Trusting that greens will be adjusted accordingly, its a plan that likely will extend into Saturdays third round for which the elements will mimic the opener, albeit with a slight risk of inclement weather. Scottie Scheffler became the third straight first-time winner on tour, beating Patrick Cantlay in a sudden-death playoff with a 26-foot putt Sunday at TPC Scottsdale. Returning participants will be greeted to a course that will be wholly familiar. Ranks 1st in SG: Par 5, 2nd in SG: APP and 2nd in the model. Just because you know what to do doesnt make it an easy task. The Spanish player is about to begin his 38th week ranked No. Over his past six starts, Hoge finished tied for fourth, missed cut, solo second, missed cut, first and a tie for 14th. A cozy field of 120 is chasing a winners cut of 550 FedExCup points and $3.6 million from a prize fund of $20 million. This week, the tour heads to the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, for the unofficial "fifth major," which now has a $20 . Copyright 2023 PGA TOUR, Inc. All rights reserved. Here are the latest PGA Tour Power Rankings heading into this week's Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, where you-know-who (Tiger Woods!) Hovland was one of the best iron players on tour last season; he was first in approach shots from 200 to 225 yards, second from 125 to 150, and third from 175 to 200. pic.twitter.com/djDjZuFQFy, 321 yards 13 feet@MaxHoma23 with one of the best drives of the week on 17 @WMPhoenixOpen. An unforgettable PGA Tour season reaches its second major championship this week, as the best of the best golfers in the world congregate in the oil capital of the world, better known as Tulsa, Oklahoma, as Southern Hills Country Club hosts the 2022 PGA Championship. Ranks 4th in SG: APP and 7th in Proximity: 200+ Yards. Unlike the last two tournaments that exceeded the allotted reservation to make room for all automatically eligible PGA TOUR members both were designated events the cap of 144 at PGA National is the field size as advertised. Each week in our golf power rankings, we will highlight the top players on the PGA TOUR in order of likeliness to win the tournament. Bay Hill has been a stock par 72 since 2010. Im taking a small look at SG: Tee-to-Green in very high winds to get a grasp on who will be able to navigate Bay Hill in the worst of conditions this week. Since winning the Shriners Children's Open in October, he tied for fifth at the Tournament of Champions and for sixth at the American Express. There are designated events, and then there is the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Burns ranks 16th in strokes gained per round putting (.723) and is 16th in driving distance (312.0). Collin Morikawa The California native has already won twice in his home state this season, picking up victories at the Fortinet Championship in Napa and Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. More ESPN+ content . Previous rank: 25 And since The Genesis Invitational was, self-evidently, an invitational, top 10s at Pebble would get into The Honda Classic. Keegan Bradley : I always think of Bradley when I hear about potentially brutal conditions on a course. He had back-to-back top-five finishes at the Genesis before missing the cut last year. Min Woo Lee is making his Honda Classic debut this week on a sponsor exemption. This will be even more pronounced in tomorrow's slate, with winds looking to be brutal as the day progresses. Previous rank: 6 pic.twitter.com/gpqP1Q1WlN. As of Tuesday, five commits are currently exempt into THE PLAYERS, so the PRO also is an opportunity for Nate Lashley, Max McGreevy, Scott Piercy, Austin Smotherman and Nick Watney to sharpen their tools for the PGA TOURs flagship event. Detroit Golf Club is a shorter par-72, measuring 7,370 yards and is one of the easiest courses on the circuit. Previous rank: 1 He missed the cut in his previous two starts at the Genesis Invitational in 2019 and 2020. Sundays finale easily will be the best round in the context of scoring conditions, but Bay Hills bite might strengthen even more than usual as the wind will rotate and howl in from the north. Its in a tough spot on the schedule with back-to-back designated events coming right before and another one to immediately follow at next weeks Arnold Palmer Invitational. 17 took a bad bounce and went into the water, resulting in a bogey. 35 on No. Let's get down to the top 10 players to get it done at PGA National: 10 Min Woo Lee OWGR: T-47th, FedEx Cup: --, Min Woo Lee is making his Honda Classic debut this week on a sponsor exemption.. Won at Bay Hill in 2016 and has finished decently in all three tries since. 1, a loaded LPGA field and more to watch in golf this week, Here's everything you missed this week in professional golf, Jin Young Ko up by 2 in Singapore title defense, Quigley fires 65 for early lead in PGA Champions, Kitayama handles windy Bay Hill as Rahm falters, Tiger not part of field for next week's Players, Young stretches lead to 4 in Puerto Rico Open, Rahm stays hot, finishes strong for Bay Hill lead, Rookie Young captures Puerto Rico lead with 63. This years field is as weak as this tournaments seen in years. Brutally difficult conditions led to Scottie Scheffler persevering to win at 5-under last year. 1 in the world after tying for 10th at TPC Scottsdale, his fourth top-15 in as many PGA Tour starts in 2022. He finished second in the Saudi International, 2 shots behind LIV Golf's Abraham Ancer, and collected $525,000. He has five top-25 finishes in seven tour starts this season, including a tie for third at the Shriners Children's Open and QBE Shootout, an unofficial event. He flew back to the U.S. to compete in the WM Phoenix Open, and the long travel seemed to catch up with him. 13. His ball-striking is elite and ranks . As always, Ill prefer distance, but you can get around here in a variety of ways. As usual, a longshot that makes the top-25 this week is Alex Smalley. Thats where 2022 PRO champion Ryan Brehm is competing this week. The PGA Tour heads north to central Florida to visit Orlando and continue the Florida Swing at one of the most well-known events of the season. Our experts have broken down the betting odds and are ready to deliver their Arnold Palmer Invitational predictions with odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook. He'll have a chance to get things right at Riviera, where he tied for second, 2 strokes behind Joaquin Niemann, last season. Morikawa showed a lot of backbone by finishing third at the Farmers Insurance Open, his first start after blowing a 6-shot lead in the final round of the Tournament of Champions. For a variety of reasons. 1. PGATOUR.coms Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. 5. Bay Hill has been a stock par 72 since 2010. The greens tend to not be too difficult to roll putts in on, especially for guys based in the Southeast U.S. used to Bermuda. Scheffler, who entered the week ranked No. Ranks 10th in the model and 11th in SG: APP. Expected high winds and firm conditions this week will also open things up a bit to accurate drivers. Access 4,300-plus hours of live coverage from 35 PGA Tour tournaments each year, including four days of coverage at 28 events with four feeds each day. Lets get down to the top 10 players to get it done at PGA National: Min Woo Lee, 150th Open Championship, St. Andrews, Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports. The Irishman has it going again with a 14th Riviera and 5th at Honda with more excellent ball striking. Daytime temperatures will eclipse 80 degrees and the threat for rain is relegated to a passing shower at worst. Nothing has gone terribly wrong for him, and theres a chance Kim will be happy to get back to the south where he first won. He finished T16. Jon Rahm The Korn Ferry trademark is also a registered trademark, and is used in the Korn Ferry Tour logo with permission. The Honda Classic leads off a month of competitions in the Sunshine State. 7. It was his ninth consecutive top-10 finish worldwide; he was in the top five in seven of his past nine events. Bermuda grass is where he tends to thrive. A year ago, Kim was preparing for the Royal's Cup in Thailand on the Asian Tour. Much of Fitzpatrick's best work over the past few months has come in Europe, where he was second in the Italian Open and tied for fifth at the DP World Tour championship. 6. Scheffler is atop the OWGR for the second time in his career, after spending 30 weeks at No. While golf may not have money lines, you can check out your wide variety of options while locking in our Arnold Palmer Invitational predictions. PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, and the Swinging Golfer design are registered trademarks. Morikawa is back from the Middle East and is scheduled to play at Riviera Country Club, which will be his first start on the U.S. mainland since a runner-up at The CJ Cup at Summit in mid-October. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. Day had just two top-10s and five top-25s in 19 starts last season. Finau has (barely) cooled off from his sizzling stretch last season, in which he won in back-to-back starts and was ninth at the Tour Championship. The driver has been very consistent lately, so hell just need a colder than usual putter to get rolling. Sam Burns Matthew Fitzpatrick : I like to add a few extra players sometimes for big tournaments, and Fitzpatrick is worth noting this week. Cameron Smith 91 to No. PGA Tour Power Rankings: Arnold Palmer Invitational Written by Tyler Duke Last Updated Feb 28, 2023 Each week in our golf power rankings, we will highlight the top players on the PGA TOUR in order of likeliness to win the tournament. Schauffele made too many mistakes down the stretch to end a three-year drought without a victory on tour. Ranks 2nd in SG: P and 16th in the model. "High praise from Michael Greller on @JordanSpieth's ridiculous shot on 17 @WMPhoenixOpen. Greenside seats, you've been warned. In the third round of the 2022 Mexico Open at Vidanta, Jon Rahm shot a 3-under 68 to get to 15-under through 54 holes. He finished 10th in the Genesis Invitational last season, after claiming his second PGA Tour win in the event in 2021. The winner in a 156-player field has a record of 155-0-0, the runner-up is 154-1-0, etc. With primary rough at least 3 inches high, distance and accuracy off the tee plays up all week. I'm not happy at all that I'm seventh. While hes been a menace at events like the Valspar Championship and Sanderson Farms Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational is one hed like to pick off next. Its one of seven cuts made in 2022-23. He'll take you inside the world of golf with exclusive looks at some of the top courses, feature stories, celebrity guests and interviews with the biggest stars in golf. Even casual golf fans and golf bettors are familiar with other participants such as Xander Schauffele, Will Zalatoris, Max Homa, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa. Justin Thomas RECORDS: A player's won-lost-tied record, based on head-to-head competition, in each category. Schauffele made more than 89 feet of putts -- on the first five holes Sunday. Rahm would have to be ranked No. Zalatoris was sidelined due to injury for the latter part of 2022, but he placed in a tie for fourth last month at Riviera, and that clearly shows he is back in business. Tom Hoge With primary rough at least 3 inches high, distance and accuracy off the tee plays up all week. That resembled last year when he coasted at Riviera after winning in Phoenix and then added a 2nd victory at Bay Hill. He's coming. His strength is on approach and, given his roots, also confidence when the wind blows. The course measures 7,261 yards for a par 70. How Arnold Palmers Bay Hill Club & Lodge will present itself, what Mother Nature has planned and more can be found below. Just a friendly reminder that these aren't necessarily the 25 most talented players in the . With that being said, it seems that distance may be becoming less important since some changes from the Bay Hill superintendent that have opened the course up more and made the fairway width closer to average. 25. *: Power Rankings (Puerto Rico), Sleepers (API), Payouts and Points (API), Payouts and Points (Puerto Rico), Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 4. There may not be a man in golf Id rather have standing over the ball in high winds. He tied for third at the American Express and 13th at the Farmers Insurance Open, followed by a tie for 10th at the Phoenix Open. He also took T-21st at last years Open Championship. Previous rank: 16 So, course management and accepting par as a great score at times will be key. Well look at SG: Approach as well as Greens in Regulations Gained to get a grasp on the guys who will be avoiding trouble with their irons this week and making plenty of pars. McIlroy (2018) is another former champion of the tournament. The field at Bay Hill is absolutely loaded once again for the PGA Tours new elevated events. TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (Puerto Rico), Sleepers (API), SUNDAY: Payouts and Points (API), Payouts and Points (Puerto Rico), Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle. looped in on merit, so even its reorder at the conclusion of the West Coast Swing had no impact. I feel like I'm way better than that and I've been working harder to try to do that.". It didnt matter to him that there were two fewer par 5s at the time, but thats always been a cornerstone weapon for the 82-time PGA TOUR winner. Length is not a huge advantage this week as fairway woods and irons are the common play on many par-4s and par-5s. Arnold Palmer Invitational 2023 odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook . Each week in our golf power rankings, we will highlight the top players on the PGA TOUR in order of likeliness to win the tournament. The goal will be to hit shorter irons into challenging targets with invisible forces poised to smack even properly executed strikes out of the sky. Zalatoris didn't play in Phoenix after he was forced to pull out of the AT&T Pebble Pro-Am a week earlier after testing positive for COVID-19. 7 in the world last week, JT said, "I tried to stop looking because, yeah, it pisses me off, too. The North Dakota native is on a remarkable run. His dreams of winning ended on Sunday when his tee shot on No. On Sunday, Scottie Scheffler reminded everyone in the sport who was ranked No.