Tournament Preview - Arnold Palmer Invitational

Tournament Preview - Arnold Palmer Invitational

Two PGA Tour events this week (one designated and one not). This newsletter will focus on the Arnold Palmer Invitational but may include some notes from the Puerto Rico Open.

Bay Hill is the club this week, with its $20m purse up for grabs. The winner will take home $3.6m like other designated events. Scottie Scheffler won here last year and has pre-tournament odds of +1000. Jon Rahm can continue his hot streak in 2023 by adding another win, and he is the pre-tourney favorite at +700. There were some rumblings that Tiger may play here, but alas he is not in the field. Wind should be a factor, and maybe we'll see someone try to drive the Par 5 6th hole, like Bryson tried in 2021.

In other news, the PGA Tour announced some changes to the designated events for next year. Reduced field sizes to 70-78 players and eliminating the cut. Pour one out for the cut. These designated events are turning into LIV within the PGA. Not sure I'm a fan of losing the cut since that is one of the beauties of the sport, and makes Friday rounds much more interesting.

Weather

Forecast for tomorrow looks pretty good. Temperatures will range from mid-60s up to low 90s. It's already freaking summer outside of Orlando.

The weekend could bring some storms and wind should be a theme throughout the tournament. Will definitely be a softer course come Saturday and Sunday.

The tournament socials can be found here for Twitter, Instagram, and their own website.

ESPN Plus starting at 7:00am ESTGolf Channel starting at 2:00pm EST

The full field can be found here. 120 players in this designated event, so nearly every big name player you can expect is playing this week.

• Previous Winners in this week's field:

  • Scottie Scheffler - 2022

  • Tyrell Hatton - 2020

  • Francesco Molinari - 2019

  • Rory McIlroy - 2018

  • Jason Day - 2016

• Notable previous winners absent:

  • Bryson DeChambeau - 2021 (LIV)

  • Marc Leishman - 2017 (LIV)

  • Matt Every - 2015, 2014

  • Tiger Woods - 2013

Betting Odds provided by Bovada.lv at this link (not sponsored)Some notable players to consider:

• Jon Rahm at +700 - can't bet against him this year, at this point

• Scottie Scheffler at +1000 - previous winner, trying to go back to back

• Jason Day at +3300 - he's been playing solid since the beginning of this year and should sneak a win out soon

• Bay Hill Club & Lodge is a private club, where only members, guests of members, and guests staying at the Lodge can play. Arnold Palmer owned the club from 1974 until his death in 2016. Now, his daughter and son-in-law own it.

• Membership fees are pretty reasonable for a Tour stop as popular as this one as of 2022. $30,000 initiation and around $7,000 annual dues.

• There are three 9 hole courses there, with the Champion and Challenger 9s being played this week.

• You can play as a guest of a member or by staying at the Lodge. Fees range from $200 per night up to $1,200.

Notes and News

• Seminole Pro Member tournament was on Monday. This may be the most coveted tournament of the year (twitter)

• Girl with the bucket list sign is heading to the Masters! (twitter)

• Ratings for last week's Honda Classic still drew around 2m viewers (twitter)

• Really cool touch to include letters from Arnie outside of the locker room this week (twitter)

Twitter Roundup

May your rounds be filled with #oneputts.