{"id":177455,"date":"2026-03-04T06:59:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T06:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/177455\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T06:59:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T06:59:25","slug":"arnold-palmer-invitational-five-players-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/177455\/","title":{"rendered":"Arnold Palmer Invitational: Five players to watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler<\/a> is will be a tough out at Bay Hill, but an elite 72-player field is sure to challenge the 2022 and 2024 champion<\/a> at this week\u2019s Arnold Palmer Invitational<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are five players to watch during the tournament:<\/p>\n

Russell Henley: The defending champion<\/a> and world No. 7 is coming off a missed cut at the Genesis Invitational, but has three top-20 finishes during his other three starts in 2026. Bay Hill has recently brought out Henley\u2019s best, thanks to his pinpoint ball-striking and clutch short game, highlighted by a pivotal chip-in for eagle on the par-5 16th hole in 2025. A fourth-place finish in 2024 and tie for 13th in 2022 followed three missed cuts and finishes outside the top 40 in his first five starts here.<\/p>\n

Collin Morikawa: Arguably the game\u2019s best iron player picked up his first victory since the 2023 Zozo Championship at last month\u2019s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The 29-year-old followed that with a tie for seventh during the Genesis at Riviera Country Club. Bay Hill may feel like unfinished business for Morikawa after a dispiriting runner-up finish in 2025. A four-shot swing on holes 14-16 turned the tide in what was his fourth second-place finish since his Zozo win.<\/p>\n

\"Tommy<\/p>\n

Sam Thomas\/Orlando Sentinel<\/p>\n

Tommy Fleetwood hits the ball out of a bunker at the 18th hole of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 7, 2021 at Bay Hill Club and Lodge. (Sam Thomas\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Tommy Fleetwood: The 35-year-old Englishman\u2019s Tour Championship victory was his first PGA Tour win and proved popular among his peers and galleries alike. Fleetwood arrives in good form after a T-4 at Pebble Beach and T-7 at Riviera. A tie for 11th at the 2025 API felt familiar to Fleetwood. Prior to missing the cut in 2024 following a second-round 80, he had recorded three top-10 finishers and another top-25 in his six previous trips to Bay Hill.<\/p>\n

Justin Rose: The ageless 45-year-old Englishman picked up his 13th win on tour during January\u2019s Farmers Insurance Open. Ranked fifth in greens in regulation (75.64%) and inside the top 20 in approach from 175-200 and 225-250 yards, Rose has the game to attack the brutish 7,466-yard layout \u2014 and history on his side. A tie for eighth in 2025 was his sixth top-10 finish in 20 API starts and foreshadowed a career renaissance after four missed cuts and a WD in his five previous visits.<\/p>\n

Chris Gotterup: A two-time winner in five starts this season, Gotterup will make his API debut. Expected to be a force when he turned pro is 2022, the brawny 6 foot, 210 pounder can overpower courses and close when in contention. The 26-year-old still seeks consistency. He missed 22 cuts in 54 starts across 2024-25 but has reached the weekend in all but one start in 2026, most recently missing the cut at the Genesis.<\/p>\n

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is will be a tough out at Bay Hill, but an elite 72-player…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[12561,139,141,140,76046,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-177455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-orlando","10":"tag-orlando-headlines","11":"tag-orlando-news","12":"tag-social-sports","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}