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Arnold Palmer Invitational: Power ranking the top 10 at Bay Hill

By Mike Randleman

ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 18: A general view of the seventh hole during the final round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented By MasterCard at Bay Hill Club and Lodge on March 18, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 18: A general view of the seventh hole during the final round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented By MasterCard at Bay Hill Club and Lodge on March 18, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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ORLANDO, FL – MARCH 18: Francesco Molinari of Italy lines up a putt on the sixth green during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented By MasterCard at Bay Hill Club and Lodge on March 18, 2017 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL – MARCH 18: Francesco Molinari of Italy lines up a putt on the sixth green during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented By MasterCard at Bay Hill Club and Lodge on March 18, 2017 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) /

Francesco Molinari has quietly assembled a solid resume at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The 2018 Open Champion is 6-for-6 in cuts made at Bay Hill, which includes three top-10s. His high finish was a T5 in 2014 (67-70-69-73) and his last trip was a T26 in 2018 (72-71-69-72).

Molinari was also T9 in 2016, T7 in 2017 and has never done worse than T34. He’s 39-under in 24 rounds at Arnie’s place.

Molinari, 36, is easing his way into 2019 to say the least. His T17 at the WGC-Mexico was just his second start of the year and the first since a T27 at the Tournament of Champions. He hasn’t played in an event with a 36-hole cut since October, which is crazy to think about given the year-round schedule so many guys play these days.

Nonetheless, he comes in fresh for a busy stretch of golf coming up.

Using stats from the 2017-18 season, Molinari was second in strokes gained tee to green and was a fairway machine when he had to be. He’s an unrelenting iron player who ranked 25th in approach from 150-175 yards and eighth from 175-200.

It’ll likely come down to making putts to determine if Molinari can break through to win an API. He’s 182nd in strokes gained putting this season and hasn’t cracked the top 100 since becoming a full-time PGA Tour member in 2014-15.

These stats contributed to Molinari’s breakout 2018 where he was thrice a worldwide winner.

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