The PGA TOUR’s Florida Swing continues with a trip through Central Florida to Arnie's place.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard marks another Signature Event on the PGA TOUR schedule, with the PGA TOUR’s biggest names set to tee it up at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge – highlighted by the return of world No. 3 Xander Schauffele.
Scottie Scheffler is set to defend his title from 2024, the win that kick-started his ascent to his first FedExCup crown, with his three-peat shot at THE PLAYERS Championship coming up next week.
Here’s everything else you need to know as the TOUR heads to Bay Hill.
FIELD NOTES: Xander Schauffele is set to return to action after nursing an injury since the first event of the PGA TOUR season. Schauffele, who last teed it up at The Sentry and finished T30, finished T25 at Bay Hill last year … Scottie Scheffler will defend his title this week. Scheffler, whose win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational kick-started his magical run through 2024, will make his fourth start of 2025 after a Christmas-time hand injury delayed his season’s start. Scheffler has shaken off the rust quickly – he has notched two top-10s in his first three starts of the year, including a T3 at The Genesis Invitational in his last TOUR appearance. Scheffler seems to play well at Bay Hill no matter the conditions. Last year, he won with a 15-under total; two years prior, he won with a 5-under total … Ludvig Åberg is back in action after winning the last Signature Event on the TOUR’s schedule, The Genesis Invitational. Åberg has two top-five finishes so far this season, including his win at The Genesis at Torrey Pines and has back-to-back top-25s at Bay Hill … World No. 2 Rory McIlroy also returns to action. McIlroy, who won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this year, will tee it up at Bay Hill for the 11th time in his career and has notched some impressive results lately. He’s had just one finish outside the top-13 at the course since 2017 (and just two in his career). He finished runner-up in 2023 and won in 2018 … Thirty-eight of the top 40 – and 47 of the top 50 – in the Official World Golf Ranking are set to tee it up at Bay Hill.
| Highest ranked players in the field | |
| World ranking | FedExCup |
| 1. Scottie Scheffler | 1. Ludvig Åberg |
| 2. Rory McIlroy | 2. Sepp Straka |
| 3. Xander Schauffele | 3. Hideki Matsuyama |
| 4. Rory McIlroy | 4. Thomas Detry |
| 5. Ludvig Åberg | 5. Nick Taylor |
| 6. Hideki Matsuyama | 6. Rory McIlroy |
| 7. Wyndham Clark | 7. Maverick McNealy |
| 8. Justin Thomas | 8. Justin Thomas |
| 10. Tommy Fleetwood | 9. Harris English |
| 12. Maverick McNealy | 10. Joe Highsmith |
Auburn sophomore Jackson Koivun was the recipient of the Palmer Cup Award as he was part of the winning American squad at last summer’s Palmer Cup in Ireland. Koivun has 18 points in the PGA TOUR University Accelerated standings and will look to join fellow star-in-waiting Luke Clanton by earning a PGA TOUR card through the program sooner rather than later. Koivun is currently No. 2 – behind Clanton – in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
SIGNATURE EVENT STORYLINES: Joe Highsmith’s maiden TOUR title Sunday at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches saw him earn his way into the Arnold Palmer Invitational along with J.J. Spaun (who finished T2). Both Highsmith and Spaun jumped into the Aon Next 10, bumping Lucas Glover and Andrew Novak (Glover and Novak eventually qualified for Bay Hill via the fill-the-field category from the Aon Next 10 beyond the No. 10 spot)… Jacob Bridgeman and Max McGreevy, who finished T2 and T4, respectively, at the Cognizant Classic, earned their way into Bay Hill via the Aon Swing 5, knocking out Nicolai Højgaard and Joel Dahmen … The next Signature Event on the PGA TOUR schedule is the RBC Heritage in mid-April. The Aon Swing 5 standings for that event starts with the Puerto Rico Open and continues through the Valspar Championship, Texas Children’s Houston Open and Valero Texas Open … The Aon Next 10 for the RBC Heritage is comprised of the current-year FedExCup standings through the Masters Tournament.
COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 UPDATES: With his win at the Cognizant Classic, Highsmith also made a tremendous leap in the standings from No. 123 all the way to No. 10. Highsmith entered the Cognizant Classic on the strength of a T17 at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld … Scottie Scheffler was bumped from No. 10 to No. 12, but the remainder of the TOUR TOP 10 remained unchanged, save for some minor shuffling … Hideki Matsuyama and Sepp Straka switched spots, with Straka moving to No. 2 and Matsuyama moving to No. 3 … J.J. Spaun, who finished T2 at PGA National, jumped from No. 36 to No. 11 and just barely outside the No. 10 spot. He trails Highsmith by just 19 points.
FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 700 FedExCup points.
COURSE: Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge, par 72, 7,466 yards. Bay Hill will once again host the Arnold Palmer Invitational, as it has every year since 1979. It’s a mostly flat layout but features water challenges on most holes and demands a high level of ball-striking and shot-making in order to score well. It’s been one of the PGA TOUR’s testiest venues in recent years, with single-digit under-par winning scores in three of the last five seasons.
72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Payne Stewart (1987)
18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Andy Bean (Round 2, 1981), Greg Norman (Round 2, 1984), Adam Scott (Round 1, 2014).
LAST TIME: Scottie Scheffler kicked off his incredible 2024 march to the history books with a five-shot triumph at the Arnold Palmer Invitational after firing an impressive final-round 6-under 66 to pull away from the field. Scheffler was surgical in his 2024 effort at Bay Hill, ranking No. 1 for the week in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green. He was also fifth in Strokes Gained: Putting – an impressive statistical turnaround from prior months. Scheffler’s five-shot win was the largest at Bay Hill since Tiger Woods in 2012. Wyndham Clark finished second at 10-under while Shane Lowry, who started the day tied for the lead, ended up third at 9-under.
How to follow (all times ET):
Television:- Special programming alert: Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., tune in to "Live: On the Range from the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by ReliaQuest."
- Get up close and personal with your favorite PGA TOUR stars as they dial in their game at Bay Hill during "Live: On the Range from the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by ReliaQuest," from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on PGA TOUR YouTube, GOLF Channel and FAST network.
- Thursday-Friday: 2-6 p.m. (GOLF Channel, NBC Sports App)
- Saturday-Sunday: 12:30-2:30 p.m. (GOLF Channel, NBC Sports App), 2:30-6 p.m. (NBC, Peacock)
| -- | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Stream 1 | Main feed/Featured groups: 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. | Main feed/Featured groups: 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. | Main feed/Featured groups: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. | Main feed/Featured groups: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. |
| Stream 2 | Marquee group/Featured group: 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. | Marquee group/Featured group: 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. | Marquee group/Featured group: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. | Marquee group/Featured group: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. |
| Stream 3 | Featured groups/Featured holes: 8:15 a.m.-6 p.m. | Featured groups/Featured holes: 8:15 a.m.-6 p.m. | Featured groups/Featured holes: 8:45 a.m.-6 p.m.. | Featured groups/Featured holes: 8:45 a.m.-6 p.m. |
| Stream 4 | Featured holes: 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m. | Featured holes: 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m. | Featured holes: 8:15 a.m.-6 p.m. | Featured holes: 8:15 a.m.-6 p.m. |
- Main feed: Primary tournament coverage featuring the best action from across the course
- Marquee group: New “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group
- Featured groups: Traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups
- Featured holes: Combination of par 3s and iconic or pivotal holes
- Thursday-Friday: noon-6 p.m.
- Saturday, Sunday: 1-6 p.m.
Congratulations again to last week's winner @DFSNOLE
With the win @DFSNOLE extends the overall season lead
Good luck to everyone this week
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