Arnold Palmer Invitational 2025: Course and current form stats

• Generous fairways, large greens, testing approach shots

• Cantlay 20/121.00 can claim first title in almost 30 months

• Lowry 60/161.00 closing-in on another PGA Tour success

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Tournament and Course Notes

Opened in 1962, Bay Hill is synonymous with seven-time Major winner Arnold Palmer who purchased the club in the mid-1970s. By 1979, it was part of the PGA Tour schedule and has remained on the calendar ever since. This parkland course is located around eight miles south-west of downtown Orlando, close to Florida's Butler Lake;

Over the years, Palmer made a number of changes to the course, as he sought to promote a brand of attacking golf which very much defined his own approach to the sport. Thus, Bay Hill is now a layout full of risk/reward opportunities;

As for these changes: He increased the number of potential pin positions, after redesigning all 18 putting surfaces; 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;

In 2015 he widened its fairways, reduced the size and density of the rough and, more recently, the Bermuda grass greens have all been re-surfaced;

Bay Hill is neither short of sand, nor lacking in water and is a course which tends to get tougher the closer a golfer gets to the green. Hitting fairways is generally not overcomplicated but finding putting surfaces is certainly more problematic. Large water hazards come into play on eight holes, while its putting surfaces were the fifth largest on the 2024 PGA Tour.

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Good Course Form

Scottie Scheffler 16/54.20 and Rory McIlroy 8/19.00 are the standout stars taking part at Bay Hill this week.

World No 1 Scheffler is chasing a third victory from four visits having experienced a low-key start - by his own high standards - to 2025.

But there were ominous signs for the rest of this week's field when he stood on the podium at his last outing three weeks ago at Torrey Pines, which seems to indicate that he's ready to fire on all cylinders once again.

No 2 McIlroy is also a former winner of this event, along with his four other top-six finishes since 2017.

McIlroy has already chalked up a PGA Tour success this year and another high finish this Sunday will mark him down as a serious challenger for the first major championship of the season next month.

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Good Current Form

Among the golfers who appear well placed to battle it out with the world's top two are Russell Henley 60/161.00 and Shane Lowry 60/161.00.

Henley is fast emerging as a potential major winner and another good performance last weekend made it three T10s from his last four starts. The 35-year-old from Georgia tied-fourth here 12 months ago.

Lowry, meanwhile, is up to No 17 in the World Ranking which is his highest position since pre-Covid.

He finished runner-up at Pebble Beach early February and stood on the Bay Hill podium in 2024.

Two other candidates, who have both been out of the spotlight in recent months, are Tommy Fleetwood 20/121.00 and Patrick Cantlay 20/121.00.

Cantlay has posted a brace of top-five finishes from four starts in 2025 and was tied-fourth on his Bay Hill debut two years ago.

As for Tommy, he tied-fifth at Torrey Pines last month which was his highest PGA Tour finish since last August.

Fleetwood appears to be a better each-way option than outright winner. However, at No 10 in the world, last year's Olympic silver medallist is also ready to finally capture a maiden PGA Tour title.

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Stroke Averages

Lowest Eight At Bay Hill (2019-24)
Average .... (Rounds)
70.50: Scottie Scheffler (16)
71.21: Rory McIlroy (24)
71.42: Sung Jae Im (24)
71.45: Matt Fitzpatrick (22)
71.55: Chris Kirk (20)
71.67: Russell Henley (12)
71.80: Corey Conners (20)
71.80: Max Homa (20)
Min. No. of Rounds = 10
Only those entered this week are included in table

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves

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