Bryson DeChambeau will not be in the field to defend his win last year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. A lingering hand injury has forced him to miss a few events including a missed cut at the Farmers. That opens the door for a new favorite and oddsmakers have tagged Jon Rahm as the lone favorite at +800.
Rahm is the only player coming in below +1000 while 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Rory McIlroy is at +1100 and another former Palmer winner is also down the favorites list. Tyrrell Hatton won the event in 2020 and he’s at +2800. As for the winner of the 2019 Arnold Palmer, Francesco Molinari is not in the field.
Over all the field is pretty deep, even with a split tournament week as the Puerto Rico Open is also teeing up this week as an alternative tournament. Viktor Hovland joins Rahm and McIlroy as one of the favorites to win outright and comes in at +1600.
Here are the top five favorites to win the 2022 Arnold Palmer Classic outright:
Jon Rahm +800
Rory McIlroy +1100
Scottie Scheffler +1600
Viktor Hovland +1600
Hideki Matsuyama +2200
One name not in the field this week is Daniel Berger. He’s taking a break following his slide down the leaderboard last week at the Honda Classic. Berger went from a five stroke lead on Sunday morning to a 4th place finish. However, the winner of the Honda was Sepp Straka and he is playing this week coming in at +8000 heading into the opening round on Thursday.
2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational Preview
Where: Bay Hill, Florida
Course: Bay Hill Golf Club
Format: Stroke Play
Par: 72
Length: 7,454
When: March 3 –6, 2021
Purse: $12 Million.
TV Coverage: Golf Channel/CBS
This course is one of the toughest on the PGA schedule and it can even be harder if the infamous Bay Hill winds get going. The event two-years ago had the highest scoring average in a non-major in the last four PGA seasons at 2.17 strokes over par.
The course has some challenging holes including the No. 6 horseshoe par five with wraps around a lake. It’s always fun watching some players on YouTube trying to drive the green over the water. However, Dechambeau is out – so we probably won’t see too much of that this time around.
Bay Hill is an iconic course with a traditional Florida look. It takes full advantage of the rolling terrain as rises in the course serve as additional obstacles to bunkers and water hazards. It’s always beautiful on TV.
Popular Golfing Betting Markets
2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational Predictions
Rory McIlroy +1100
Rory McIlroy has made the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational seven of seven times. He’s won this event, as mentioned above, in 2018 and had other great finishes on this tough Bay Hill course include a 3 rd place finish, a T12, and a T10. In his three outings since the Ryder Cup, he’s finished with a win at the CJ Cup at the SUMMIT, 18th at the Hero World Challenge, and was T10 at the Genisis Invitational.
Hideki Matsuyama +2200
Hideki Matsuyama has not missed the cut once in his nine tournaments this season and is riding the top of the FedEx points list. He looked great here last season before finishing T18 but he’s playing a great game well suited for this course. He notched two wins this season by grabbing both the Sony Open and the ZOZO Championsip.
Keith Mitchell +4000
Keith Mitchell is looking strong as of late and he’s done well at Bay Hill in recent starts. He was T6 in 2019 and finished T5 in 2020. Mitchell started the year with a few missed cuts but his last three outings have been spectacular. He finished T12 at Pebble Beach, T10 at Phoenix, and was T9 at the Honda Classic.
Others I Like: I can’t stop thinking about two players. Will Zalatoris (+2500) has a nice style of play that should fit at Bay Hill. And, Luke List (+6600) who grabbed his first PGA Tour victory a few weeks ago.
PGA Championship Betting Guide
2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational Betting Lines
Jon Rahm +800
Rory McIlroy +1100
Scottie Scheffler +1600
Viktor Hovland +1600
Hideki Matsuyama +2200
Will Zalatoris +2500
Sungjae Im +2800
Matt Fitzpatrick +2800
Tyrrell Hatton +2800
Adam Scott +2800
Marc Leishman +3300
Paul Casey +4000
Jason Kokrak +4000
Max Homa +4000
Sam Burns +4000
Keith Mitchell +4000
Billy Horschel +4000
Russell Henley +5000
Sergio Garcia +5000
Tommy Fleetwood +5000
Gary Woodland +5000
Talor Gooch +5000
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +5000
Jason Day +6000
Cameron Tringale +6000
Maverick McNealy +6000
Justin Rose +6000
Corey Conners +6600
Seamus Power +6600
Lanto Griffin +6600
Luke List +6600
Chris Kirk +6600
Cameron Young +6600
Kevin Na +8000
Thomas Pieters +8000
Tom Hoge +8000
Sepp Straka +8000
Erik Van Rooyen +8000
Keegan Bradley +8000
Si-Woo Kim +10000
Patrick Reed +10000
Kevin Kisner +10000
Matthew Wolff +10000
Ian Poulter +10000
Lee Westwood +10000
Sebastian Munoz +10000
Martin Laird +12500
Rickie Fowler +12500
Matt Jones +12500
Troy Merritt +12500
Carlos Ortiz +12500
Andrew Putnam +12500
Denny McCarthy +12500
Aaron Wise +12500
Sahith Theegala +12500
Lucas Glover +12500
Brendon Todd +12500
Kyoung-Hoon Lee +12500
Nick Taylor +15000
Dylan Frittelli +15000
Taylor Moore +15000
Garrick Higgo +15000
Nicolai Hojgaard +15000
Patton Kizzire +15000
Charles Howell III +15000
Kevin Streelman +15000
Adam Svensson +15000
Cameron Davis +15000
Pat Perez +17500
Beau Hossler +17500
Aaron Rai +17500
Chez Reavie +17500
Lucas Herbert +17500
Sam Ryder +17500
Takumi Kanaya +17500
JJ Spaun +17500
Lee Hodges +17500
Michael Thompson +20000
Patrick Rodgers +20000
Matt Wallace +20000
Cameron Champ +20000
Zach Johnson +20000
Alex Smalley +20000
Taylor Pendrith +20000
Min Woo Lee +20000
Doug Ghim +20000
Branden Grace +20000
Danny Willett +20000
Hudson Swafford +20000
Padraig Harrington +25000
Henrik Stenson +25000
Brandt Snedeker +25000
Brendan Steele +25000
Greyson Sigg +25000
Danny Lee +25000
Sean O'Hair +25000
Rory Sabbatini +25000
Hayden Buckley +25000
Vincent Whaley +25000
Scott Stallings +25000
Charl Schwartzel +30000
Nick Watney +30000
Stephan Jaeger +30000
Davis Riley +30000
Graeme McDowell +30000
Peter Malnati +30000
Adam Long +30000
Adam Schenk +30000
Kevin Tway +30000
Henrik Norlander +30000
Trey Mullinax +30000
Davis Thompson +30000
Sam Bennett +50000
Paul Barjon +50000
John Pak +50000
Jonathan Byrd +50000
Anirban Lahiri +50000
Greg Koch +100000
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