The most effective gamers on the PGA Tour have descended upon Central Florida for the illustrious Arnold Palmer Invitational, the fourth Signature Occasion of the yr.

This yr’s subject options 72 gamers, together with latest PGA Tour winners Joe Highsmith and Brian Campbell. World No. 3 Xander Schauffele, who has had a rib harm for the previous few months, may even return to competitors at Bay Hill. He performed via the ache on the season-opening occasion at The Sentry in Maui and tied for thirtieth, a far cry from what many have come to count on from the 2024 PGA Championship winner and present Champion Golfer of the Yr.

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy additionally headline the sector, with each gamers arriving at Bay Hill with one of the best odds to win. Different notables embody Genesis Invitational winner Ludvig Åberg, two-time main winner Collin Morikawa, and Hideki Matsuyama, who set a PGA Tour scoring file at The Sentry.

But, two of the sport’s hottest gamers will watch this week from the sideline. Jordan Spieth didn’t obtain one of many 4 sponsor’s exemptions and Rickie Fowler didn’t get the nod both. Each gamers will play in The Gamers Championship subsequent week.

Just like the Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational will institute a 36-hole reduce on the halfway level. The highest 50 gamers and ties and any participant inside 10 photographs of the lead will qualify for the ultimate 36 holes.

Arnold Palmer Invitational Odds:

Listed below are the newest odds for gamers to win the 2025 Cognizant Basic, courtesy of FanDuel:

Scottie Scheffler +320

Rory McIlroy +750

Ludvig Åberg +1600

Xander Schauffele +1600

Collin Morikawa +2200

Hideki Matsuyama +2500

Justin Thomas +2800

Patrick Cantlay +3000

Tommy Fleetwood +3000

Sungjae Im +4500

Will Zalatoris +5000

Russell Henley +5000

Keegan Bradley +5500

Sam Burns +5500

Matt Fitzpatrick +5500

Shane Lowry +5500

Viktor Hovland +5500

Maverick McNealy +5500

Wyndham Clark +6000

Robert MacIntyre +6000

Tony Finau +6000

Taylor Pendrith +6000

Daniel Berger +6500

Sepp Straka +7000

Corey Conners +7000

Tom Kim +7500

Michael Kim +8000

Jason Day +8000

Si Woo Kim +8000

Ben Griffin +8000

Akshay Bhatia +8000

Denny McCarthy +9000

Adam Scott +9000

Min Woo Lee +9000

Davis Thompson +9000

Photograph by David Cannon/Getty Photos

Enjoying By way of’s Picks:

Jack Milko — Workers Author, Golf

Historical past will repeat itself at Arnie’s Place, as World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will decide up his first victory of 2025 at Bay Hill — simply as he did a yr in the past.

After slicing his hand on Christmas Day, the reigning Masters champion missed the month of January and made his season debut on the AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am in early February. He tied for ninth there however then posted a T-25 the next week in Phoenix. That consequence at TPC Scottsdale would have been a lot better if not for a back-nine 41 on Sunday — Scheffler made three bogies and by some means doubled the benign par-4 18th. Related sentiments might be stated about his play the next week at Torrey Pines, the place he tied for third regardless of firing a 4-over 76 on day three. Scheffler regarded out of kinds throughout that third spherical, however rallied into rivalry on Sunday with a 6-under 66. He turned it round at Torrey, and now seems able to enter the winner’s circle once more.

Another excuse why I like Scheffler this week has to do together with his greatest weak point.

Final yr at Bay Hill, Scheffler switched from a mallet putter to a spider putter, hoping that might finish his struggles on the greens. It did. The transfer paid off in historic trend, as Scheffler went on a Tiger-like tear for the next 5 months.

However this yr, Scheffler, together with his spider putter and newly adopted claw grip, ranks thirtieth on the PGA Tour in strokes gained placing. He’s additionally eleventh in general placing common, needing simply 27.92 putts per spherical to this point. Contemplating Scheffler continues to hit the ball on a string from tee-to-green, his enchancment on the greens ought to yield terrific outcomes — particularly on a course the place he has had loads of success. He’s gained right here twice earlier than, so what stops him from profitable a 3rd cardigan sweater?

FanDuel Odds: Scheffler to win at +320

RJ Ochoa — Senior Producer, Running a blog the Boys

This can be a massive week for the PGA Tour as it’s the penultimate one earlier than The Gamers. Clearly we’re nonetheless a bit away from the most important season getting totally off and working, however anybody who has been watching golf is aware of that after we attain Bay Hill… it’s critical.

Final yr was The Yr of Scottie Scheffler in additional methods than one, together with on the API, and whereas I’m not making an attempt to foretell a decline there, I believe we’re about to see one other star on Tour attain a brand new stage.

For this week I’m going in a chalk-ish type of route, however to not the total extent. Wyndham Clark completed behind solely Scottie on this event final yr and I believe that we’re on the verge of seeing an awesome run from him within the coming months. Clark is fairly excessive on the OWGR checklist which is definitely not one thing we should always draw critical conclusions off of lately… finally I like his odds to repeat with a robust displaying right here and take off into 2025.

FanDuel Odds: Clark to win at +6000

Photograph by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Photos

Mark Schofield — Workers Author, NFL and System 1

If you will rating properly at Bay Hill, it’s good to be correct together with your irons.

Enter Patrick Cantlay.

Heading into the Arnold Palmer Invitational Cantlay ranks third on the tour in Greens in Regulation with 76.39%, behind solely Nicolai Højgaard and Sepp Straka. Cantlay has hit 220 of 288 greens in regulation this yr, a really spectacular fee. He’s additionally second in birdie common, behind solely Collin Morikawa with a median of 5.56 birdies per spherical.

He additionally shook off a troublesome begin at The Genesis the final day out to complete tied for fifth at -8 underneath. That got here after an opening-round 74 that had him 2 over par heading into Friday. Cantlay went 70, 68 and 68 over his closing three days to cost up the leaderboard, and had been it not for some unlucky bogeys on his closing two rounds, he might need threatened for the lead.

He’ll do exactly that this week.

FanDuel Odds: Cantlay to win at +3000

Photograph by Carmen Mandato/TGL/TGL by way of Getty Photos

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By way of. Comply with him on X @jack_milko.