The 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational delivered a dramatic finish as Akshay Bhatia defeated Daniel Berger with a par on the first playoff hole to secure his third title on the PGA Tour.
The left-handed American produced a stunning comeback at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge, erasing a five-shot deficit before firing a superb back-nine 31 to force extra holes. Bhatia then sealed the victory in the playoff, continuing a remarkable trend in his career — all three of his PGA Tour wins have now come via playoffs.
The victory also places Bhatia in rare company. He becomes just the eighth player in PGA Tour history to win each of his first three titles in playoffs.
Along with the trophy at Arnie’s Place, Bhatia pockets the tournament’s massive $4 million winner’s cheque from the $20 million purse.
Bhatia’s won all of his events in playoffs
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Runner-up Berger takes home $2.2 million and earns a place in this summer’s The Open Championship after finishing as the highest-placed player not already exempt for the field at Royal Birkdale Golf Club.
Further down the leaderboard, Ludvig Åberg and Cameron Young shared third place at 12-under par, each collecting $1.2 million, while Collin Morikawa picked up $840,000 as he rounded out the top five at 11-under par
Below is the full prize money breakdown from the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Arnold Palmer Invitational 2026: Prize Money Payouts
Position
Player
Score
Earnings
1
Akshay Bhatia
-15
$4,000,000
2
Daniel Berger
-15
$2,200,000
T3
Ludvig Aberg
-12
$1,200,000
T3
Cameron Young
-12
$1,200,000
5
Collin Morikawa
-11
$840,000
T6
Sahith Theegala
-10
$702,000
T6
Russell Henley
-10
$702,000
T6
Min Woo Lee
-10
$702,000
T9
Harry Hall
-8
$578,000
T9
Rickie Fowler
-8
$578,000
T11
Adam Scott
-6
$493,000
T11
Jordan Spieth
-6
$493,000
T13
Sepp Straka
-5
$373,200
T13
Billy Horschel
-5
$373,200
T13
Maverick McNealy
-5
$373,200
T13
Si Woo Kim
-5
$373,200
T13
Viktor Hovland
-5
$373,200
T18
Chris Gotterup
-3
$261,000
T18
Max Greyserman
-3
$261,000
T18
Kurt Kitayama
-3
$261,000
T18
Jacob Bridgeman
-3
$261,000
T18
Jhonattan Vegas
-3
$261,000
T18
Bud Cauley
-3
$261,000
T24
Lucas Glover
-2
$157,000
T24
Robert MacIntyre
-2
$157,000
T24
Nicolai Højgaard
-2
$157,000
T24
Ryan Fox
-2
$157,000
T24
Patrick Rodgers
-2
$157,000
T24
Alex Noren
-2
$157,000
T24
Harris English
-2
$157,000
T24
Scottie Scheffler
-2
$157,000
T24
Xander Schauffele
-2
$157,000
T33
Keith Mitchell
-1
$109,000
T33
Michael Kim
-1
$109,000
T33
Corey Conners
-1
$109,000
T33
Ryo Hisatsune
-1
$109,000
T33
Michael Thorbjornsen
-1
$109,000
T38
Nick Taylor
E
$90,000
T38
Taylor Pendrith
E
$90,000
T38
Andrew Novak
E
$90,000
T41
Hideki Matsuyama
+1
$78,000
T41
Matt McCarty
+1
$78,000
T41
Matt Fitzpatrick
+1
$78,000
T44
Nico Echavarria
+2
$66,000
T44
Taylor Moore
+2
$66,000
T44
Andrew Putnam
+2
$66,000
T47
Chris Kirk
+5
$58,000
T47
Daniel Bennett (a)
+5
$0
49
Tommy Fleetwood
+6
$56,000
50
Brian Harman
+10
$54,000
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