This week features 18 of the top 30 in the FedExCup for the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, and will mark the 40th playing of the tournament at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge.
Rickie Fowler, Peter Jacobsen and Nancy Lopez will share hosting duties at Orlando’s Bay Hill for the second API since the passing of the great man himself, Arnold Palmer.
Saffa tee times:
- Louis Oosthuizen, Camillo Villegas and Jamie Lovemark @18:44
- Charl Schwartzel, Ernie Els and Emiliano Grillo @19:20
- Tyrone van Aswegen, Alex Cejka and Danny Lee @ 13:47
Another man will also be top of people’s minds at Bay Hill: Tiger Woods, the only man to win the FedExCup twice. It’s been five years since he won a record eighth API title in 2013, and he returns to Bay Hill on the heels of his T2 finish at the Valspar Championship. Although Woods no longer lives in Orlando’s Isleworth neighbourhood – having moved south to Jupiter, Florida – he is one of several players in the field this week with ties to the area. Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell and Stuart Appleby are among those with a short commute this week.
Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Justin Rose, Anirban Lahiri and defending champion Marc Leishman head up a stellar international field, while Patrick Reed, who tied Woods for second place at the Valspar, tries to win for the first time since 2016.
Hideki Matsuyama (wrist) will return to competition for the first time since injuries knocked him out of action at the Waste Management Phoenix Open last month.
Bay Hill Club & Lodge is a 7,419-yard, par-72 track with plenty of water. Palmer played an exhibition there in 1965 and proclaimed it ‘the best course in Florida’ before he eventually bought the club and made it his winter base.
Groups to watch (FedExCup ranking in brackets):
Bubba Watson (18), Justin Rose (15), Reed (33)
After a lacklustre 2017, Watson has returned with authority this season, winning the Genesis Open and finishing T9 at the WGC-Mexico Championship. Rose, who notched 10 straight top-10s – including two wins in late 2017 and early 2018 – took a four-week break and was rusty at the WGC-Mexico Championship before getting back on form with a T5 at the Valspar last weekend. And Reed, who went winless last season, is also on the rebound. He’s coming off a T2 at the Valspar at Innisbrook, where he led the field in strokes gained: approaches.
Day (10), Matsuyama (62), Woods (43)
After falling largely off the map last season, 2016 API champ Day has come back strong this season with a win at the Farmers Insurance Open followed by a runner-up finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Japan’s superstar, Matsuyama, is making his first start since a wrist injury derailed his attempt at a third straight title at the Waste Management Phoenix Open last month. And the entire sports universe is abuzz over eight-time API champ Woods’ runner-up finish at the Valspar.
Stenson (88), Adam Scott (110), Fleetwood (68)
Stenson, the 2013 FedExCup champion, got off to a solid start this season with a T2 at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions but is trying to bounce back after a missed cut (74-74) at the Valspar Championship. Scott, a 13-time PGA TOUR winner, is finally trending in the right direction again after a T16 at the Valspar and a T13 at The Honda Classic. And up-and-comer Fleetwood, who finished T10 at Bay Hill a year ago, is coming off weekend rounds of 67-66 and a T14 at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship two weeks ago. This is his first year of eligibility to play for the FedExCup.
Leishman (23), Fowler (26), McIlroy (178)
Defending champion Leishman hasn’t been in form with a T37 at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship and a missed cut at the Genesis Open. But sometimes API winners just keep right on winning, most recently evidenced by Matt Every (2014, ’15) and eight-time API champion Woods (four straight from 2000 to ’03). Fowler got off to a nice start this season, finishing second at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, but he’s been quiet since a final-round 73 dropped him to a T11 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. And no star has been quieter than McIlroy, who has two missed cuts in four TOUR starts this season.
