Tag: Arnold Palmer Invitational

Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Fla., hosts a field of 121 golfers for this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. Rory McIlroy, the 2018 champion, highlights those in attendance as the No. 1 golfer in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings. Below, we look at the top fantasy golf options for the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Also see: Arnold Palmer Invitational odds, predictions, picks and PGA Tour best bets

Bay Hill measures 7,454 yards and plays to a par of 72. Each of the last eight winners finished 11-under par or better.

Arnold Palmer Invitational: Fantasy Golf Top 30

Here are my top-30 fantasy golf rankings for the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club and Lodge.

30. Vijay Singh

Vijay ranks second to Davis Love III in this week’s field with 94 career rounds played at Bay Hill and he has gained an average of 1.79 strokes per round to lead all golfers with a minimum of 70 rounds played, according to Data Golf. He missed the cut each of the last four years, but he was a three-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions circuit in 2018.

29. Brendan Steele

Steele is coming off a fourth-place finish at the Honda Classic at PGA National. He had a dominant tee-to-green game at the more difficult course. He tied for 17th here last year.

28. Sebastian Munoz

Munoz leads this field in opportunities gained over everyone’s last 36 rounds. He’s also fifth in the field in scoring on long par 3s ranging from 200-225 yards which are featured at Bay Hill.

27. Joaquin Niemann

Niemann is coming off missed cuts at the Genesis Invitational and the Honda Classic. He’s now six months removed from his first career win at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier in September. He’s still giving himself scoring opportunities but has suffered from some awful putting performances.

26. Abraham Ancer

Ancer missed the cut here in his debut last year. He enters the week ranked 37th in the Golfweek rankings, and he had a strong 12th-place finish at the WGC-Mexico Championship two weeks ago. He can compete in these elevated status fields.

25. Billy Horschel

Horschel has made the cut here each of the last seven years, albeit with a top finish of T-13 in 2017. He’s a good putter on Bermuda greens and tee-to-green play has been a strength in his last three events.

24. Rafa Cabrera Bello

Bello tied for third last year in his Bay Hill debut. He tied for 17th in a strong field at the Genesis Invitational and tied for 16th in Mexico.

23. Bubba Watson

Watson has made the cut here each of the last three years but without a considerable amount of success. His best finish in that time was a T-17 showing last year. He opened 2020 with two top 10s but has slipped in his last two outings.

22. Tyrrell Hatton

Hatton tied for fourth in 2017 but has had more middling finishes the last two years. He tied for sixth in Mexico and will play his first event in the USA of 2020.

21. Francesco Molinari

The defending champ is one of my favorite betting picks this week at inflated odds of +9000. He has been horribly out of form with three straight missed cuts leading into a T-53 result in Mexico, but the former Open champion can turn it around at any time and he has the course history.

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20. Matthew Fitzpatrick

Fitzpatrick was the lone runner-up here a year ago following a missed cut in 2018. He’s one of the top putters on Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting on Bermuda grass, and he has been dominant from tee-to-green since this time last year.

19. Viktor Hovland

The Puerto Rico Open champ missed the cut last week, but he’s statistically a much better fit to Bay Hill than PGA National. He shares the field lead in Opportunities Gained and ranks sixth in the class in SG: Tee-to-Green.

18. Lee Westwood

Westwood gave it a go at PGA National last week and gained 7.0 strokes putting. He has gained an average of 0.87 total strokes per round at Bay Hill for his career, but he hasn’t played here any of the last five years.

17. Justin Rose

Rose finished as the runner-up to Tiger Woods in 2013 for his best career finish at Bay Hill. He tied for ninth in 2016 and finished alone in third in 2018 before a T-63 result last year. He can score, and he’s good from the sand.

16. Marc Leishman

The 2017 champ of Bay Hill picked up his first win of 2020 at the Farmers Insurance Open. He struggled at the Genesis Invitational and the WGC event, but he’s a much better putter on Bermuda grass and could return to form.

15. Tony Finau

Finau skipped this event each of the last two years, but he’s a good fit with a strong tee-to-green game. He has been off since a 51st-place result at the Genesis, but he has two top 10s already this season at the Farmers and Waste Management Phoenix Open.

14. Henrik Stenson

Stenson is one of four golfers in this field averaging at least 2.15 strokes gained per round at Bay Hill for their career. He has plenty of experience here, with 42 career rounds under his belt near his North American home. He has three top-five results in the last five years.

13. Rickie Fowler

Fowler was one of the many notable names to miss the cut last week at PGA National. It was his second MC in his last three events, now matching his number of top-10 showings in 2020.

12. Jason Day

Day continues to play sporadically. He’s coming off a missed cut at the Genesis on the heels of a fourth-place result at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The 2016 champion was forced to withdraw last year.

11. Collin Morikawa

Morikawa remains the safest bet on Tour to make the cut, always propping up his fantasy value. He’s fifth in this field in SG: Tee-to-Green, and he enters the week seventh in the Golfweek world rankings.

10. Sungjae Im

Last week’s winner captured his first PGA Tour title while gaining just a single stroke on the greens. He led the field with 3.07 strokes gained per round tee-to-green and can rely on that strength once again at Bay Hill.

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9. Byeong Hun An

An tied for fourth last week to continue what has been a strong season to date. He remains in search of his first PGA Tour win, but he has made the cut in four straight events, all in strong fields. Like Im, his tee-to-green game has been doing the heavy lifting, and he’s one of the best on Tour around the greens, except for putting.

8. Patrick Reed

The WGC-Mexico champ tied for seventh at Bay Hill in 2018 before a T-50 result last year. Putting was his main reason for success in Mexico, and he’s much worse on Bermuda grass than Poa Annua.

7. Brooks Koepka

Having slipped to No. 17 in the Golfweek rankings, it’s tough to remember Koepka being in as poor of form as he’s been in since finishing fourth at the Tour Championship. He has two missed cuts and a withdrawal in his last six events, and he has poor course history here. Still, he can turn it on whenever he wants.

6. Adam Scott

The Genesis Invitational champ followed it up with a 26th-place result in Mexico before taking last week off. His best showing here in the last five years was a T-12 in 2016, but he’ll look to follow the prior success of fellow Aussies Leishman and Day.

5. Bryson DeChambeau

DeChambeau was the runner-up in Mexico following a T-5 showing at the Genesis. Tee-to-Green has been the best part of his game, but he’s also a great sand player and can escape the trouble of Bay Hill.

4. Hideki Matsuyama

Matsuyama ranks second in the field in SG: Tee-to-Green over everyone’s last 36 rounds, and he’s fourth in Opportunities Gained. His best result here was a T-6 in 2016.

3. Xander Schauffele

Schauffele has surprisingly not played here as a professional. He’s a natural course fit, however, with a strong tee-to-green game and he was excellent on approach while finishing T-14 in Mexico.

2. Tommy Fleetwood

Fleetwood again came close to his first career PGA Tour win last week, as he finished solo third at PGA National. He tied for third at Bay Hill last year, and he gained 9.0 strokes tee-to-green last week.

1. Rory McIlroy

McIlroy’s 2.78 strokes gained per round are more than anyone else in the field with a minimum of five rounds played at Bay Hill. He hasn’t finished worse than last year’s T-6 in the last three years at this event and he has finished in the top five at each of his last six worldwide events.

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