this trip lasted only two days.

Mickelson hit a pair of horrific drives – one out-of-bound, another into water he couldn’t see off the tee at No. 8 – that led to double bogeys. With only one birdie on his card, Mickelson was 10 shots worse than his opening round and posted a 78. He missed the cut by one shot.

“It’s a penalizing course if you don’t hit very good shots, and I hit some terrible shots today,” Mickelson said. “That’s probably the score I deserved.”

On the other side was Stenson, who opened with a 77 and then headed to the range with swing coach Pete Cowen. The former British Open champion responded with a 66, an 11-shot improvement, that left him eight shots behind, though still a tee time Saturday.

“A couple of hockey sticks yesterday and a 66 today. That was a nice turnaround,” Stenson said. “It seemed like I was hitting it good yesterday, didn’t quite feel like I was in the same groove this morning in the warmup, and yeah, I still have to fight a little bit out there.”

Even with a four-shot advantage, Fleetwood and Bradley have to be concerned with more than themselves in the final group. Bradley would know from experience. He was eight shots behind going into the weekend in 2014 and was the runner-up by one shot, mainly courtesy of Adam Scott’s troubled weekend.

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., British Open champion Francesco Molinari, Honda Classic winner Keith Mitchel and Billy Horschel led a pack of players at 5-under 139. The group another shot back included Masters champions Patrick Reed and Bubba Watson, and Eddie Pepperell, who is playing a regular PGA Tour event for the first time and got caught with his pants up.

Actually, Pepperell did that himself. He was all too proud to roll up his pant legs and show off his new socks, which have an image of Jack Nicklaus making his birdie putt at Augusta National the year he won his sixth Masters.

“Best round of the year, and probably a decade for me,” Pepperell said.

Never mind that this is the tournament named after Jack’s rival. But it seemed to work.

Fleetwood, a three-time winner on the European Tour, is ready to take the next step by winning in America, and he looked up to the task. Without an equipment contract ever since Nike got out of the club business, the Englishman is free to mix-and-match.

He had five brands of equipment in his bag, and two new ones stood one.

One is a Srixon 4-iron, which he hammered from 224 yards over the corner of the lake to 18 feet on the par-5 sixth for eagle.

The other was a Ping 7-wood that he took possession of on Tuesday, hit two shots and was sold on it. That replaced his 5-wood, the last Nike club he had. Fleetwood was 275 yards to the hole on the par-5 12th, and no sooner was the ball in the air that caddie Ian Finnis said, “Good shot.”

Finnish never says such a thing until the ball actually returns to Earth, but he had a hunch on this one, and he was right. The ball landed just right and rolled out to 6 feet behind the flag on the upper right shelf of the green.

“I couldn’t have got a wedge as close as I actually hit it to that back right pin,” Fleetwood said.

He made that eagle putt, too.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy made a little headway with a 70, leaving him seven shots behind.

“The golf course is hard,” said McIlroy, who won last year at 18-under 270, “Two under is in the top 20. Last year it got firm on the weekend. But the weekend conditions came early – cold weather at the start of the week, and it’s dry. It’s probably more of a test off the tee than the last few weeks. If I hit fairways on the weekend, I’ll feel like I’ve got a good chance.”

Adam Hadwin (75) of Abbotsford, B.C., is well back at 1 over and Corey Conners (78) of Listowel, Ont., missed the cut.

KENT, Ohio  – Longtime Kent State golf coach Herb Page will retire at the end of this season and end his storied run at the school.

Page has coached the Golden Flashes since 1977, building the men’s golf program into one of the nation’s most consistent and decorated. Under Page, Kent State has won 22 Mid-American Conference titles, appeared in 17 NCAA championships and he’s had 28 All-Americans, including Ben Curtis, the 2003 British Open champion.

“I feel Herb is the best coach in America,” Curtis said. “The record shows that, but the support he provides to all former players is phenomenal, no matter what the player moves onto after graduation. I would not have had the success that I’ve had without his coaching, guidance, support and friendship.”

Page was also instrumental in launching Kent State’s women’s golf program in 1998. The Golden Flashes have won 20 straight MAC titles.

He’s been the conference’s top coach 23 times.

“Kent State means so much to me,” said Page, who played three sports at the school in the early 1970s. “I am forever grateful to the university and all of the administrators, staff and student-athletes I have had the privilege of coaching, who made our golf program so successful. This is my alma mater and the Kent community has been my home ever since.

“But most of all, I am indebted to the wonderful student-athletes I have worked with. It is humbling to reflect on all that they have achieved over the past 41 years and the amazing memories that we have made together.”

Succeeding Page will be fellow Canadian golf coach Jon Mills, the current assistant men’s coach at Kent State.

Page was announced as the first-ever coach to be inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame earlier this year. Page, along with Canadian Champions Tour standout Rod Spittle, will join the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame during an induction ceremony that will take place Tuesday, June 4, during RBC Hall of Fame Day as part of the 2019 RBC Canadian Open on the grounds of Hamilton Golf and Country Club.

Herb Page & Corey Conners