Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando is the place to be for professional golf at its best.
An exclusive and very limited group of 72 players will compete for a $20 million prize pool, with $4 million awarded to the winner of the 61st Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard on Sunday.
This is the third of this year’s nine signature events, attracting, among others, the top three players in the Official World Golf Rankings: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Tommy Fleetwood.
Colin Morikawa achieved his first signature victory last month at Pebble Beach, and Jacob Bridgeman won his two weeks ago at Riviera, where Scheffler finished tied for 12th, ending his string of 18 straight top 10 finishes on the PGA Tour.
The world No. 1 picked up a win during his first start of the season in Palm Springs, but even Superman finds some kryptonite during an occasional episode. He’s gotten off to slower starts yet highly respectable finishes, with top 5’s in Scottsdale and Pebble.
Arnie’s place looks typically majestic and seems ready for Scheffler, who has won this tournament every two years since 2022, while defending champion Russell Henley returns to the site of his 5th career Tour title.
McIlroy claimed this tournament in 2018 and should be well rested after a week off following his runner-up finish to Bridgeman.
On The Mend
Justin Thomas arrives in Orlando for his first tournament since last year’s Team USA Ryder Cup defeat. The 16-time Tour winner sat out the first seven events of the season while recovering from back surgery in November.
“March Is Going To Be Major” on The PGA Tour
All the top players will look to carry momentum into next week’s Players Championship near Jacksonville in Ponte Vedra Beach, where the Tour’s flagship event pays $4.5 million to the winner from a $25 million purse.
There’s clearly an ongoing, rather overt effort to elevate it to a “Major,” while pro golf has traditionally recognized only four: The Masters, British Open, U.S. Open, and PGA (of America) Championship.
The Tour itself recently released a 30-second promotional video touting that “March is going to be major,” which was met with mixed reviews including McIlroy, a two-time Players winner dissenting and TV’s Brandel Chamblee passionately affirming the assertion. He is, of course, an analyst on media rights-holding Golf Channel.
No matter where your opinion falls, you might say The Players is clearly “better than most,’ a phrase made famous by a former API winner during an NBC Sports’ telecast a quarter-century ago.
Gary Koch was describing an incredible 60-foot, double-breaking birdie putt on the legendary island green 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass by Tiger Woods, who went on to win the event in 2001.
“I’m all confused. I think a lot of people are. I personally like to think we have four major championships. I like to think that the Players is the best regular-season event that the PGA Tour presents,” Koch told me at media day last week for the Valspar Championship, March 19-22, at Innisbrook Resort near Tampa to close out the 2026 Florida Swing.
“The Players has the strongest field. It’s played on a beautiful golf course, and it’s somewhat like Augusta in that regard. It’s held at the same location every year. Spectators are familiar with the holes because they return to the same site annually. This familiarity often leads to tremendous drama, especially with that finish. It’s the top event that the PGA Tour organizes,” Koch said.
Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard field:
Åberg, Ludvig
+ Bennett, Daniel
Berger, Daniel
Bhatia, Akshay
Bradley, Keegan
Bridgeman, Jacob
Burns, Sam
Campbell, Brian
Cantlay, Patrick
Cauley, Bud
Conners, Corey
Coody, Pierceson
Joel Dahmen
Day, Jason
Echavarria, Nico
English, Harris
Fitzpatrick, Matt
Fleetwood, Tommy
Fowler, Rickie
Fox, Ryan
Gerard, Ryan
Glover, Lucas
Gotterup, Chris
+ Greyserman, Max
Griffin, Ben
Hall, Harry
Harman, Brian
Henley, Russell
Hisatsune, Ryo
Hoge, Tom
Hojgaard, Nicolai
+ Horschel, Billy
Hovland, Viktor
Im, Sungjae
Kim, Michael
Kim, Si Woo
+ Kirk, Chris
Kitayama, Kurt
Knapp, Jake
Lee, Min Woo
Lowry, Shane
MacIntyre, Robert
Matsuyama, Hideki
McCarthy, Denny
McCarty, Matt
McIlroy, Rory
McNealy, Maverick
Mitchell, Keith
Moore, Taylor
Morikawa, Collin
Noren, Alex
Novak, Andrew
Pendrith, Taylor
Poston, J.T.
Potgieter, Aldrich
Putnam, Andrew
Rodgers, Patrick
Rose, Justin
Schauffele, Xander
Scheffler, Scottie
Scott, Adam
Smotherman, Austin
Spaun, J.J.
+ Spieth, Jordan
Stevens, Sam
Straka, Sepp
Taylor, Nick
Theegala, Sahith
Thomas, Justin
Thorbjornsen, Michael
Vegas, Jhonattan
Young, Cameron
+ Sponsor exemption