Arnold Palmer Invitational: Location: Bay Hill, Florida
Course: Bay Hill Club and Lodge
Par: 72
Length: 7,3481yards
Prize Pool: $6,200,000
Last Years Champion: Tiger Woods
The Arnold Palmer Invitational needs little introduction as it's reputation speaks for itself. The top 70 players from last years money-list all received invitations, many of whom are out on the course today getting ready for tomorrows action.
When looking through the field, it's hard to not mark Tiger Woods as the favorite... He has a great history at this event, not only winning last year, but Woods also won the Invitational four consecutive years stretching from 2000-2003.
Tiger Woods (@tigerwoods): Having won this event 7 times in past years, Tiger Woods seems to have the API figured out. That fact, couple with the great start to the 2013 season, puts Tiger at the top of my list this week.
Graeme McDowell (@graeme_mcdowell): McDowell has had a great start to the season and also played well at this event last year finishing in second place. He Co-led the field in both fairways hit and greens in regulation. After taking last week off, following a T9 at The Honda Classic and a T3 at the WGC-Cadillac, I think he'll be well rested and raring to go this week.
Bubba Watson (@bubbawatson): This is impressive... over the past 20 months, Bubba's recorded 29 top-25s in 37 starts, including a T18 at the WGC-Cadillac two weeks ago. The stretch also features a T4 at Bay Hill last year when he led the field in distance off the tee and ranked T5 in GIR.
Hunter Mahan (@huntermahan): Took a week off after finishing T25 at the WGC-Cadillac, his sixth straight top-25. Hasn't missed a cut in his last five trips to Bay Hill but he's logged progressively worse results since a T6 in 2008. I'm sure he'll be looking to turn that around this week.
Justin Rose (justinrose99): Arrives with 12 consecutive top-25 finishes, including a T8 at the WGC-Cadillac. He shared third place at Bay Hill in 2011 and tied for 15th last year. He's another who I'll be watching for in the days ahead.
Brendan Steele (@brendansteele): With a world ranking position of 191, Steel is a bit of a long shot for this event. But, so far this season, he's played consistently in all 6 tournaments he's played not missing a single cut. I think he could step it up this week at Bay Hill.
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This article was written by Scott Stevens and is part of the Eat Sleep Golf - Fantasy Golf series which focuses on introducing upcoming PGA Tour events as well as evaluating the field of players. We encourage you to comment below and/or join in the conversation with us on Twitter using #FantasyGolf, #PGATour. Be sure to connect with us @EatSleepGolf
