Prepare yourself for the many tributes honouring the life and legacy of Arnold “The king” Palmer and the resulting flood of tears from the players and many in the gallery as they pay their respects to the man who popularized golf with his easygoing man-of-the-people personality and flair for the dramatic – win or lose. This Arnold Palmer Invitational is the first since he passed away on Sept. 25. Jason Day of Australia leads the 2017 field that features 13 of the world’s top 25 competitors as returning champion after edging Kevin Chappell of the U.S.
by one shot in last year’s event. The former world No. 1 player and now the No. 2 ranked player behind Dustin Johnson of the U.S. will tee it up for the first time in a month after battling injuries following a T64 performance in the Genesis Open.
McIlroy sits 3rd in rankings
Settling in at T3 last year were Troy Merritt of the U.S. and reigning British Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden. American Matt Every has won twice recently at Bay Hill (2014 and 2015) so he’s one who is very comfortable with the track. Northern Ireland’s Rory Mcilroy, No. 3 in the world rankings, comes into the tournament having placed a stellar T7 in the World Golf Championships – Mexico Championship two weeks ago after recovering from a rib injury.
Stenson pops into close-but-no-cigar territory as he trends upward in the tournament. The powerful Swede has placed in the top five during the past three years at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Stenson has 3 top-10s
He has three top-10s in the PGA Tour’s wraparound season and has only one hiccup which was a W/D in Mexico. Last week Stenson recovered nicely to post a T7 in the Valspar Championship.
Canadian Adam Hadwin brings his smooth swinging style to Bay Hill owning new confidence in that he not only bagged his first victory last week, he also went into the history books this season at the CareerBuilder as one of the few to have ever carded a 59 in PGA tournament competition. Bay Hill Club and Lodge plays 7,419 yards and is a par 72
Favorites: Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Rose
Players To Watch: Rickie Fowler, Brandy Snedeker, Zach Johnson, Matt Every, Adam Hadwin
