Jason Day delighted by 'rewarding' wire-to-wire victory at Bay Hill

Jason Day was relieved to bounce back from a slow start to claim a narrow win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and close the gap on Jordan Spieth at the top of the world rankings.

The PGA champion survived a rollercoaster final round to complete a wire-to-wire victory at Bay Hill, with a two-under 70 helping him to finish one-stroke clear of nearest challenger Kevin Chappell.

Day let a three-shot lead over the front nine during a day where four players held at least a share of the lead, but posted two birdies after the turn and holed a four-foot putt for victory at the last.

Victory lifts Day above McIlroy in to second spot in the world rankings and means he could move to world No 1 at next week's WGC-Dell Match Play, but the Australian admits he had to dig deep to see out a first win of 2016. 

"Sleeping on a two-shot lead and winning wire-to-wire wasn't easy," Day told Sky Sports. "This was a really rewarding win for me and to be able to make the par at the last when I needed to was very satisfying. There was not one shot on the golf course I hit today where I felt comfortable.

"I tried to be as deliberate as possible and it worked out on the back side for me. I was really nervous over that putt [on 18] after being out of contention for a while.

"I was all out of sorts on the front side but I kept saying to myself over and over again 'you are not out of it, be patient, you will find some opening and once you do make sure you take it', and 17 was it.

"The biggest thing for me was to be able to feel being in contention again and to be able to get all of those competitive juices flowing again through my body and understand what that feels like."

Encouraging signs

Adam Scott missed out on the chance of becoming the first player since Rory McIlroy to win three consecutive PGA Tour events, with the Australian finishing another positive week in a tie for 12th.

The world No 6 slipped out of contention with a final-hole triple-bogey on Saturday and made a similar mess of the 18th during his final round, ending a three-under 69 with a double-bogey.

"It's a little disappointing," Scott told Sky Sports. "I really played better than my score showed this week and that's a positive sign.

"I felt I could have been up there, even though things weren't quite firing in all cylinders like they were in the past couple of weeks.

"I really wasted a lot on 18! Yesterday was really difficult conditions and I was a bit unfortunate to plug in a bunker, but today's was just a poor shot.

"I've been putting really well. Today was a bit spotty where I hit some good putts but a few that came up surprisingly short coming in. All in all I've made a lot of putts and that's a really good thing for the confidence.

"The confidence then builds with the results and now it's all in a good spot, so I've just got to maintain it the best I can and keep going."

The PGA Tour heads to Texas next for the WGC-Dell Match Play. Watch live coverage of all five days on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf

Live World Golf Championship