PGA Tour Brunch | Preview of Arnold Palmer Invitational & Puerto Rico Open
PGA Tour Brunch | First Round Preview of Arnold Palmer | Bay Hill
By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk
ORLANDO - The field for the Arnold Palmer Invitational (Signature event) features:
Seven players who finished inside the top 10 in last week’s Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, including champion Nico Echavarria and runner-up finishers Taylor Moore, Shane Lowry and Austin Smotherman.
Sixty of the 72 players in the field have won on the PGA TOUR, led by 29-time winner Rory McIlory.
Forty two of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, including 19 of the top 20 (No. 18 Patrick Reed is missing), led by No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, No. 2 Rory McIlroy, No. 3 Tommy Fleetwood, No. 4 Justin Rose and No. 5 Collin Morikawa.
Five past champions (six wins): Jason Day (2016), Rory McIlroy (2018), Scottie Scheffler (2022, 2024), Kurt Kitayama (2023), Russell Henley (2025).
Nine past FedEx Cup Champions (11 wins): Billy Horschel (2014), Jordan Spieth (2015), Rory McIlroy (2016/2019/2022), Justin Thomas (2017), Justin Rose (2018), Patrick Cantlay (2021), Viktor Hovland (2023), Scottie Scheffler (2024), Tommy Fleetwood (2025)
Sponsor exemptions: Max Greyserman, Billy Horschel, Chris Kirk, Jordan Spieth
Tournament host exemption (Arnold Palmer Cup Exemption): Daniel Bennett
PGA TOUR Season Notes
Six of the first seven tournaments of the 2026 PGA TOUR Season were won by players with multiple victories on TOUR (Chris Gotterup/4/Sony Open in Hawaii and WM Phoenix Open, Scottie Scheffler/20/The American Express, Justin Rose/13/Farmers Insurance Open, Collin Morikawa/7/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and Nico Echavarria/3/Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches)
FedEx Cup leader Jacob Bridgeman is the season’s only first-time winner with his victory at The Genesis Invitational
Please note: This week, PGA Tour Brunch will focus 99% of the coverage on the Arnold Palmer Invitational Signature event, but will add the leaderboard and a couple links to keep readers posted on the Puerto Rico Open.
Arnold Palmer Invitational | Tournament Facts
COURSE: Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Florida
YARDS/PAR: 7,466 yards/Par 72
ARCHITECTS: Dick Wilson/Joe Lee
PRIZE Money - Purse: $20,000,000 with Winner: $4,000,000
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Russell Henley
PAST RESULTS: (link)
OVERVIEW: (link)
FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 700
SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @APInv and @PuertoRicoOpen
How to Watch: Please visit: Golf Week)
Arnold Palmer Invitational | The Basics
The Tee Times at Bay Hill will run from 7:40am (ET) to 1:50pm (ET) today.
Weather: Today’s Orlando-area forecast calls for mostly sunny skies but a 15% chance of rain. Temps reaching 85-degrees (F). Winds at 12 mph.
Tournament Web Site: (link)
FedEx Cup Info: (link)
Puerto Rico’s Tee Times run from 5:45am to 11:59am (ET) - (1 hour time difference)
Puerto Rico Open Overview: (link)
PGA Tour Brunch will post at 6:30am (ET) Thursday.
Media Coverage of the PGA Tour | Thursday
Coverage on Thursday, March 5, 2025 - All Times Eastern (Puerto Rico + 1 hour)
7:30am-6pm - Arnold Palmer - ESPN+ Streaming
10:00am-1:00pm - Puerto Rico Open on Golf Channel
12 noon-6pm - SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio
2:00pm-6:00pm - Arnold Palmer on Golf Channel
2:00pm-6:00pm - Arnold Palmer on Peacock Network and NBC Sports app
How to Watch: (link)
Puerto Rico: (link)
Arnold Palmer Invitational | Field, Updates, Tee Times
The Field: (link)
Nico Echavarria (IN; Aon Next 10)
Austin Smotherman (IN; Aon Next 10)
Taylor Moore (IN; Aon Swing 5)
Keith Mitchell (IN; Aon Swing 5)
Joel Dahmen (IN; fill the field)
Jordan Spieth (IN; Sponsor Exemption)
Max Greyserman (IN; Sponsor Exemption)
The following players fell out of the field since Friday:
Haotong Li
Stephan Jaeger
Kevin Roy
Tony Finau
Arnold Palmer Tee Times: (link) - 7:40am-1:50pm (ET)
Arnold Palmer Tournament Leaderboard: (link)
Palmer Last Year: (link)
Cognizant Last Weekend: (link)
Puerto Rico Open Leaderboard: (link)
What They’re Saying
Horses for the Course at Bay Hill (PGATourCom)
How to Watch the Arnold Palmer Invitational today (PGATourCom)
CBS Sports HQ/Golf (CBSSports)
Sports Gambling, Daily Fantasy and Industry News
Expert Picks for Bay Hill (PGATourCom)
Sleeper Picks (PGATourCom)
Best Bets (ESPN)
Rory on Rahm (ESPN)
On This Day in Golf History
March 5, 2015 - J.B. Holmes fired an opening round (62) on The Blue Moster at the Doral Country Club to begin the World Golf Championship. Holmes’ record-tying round was played when the overall scoring average was 73.39, almost 11 1/2 strokes away. Dustin Johnson would end up winning the tournament (-9), a stroke better than Holmes. Holmes’ (62) equalled the 1991 round carded by Greg Norman. (Courtesy of Randy Walker), Author of On This Day in Golf History, available via Amazon.com and by clicking HERE
Parting Putt
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