Arnold Palmer Invitational: Top 10 power rankings at Bay Hill
Rory McIlroy came to the 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational as the world No. 6. He played like it that week (which is no huge insult, by the way) and finished right there in a tie for sixth.
A year later, and the Northern Irishman appears to have his groove back. He now has No. 2 Jon Rahm and longtime top dog on his heels, No. 3 Brooks Koepka, but McIlroy is playing as well as anyone over the past year.
He won three times on the way to the 2018-19 FedEx Cup title. The 30-year-old is already a winner in 2019-2020 at the WGC-HSBC Champions where he held off Xander Schauffele for the title in China.
McIlroy’s been in the mix to win in all five PGA Tour starts this season: T-3 at the Zozo and the Farmers, T-5 at the Genesis and solo fifth in his last appearance at the WGC-Mexico. You can add in a solo fourth late in 2019 at the European Tour’s season finale in Dubai for good measure.
It’s within reason to knock Rory for not winning more for all the times in contention, but it takes a special type of player just to be in the arena so often. DFS players know what they’re getting from him week to week.
A win is the icing on the cake. That’s just what McIlroy did at the API in 2018 (69-70-67-64) when he won by three over Bryson DeChambeau.
McIlroy was even par through five holes in the final round and four behind the 54-hole leader, Henrik Stenson. He then erupted for three birdies in his last four holes of the front nine, and for five in his last six holes on the back, to fire the round of the tournament and win going away.
Firing 15-under on the weekend at Bay Hill is no easy task. It goes to show the talent Rory has when he’s clicking and the putter cooperates. He gained 2.507 strokes on the greens while hitting 64.29% fairways and 63.89% greens.
McIlroy is 5-for-5 in cuts made at the API and has never fared worse than T-27. He hasn’t missed the weekend in a non-major championship since May.
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He leads the Tour in strokes gained tee to green (2.351) and is 16th in SG around the green. McIlroy is 72nd in SG putting (.235), though he tends to roll it better on Bermuda greens.