The Florida swing continues with the fourth signature event of the year with the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Similar to the Genesis, this is one of the three player hosted signature events that does have a cut.

Last year Kurt Kitayama shot nine under to win by one stroke. On Sunday he made triple bogey on the 9th hole but took the lead back with a birdie putt on the 17th hole. He then hit an incredible 50 foot putt that stopped inches from the hole for a closing tap in par. Rory Mcllroy missed a birdie putt on 18 to take the lead and he and Harris English finished 2nd and one stroke off the lead. Scheffler, Cantlay, Spieth and Hatton all missed several opportunities and finished two strokes off the lead.

In 2022 Scottie Scheffler edged out Viktor Hovland, Billy Horschel, and Tyrrell Hatton by one stroke. Scottie was able to overcome difficult windy conditions on Sunday to shoot even par with 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.

The 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational will be played at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida.

Bay Hill is a 7,466 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 quite often.

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. There are 9 holes where water comes into play and 84 bunkers scattered about the course.

There are 10 par fours, four par threes and four par fives. Obviously the par fives play as the easiest holes on the course with the 511 yard 16th hole boasting a 52% birdie rate and nearly 5% birdie rate. All of the par threes are at least 200 yards with the 231 yard 2nd hole being the longest and most difficult of the four. The three most difficult holes are all par fours with the closing hole being the most difficult of the bunch. It has a 22% bogey rate and nearly an 8% rate of double bogey or worse.

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

Long irons are incredibly important 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 but also the afformentioned accuracy over distance strategy.

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 70 golfers this week with the top 50 and ties plus any player within 10 shots of the lead 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
• Par 3 200-225 yards

Historic Cut Line

• 2023: +3
• 2022: +4
• 2021: +3
• 2020: +4
• 2019: +2

PREVIOUS WINNERS

2023: Kurt Kitayama -9
2022: Scottie Scheffler -5
2021: Bryson DeChambeau -11
2020: Tyrrell Hatton -4
2019: Francesco Molinari -12