By Chris Havlicek
Updated 3/6/24 3:36am ET
The PGA Tour’s Florida Swing rolls north this week when an elite field tees off in the fourth signature event of the season. The Arnold Palmer Invitational begins Thursday at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando.
This week’s tournament has attracted the Tour’s biggest stars, led by the top two players in the world. Scottie Scheffler is the favorite at +650, followed by Rory McIlroy (+900). Viktor Hovland (+1600), Xander Schauffele (+1600), and Patrick Cantlay (+1800) round out the top five in the field. All nine of the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, who are eligible to play, are competing.
Dates/Location:
What: Arnold Palmer Invitational
Where: Bay Hill, Orlando, FL
When: March 7-10th
Purse: $20 million
Defending Champion: Kurt Kitayama
The Course:
Bay Hill has been a staple of the PGA Tour since the 70s, and it epitomizes tough, windy, water-heavy, firm, flat Florida golf like few others. Despite featuring an extra par five, Bay Hill is a more challenging golf course than what we saw last week at PGA National. It’s longer, firmer, faster, features much thicker rough, and it typically ranks as the hardest par 72 on the PGA Tour schedule. In 2020, Bay Hill was the most difficult course pros saw all season, including the majors. 2022 came close as well when Scottie Scheffler won at five under par.
After the API in 2018, Chris Flynn took over as the head superintendent before the 2019 tournament. Flynn has undoubtedly made this a tougher course, widening the fairways, removing most of the rough around the hazards, shaving off areas around the green, and making the rough they did have even longer.
Odds/Top 10: (Courtesy of FanDuel)
Scottie Scheffler +650
Rory McIlroy +900
Xander Schauffele +1600
Viktor Hovland +1600
Patrick Cantlay +1800
Ludvig Aberg +1800
Jordan Spieth +2200
Sam Burns +2500
Colin Morikawa +2500
Cameron Young + 2500
Photo credit: Shutterstock
