The Rundown: 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge

The PGA season continues the Florida swing with the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The field has been a little weaker and Euro players have faired much better than the Americans at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in recent years.

This year will be a much better turnout with a $20 million purse and elevated status. There will be 27 of the top 30 golfers in the World Golf Rankings teeing it up at Bay Hill.

Last year Scottie Scheffler edged out Viktor Hovland, Billy Horschel, and Tyrrell Hatton by one stroke. Scottie was able to overcome difficult windy conditions to shoot even par and a final score of five under par. He gained an impressive eight strokes on approach.

In 2021, Bryson DeChambeau came back from a one-shot deficit to win by one stroke over Lee Westwood. He started his final round with a bogey but was able to string together some birdies and a round of 71 on Sunday.

Bay Hill will once again play host to this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational

The 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational will be played at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida.

Bay Hill is a 7,450 yard par 72 with Bermuda greens. This is one of the courses where looking at the weather splits can make a huge difference between morning and afternoon tee times. There could be a clear advantage because winds can wreak havoc at times here as we’ve seen on the weekend the last two years.

That was also the case in 2020 when Tyrrell Hatton played over par on the weekend and won the tournament at 4 under par.

Wind can hurt any round but even more so with the water hazards and over 80 sand traps around Bay Hill. With a number of doglegs and strategically placed hazards, Bay Hill plays very long.

The hazards and tree-lined fairways place an emphasis on strategic tee shots. As a result, the driving distance (277 yds) is lower here than the tour average. Driving accuracy is slightly higher than tour average coming in at 64 percent.

Taking advantage of the par fives goes a long way. The par fives are the four easiest holes on the course with the 511-yard 16th hole being the easiest.

Long irons are an absolute must with 30% of approach shots coming from over 200 yards. Part of that is based on the par 3s all ranging from 200-230 yards.

Obviously, longer approach shots lead to more missed greens and the GIR % reflects that at about 60%; which is below tour average. Adding to that is the shortened rough around the greens which leads to some run-off into the surrounding hazards.

The field consists of 130 golfers this week with the Top 65 and ties making the cut after 36 holes to play the weekend.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational: Key Stats and Figures

• Strokes Gained Approach
• Proximity 200+ yards
• Par 5 Scoring
• Sand Saves & Bogey Avoidance

Historic Cut Line

• 2022: +4
• 2021: +3
• 2020: +4
• 2019: +2
• 2018: +2

Previous Winners

2022: Scottie Scheffler -5
2021: Bryson DeChambeau -11
2020: Tyrrell Hatton -4
2019: Francesco Molinari -12
2018: Rory McIlroy -18