The PGA Tour continues the Florida Swing heading to Orlando for the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational. The elevated event is presented by Mastercard at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando.
After most of the PGA Tour’s top players sat out last week at the Honda Classic, the stars will return to form a star studded field for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. With one of the toughest greens on the Tour, the field will be tested yet again this weekend.
Jon Rahm is fresh off his win at The Genesis Invitational and has won three of his last five PGA Tour events. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler looks to reclaim No.1 after winning the Phoenix Open at the beginning of February. Also in the mix, Rory McIlroy has the best track record at Bay Hill and will definitely be in contention at the Arnold Palmer Invitational for his first win on the Tour this season.
Continue reading for a Bay Hill course preview.
Arnold Palmer Invitational
The 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational is the fourth elevated event of the year leading up to THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP.
With 20 million on the line once again at the Bay Hill Golf Course, 44 of the top 50 best golfers in the world will be action.
The field is led by the big three including World’s No.1 Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. The three golf stars will continue their battle for the World’s No. 1.
Bay Hill Course Preview
The Arnold Palmer Invitational is held at the Bay Hill Golf Course in Orlando, Florida.
It’s a pretty difficult course, with only 10 players finishing under par last year. Similar to the PGA National, there are many penalties at the wake with water hazards in play on nine holes.
In fact, the Arnold Palmer Invitational has caused the highest percentage of penalty strokes on the Tour in three of the last four years.
The Bay Hill Golf course is one of the longest on the Tour, coming in at a par 72 measuring 7,466 yards long. It features bermudagrass greens and is a relatively flat course with thick roughs. The greens are firm and fast but are really difficult, ranking near 14 on the stimpmeter.
The field will face narrower-than-average fairways and some of the thickest roughs on the Tour.
The course players longer than the scorecard suggests and bombers have begun to take advantage with aggressive lines. However, drivers that take the risk and end up missing the fairways will be stopped in their tracks at the Bay Hill Course.
The heavy winds in Florida in March also have a huge factor in the outcome. In the last two years, the winds have made it tough with scores coming in at single digits under par.
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