After a bit of a downturn in the PGA Tour schedule last week at the Honda Classic, this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill represents an intense two-week stretch tantamount to what just played out at the Phoenix Open and Genesis Invitational to close out the West Coast swing. Bay Hill will be followed by the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, and those two events were an unforgettable fortnite a year ago.
Let’s take a closer look at this week’s contest with odds provided via Caesars Sportsbook.
Event information
Event: Arnold Palmer Invitational | Dates: March 3-6
Location: Bay Hill Club and Lodge – Orlando, Florida
Par: 72 | Purse: $12 million
Three things to know
1. Rahm breakthrough: We talk about it all the time, but I’m not sure we can overstate just how good Jon Rahm has been both in 2022 and over the last few years. An example of this emerged as I studied some of the numbers going into this week’s event, which Rahm has never played. If you look at the last 20 rounds of ball-striking among players who are in this field, Rahm is peerless.
- Rahm: 2.7 SG
- Zalatoris: 2.0 SG
- Hovland: 1.7 SG
- Munoz: 1.7 SG
- List: 1.6 SG
Rahm is gaining four strokes on the third-best ball-striker in this field over his last five tournaments. What chance does a below-average player have to compete with this?! The flip side of this statistic is that, you know, Rahm hasn’t actually won an event since the U.S. Open last year, which discloses how difficult it is to win and how seemingly due he is to doing so. Bay Hill, if it plays fast and firm like it apparently will, is a prime spot to do so.
2. Long iron play: In addition to the potential wind and firm conditions we’ve seen recently at this golf course, Bay Hill’s other defense is the demand it places on long iron play. Because all four of its par 3s are 200 or more yards, it’s the rare PGA Tour course that forces you to hit 4- or 5-iron in some…
Source : cbssports
