Power Rankings<\/p>\n
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Golf is Hard at Bay Hill<\/p>\n
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Written by Rob Bolton<\/p>\n
The PGA TOUR season has covered quite a bit of the 2026 bingo card in just seven events. There\u2019s a two-time winner in Chris Gotterup, a breakthrough champion in Jacob Bridgeman, and Justin Rose broke a Tiger Woods scoring record from the 20th century. Of course, with Scottie Scheffler having won in his season debut, the free space in the center was covered early, too.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s still a notable square that no one can claim. None of the 11 courses played has averaged over par, and that\u2019s an upset for fans who love to watch the best of the best suffer and squirm.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re among those playing along, get ready to whoop and holler for the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. The third Signature Event of the season is contested at Arnold Palmer\u2019s Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando. What the field of 72 can expect, how the course sets up, an explanation of the cut and much more is below.<\/p>\n
There are lots of reasons why the Arnold Palmer Invitational is a Signature Event, not the least of which is the track on which it is contested.<\/p>\n
Bay Hill has yielded a scoring average above par for nine years running (72.577 in 2025), and that\u2019s saying something as a stock par 72 in this day and age when the magicians wielding the wands can get their golf balls to do just about anything they want. But when you review that stretch a little more, you just might allow yourself to believe that the late legend whose name has graced the tournament since 2007 has had something to do with it. Since Palmer\u2019s passing in September of 2016, there have been \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 exactly nine editions of his tournament on his home course. Does that elicit an image of him winking above a knowing smile? That\u2019s a bingo.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, as the stage for a Signature Event with a limited field comprised almost entirely of professionals who have been at the top of their game since the previous edition, the course has humbled accordingly. Despite that it can stretch to 7,466 yards, it\u2019s landed in the 15th-to-25th percentile of longest averages for distance of all drives among courses measured. It\u2019s in part a reflection of the respect for the stingy fairways of the last two years.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t get any easier on approach to the Bermudagrass greens that average an expansive 7,500 square feet. The non-overseeded, undulating targets are groomed to touch 13\u00bd feet using the Stimpmeter, so not only are frequencies of setting up scoring opportunities annually among the lowest of all courses, but so is proximity to the hole from the fairway. It\u2019s always the preferred alternative, of course, but the overseeded rough again has been managed to 4 inches this year, so if the data doesn\u2019t dissuade to stay out of it, a stroll through it should do the trick.<\/p>\n
The equalizer is in the form of the greens in the aggregate. Although slick, they\u2019re pure and guys can settle into a groove on them. So, the game within the game will be to construct a strategy from the green back to the tee to zero in on angles and distances for ideal positions from which to stand over opportunities to break par.<\/p>\n
Unseasonably warm air will have locals double-taking while at the same time accepting that it\u2019s early March. Daytime highs in the mid-80s throughout will present the feel of mid-spring. So will the daily afternoon threat of rain. Winds would freshen along with it, but nothing too serious is forecast.<\/p>\n
As the second of the three legacy Signature Events, the Arnold Palmer Invitational features a cut of the low 50 plus ties and all golfers within 10 strokes of the lead after two rounds. From there, the survivors will chase a $4 million first prize, 700 FedExCup points, a three-year PGA TOUR membership exemption as the winner of this tournament and exemptions into THE PLAYERS Championship through 2028.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
PGATOUR.com\u2019s Rob Bolton previews and recaps every tournament. Refer to the timing of his contributions below. He\u2019s also active as @RobBoltonGolf<\/a> on X where you can connect with him.<\/p>\n MONDAY: Power Rankings (Arnold Palmer Invitational)
TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (Puerto Rico Open); Sleepers* (Arnold Palmer Invitational); Expert Picks**
WEDNESDAY: Fantasy Insider
SUNDAY: Qualifiers<\/a><\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"18H AGO 4 Min Read Power Rankings *:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-17ygvlf>img,.css-17ygvlf>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-17ygvlf::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]> Golf is Hard at Bay Hill *:not(style)~*:not(style){margin-top:0.5rem;-webkit-margin-end:0px;margin-inline-end:0px;margin-bottom:0px;-webkit-margin-start:0px;margin-inline-start:0px;}]]> A Change Text…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-501345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}