Rory McIlroy is the favorite in Vegas to win the tournament.
The Tour makes its way to the Bay Hill Course & Lodge this week for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. For an in-depth look at the course, check out yesterday’s article. This week has a much stronger field than what was featured at the Valspar Championship. The field at Bay Hill will feature 29 of the Top 50 golfers in the world.
In the past, winners here have excelled at hitting greens in regulation. There hasn’t been much of a premium on distance off the tee. Golfers will also face more long iron shots than they come up against in an average tournament.
Rory McIlroy has the best odds to win according to Vegas this week. McIlroy is one of the best ball strikers in the field. He has one of the best combinations of accuracy and distance of anyone on Tour and he has returned in great form since the rib injury. Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton, and Paul Casey add more European firepower to this field. They each bring their own strengths to Bay Hill and come in with good form.
Jason Day is back from his withdrawal from Mexico and ready to defend his title here. Day has played here 3 times over the last 5 years. He hasn’t missed the cut once and has two Top 25 finishes. Another previous winner of this event is Matt Every. Unfortunately, he isn’t coming in at his best form by a long shot and will most likely struggle to make the cut.
Tommy Fleetwood is flying somewhat under the radar this week. He boasts the 18th best Vegas odds but hasn’t garnered much media attention. Fleetwood has never played at the Arnold Palmer Invitational but his ball striking has been impressive so far in 2017.
My dark horse pick this week is Sean O’Hair. He has played this tournament every year since 2006 and has only missed one cut to go with his three Top 10 finishes. O’Hair withdrew with a neck injury last week but will tee it up again this week.
