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The PGA TOUR heads to the Orlando area this week for the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
As an event with invitational status, the field is limited to just 120 golfers. That means a relatively high percentage of golfers will make it through the 36-hole cutline which is top 65 and ties.
Let’s jump right in and talk about the host course.
The Course
Bay Hill Club & Lodge is the host venue this week. It’s played that role sicne the 1979 edition of this event.
Originally played as a par 71 that played just over 7,000 yards it is now a par-72 layout and stretches out to 7,466 yards.
That sounds pretty beefy but it plays even longer as many of the par 4s force golfers to take less-than-driver and hit into the same landing areas.
Looking at those par 4s, there is a good blend with five of them playing to 458 yards or longer while three of them are 400 yards or less.
Off the tee, golfers will see plenty of trouble with water in play on half the holes this week. It’s no surprise to see there are lots of penalty strokes applied at Bay Hill and plenty of big numbers to be found. Over the last eight years, the field has averaged 1.8 double bogeys or worse per 72 holes which is one of the 10 highest among regular TOUR stops.
On approach, golfers will have plenty of mid-and long-iron approaches. Three of the par 3s play over 215 yards with the other being 199 yards. That puts it right up there with East Lake as the longest collection of par 3s out on TOUR.
For turf talk, golfers will see bermudagrass fairways and greens with overseeded rye rough. The greens are known to be speedy with a target stimp of 12 feet that often gets firmer and faster as the week progresses.
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Source : yahoo
