Arnold Palmer Invitational 2022: Course and current form stats

The Florida Swing continues with a trip to Orlando, with this week's tournament taking place at a venue made famous by all-time great Arnold Palmer.

The seven-time major champion purchased the club in 1974, and just five years later Bay Hill hosted its maiden PGA Tour event.

Designed by Dick Wilson and opened 61 years ago, the course has become one of the most respected layouts in professional golf.

For many followers of the sport, the Arnold Palmer Invitational is where the build up to the year's first major championship actually starts.

The event now enjoys invitational status, with Bay Hill being a course which tends to get tougher the closer a golfer gets to the green.

Course Characteristics

Bay Hill is neither short of sand, nor lacking in water, and used to be a layout which favoured the big hitters.

The late Arnold Palmer made a number of changes to the course more than a decade ago, with the aim of encouraging attacking golf.

He increased the number of potential pin positions, after redesigning all 18 putting surfaces.

Palmer, who died in 2016, was keen to create a venue that provided more risk/reward opportunities.

During this upgrade he moved fairway bunkers further from tees, while extending greenside sand closer to the edges of putting surfaces.

He also made the sand more visible from tees and fairways, in order to encourage the bold and the brave.

Large water hazards come into play on nine holes, while there are a handful of dog legs too.

These changes also upped Bay Hill's total par from 71 to 72. Since then, the Bermuda grass greens have all been re-surfaced, while a number of fairways were widened with the intention of making attacking golf look even more attractive.

This parkland course is located around eight miles south-west of downtown Orlando, close to Florida's Butler Lake.

Course Comparisons

Hitting fairways is generally not overcomplicated at Bay Hill, but finding the putting surfaces is certainly more problematic.

It is one of the few venues on the PGA Tour where the tournament percentage for golfers hitting Greens in Regulation is actually lower than the figure for Driving Accuracy.

Of the 29 most regular venues used on Tour, only Harbour Town, Muirfield Village, Augusta National and Pebble Beach, post similar untypical statistics as Bay Hill.

Between 1.1.2016 and 31.1.2021, 63.23*% of golfers safely found fairways off the tee at Bay Hill, but only 59.67*% successfully located its putting surfaces.

And it's one of the toughest for hitting greens in regulation anyway, as the stats below illustrate:

PGA Tour Averages (1.1.16 - 31.12.21)

Greens in Regulation (%)
75.86: Sedgefield (Wyndham) (1/29)
59.67: Bay Hill (Arnold Palmer Invitational) (27/29)
59.27: Innisbrook (Valspar Ch`ship) (29/29)
PGA Tour average: 67.79*

Latest betting for Bay Hill

Stroke Averages

Lowest 12 At Bay Hill (2016-21)
Average .... (Rounds)
70.17: Rory McIlroy (24)
70.35: Bryson DeChambeau (20)
70.68: Marc Leishman (22)
70.76: Jason Day (17)
70.90: Justin Rose (20)
70.94: Chris Kirk (18)
71.00: Paul Casey (12)
71.00: Sung Jae Im (12)
71.00: Henrik Stenson (18)
71.14: Matt Fitzpatrick (22)
71.22: Tommy Fleetwood (18)
71.25: Luke List (16)
71.35: Tyrrell Hatton (20)
Min. No. of Rounds = 10
Only those entered this week are included in table

Most PGA Tour Top 12s in Florida

Since January 1st, 2017
7: Tommy Fleetwood
7: Jason Kokrak
7: Rory McIlroy
5: Matt Fitzpatrick
5: Sung Jae Im
4: Paul Casey
4: Bryson DeChambeau
4: Lucas Glover
4: Keith Mitchell
Only those entered this week are included in table

Four To Watch

Matt Fitzpatrick: Moving ever closer to a maiden PGA Tour title. Runner-up at Bay Hill in 2019, and has opened the current year with a brace of T10s during the West Coast Swing. The Sheffield golfer is Steve Rawlings' main selection this week.

Max Homa: The 31-year-old has won on some tough courses, such as Riviera and Quail Hollow. Tied-10th at Bay Hill 12 months ago.

Jason Kokrak: A solid performer at Bay Hill where he has posted four top-10 finishes - including tied-eighth last year. Has claimed three PGA Tour victories during the past two and a half years.

Rory McIlroy: Still the world No 5, despite his failure to land a major title in over seven years. This high position proves he continues to perform to an extremely high standard and has the game to handle Bay Hill, where it remains difficult to hunt down birdies.

* To qualify for a percentage figure, a minimum of 300 golfers must have completed at least 54 holes at the venue/tournament between January 1st 2016 and December 31st, 2021. Averages do not include players who failed to complete 54 holes. A total of 29 PGA Tour venues/tournaments qualified for inclusion.

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Note: List Contains Leading Reserves