The PGA Tour will make the short trip from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida to Orlando, Florida for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. There are eight “signature events” on the schedule in 2024 and the Arnold Palmer Invitational is the fourth signature event this year. That means the winner will receive $4M and the field will be stacked. 43 of the top 50 golfers in the World Golf Rankings will tee it up this week. There are only 69 golfers in the field and just like the Genesis Invitational; there will be a cut after Saturday’s third-round. The field will be trimmed to the top-50 and ties for the final round Sunday. It should be a fun week for our DFS contests.
COURSE BREAKDOWN
Bay Hill Club and Lodge will play 7,419 yards in length and is a par 72. The course was called “The best course in Florida” by Arnold Palmer. He loved it so much that he decided to purchase it. He made some adjustments and now it has some of the best closing holes in golf.
There is a lot of water and enough bunkers to build a beach. Water is in play on eight holes and if you get wild off the tee, it will be in play even more. Five of the par 4s play over 450 yards and three of the par 5s play over 550 yards. All of the par 3s play over 200 yards in length. Distance with the irons is more important than distance off the tee this week. Many golfers will club down off the tee to keep their ball in the fairway. This will setup for a lot of long iron shots.
Click here to see the course: Bay Hill Club and Lodge
KEY STATS FOR ARNOLD PALMER
– Strokes Gained Total
– Strokes Gained Approach
– Strokes Gained Putting (Bermuda)
– Par 4 Scoring (450-500 yards)
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
TOP 30 GOLFER RANKINGS
CORE GOLFERS FOR ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL
ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL STRATEGY
DraftKings is back to their normal price structure this week with Scottie Scheffler as the highest-priced golfer at $11,300 and four golfers priced at $6K. There are only 69 golfers in the field this week, so there was no need to price golfers in the $5K range like they had last week.
I am not going to tell you to play a “stars and scrubs” lineup for your Cash Contest and I am not going to try and convince you to play a “balanced lineup” this week. The field is so deep with talent that both strategies should work this week. I typically like to play more Cash Contests than Tournament Contests in tournaments like the Arnold Palmer Invitational. I will play some lineups with Scottie Scheffler a few $8K golfers (Cameron Young and Matthew Fitzpatrick, a few $7K golfers (Adam Scott and Harris English) and a cheap golfer (Min Woo Lee). I will also play a balanced lineup with many golfers from the $8K range (Will Zalatoris, Cameron Young, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Jason Day) and two golfers from the upper-$7K range (Chris Kirk and Corey Conners).
Could this be the week when the highest-priced golfers show up at the top of the leaderboard? We haven’t seen it yet this year, but Bay Hill is a tough course. I really like the $8K price range this week, so I will play a lot of Scottie Scheffler and a lot of the golfers in the $8K range. I will sprinkle in some of the golfers from the high-$9K and low-$7K price ranges for my Tournament Contest lineups.
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST
WILL ZALATORIS ($8,900): Zalatoris is one of my favorite golfers this week. The tougher the course, the better he plays. That is why Zalatoris is always at the top of the leaderboards at the Masters and U.S. Opens. Zalatoris nearly won the last signature event at Riviera Country Club. He should have a good chance to win Sunday.
CAMERON YOUNG ($8,700): Golfers need to bomb it off-the-tee with some accuracy and hit their long irons well. Young led the field last week in par-4 scoring and those were some pretty long holes. Young finished 10th last year and 13th in 2022 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The course history, recent form and stats all suggest Young will finish in the top-five Sunday.
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK ($8,600): Bay Hill is one of the best courses for Fitzpatrick. He has finished 14th, 9th, 10th, 9th and 2nd in the last five Arnold Palmer Invitational’s. The current form is OK, but he typically plays better in Florida than he does in California. His success in this tournament makes Fitzpatrick a safe pick for a top-10 finish this week.
JASON DAY ($8,200): It has been a while, but the old Jason Day is starting to show up. He finished ninth in his last start. That was a signature event at Riviera Country Club. He also finished sixth in the signature event at Pebble Beach. Can Day finish in the top-10 in another signature event? I think so. Day won this tournament in 2016 and he finished 10th last year. He is a good pick for the price this week.
CHRIS KIRK ($7,800): Kirk is a ball-striker who is good at avoiding trouble. He already has one win in 2024 (The Sentry) and he should play well at Bay Hill. Kirk finished 39th last year, 5th in 2022 and 8th in 2021 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He missed the cut at the last signature event (Genesis Invitational), but he was on the wrong side of the weather draw. I expect Kirk to play well in Florida.
COREY CONNERS ($7,800): I had a tough time deciding if I should use Corey Conners Benny An in this spot. I went with Conners because he is a safer pick. Conners had made all seven cuts this year and 14 in a row dating back to the 2023 season. He finished 21st, 11th and 3rd in his last three trips to Bay Hill. Conners ranks 16th in the key stats and should finish in the top-15 Sunday.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER ($11,300): I know Scheffler will likely be the highest-owned golfer, but the Arnold Palmer Invitational requires an elite tee-to-green game. Scheffler is the best in the field. Scheffler only has one flaw… his putter. If he can putt, he will win this tournament Sunday.
PATRICK CANTLAY ($10,000): I have a feeling that Cantlay is going to get lower ownership than he should have this week. Most people will pay up for Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy or pay down for Viktor Hovland or Xander Schuaffele. I really like Cantlay’s chances of winning this week. He played Bay Hill for the first time last year and he finished 4th. Cantlay also finished 4th in the last signature event at Riviera. Pairing Cantlay with Scheffler at the top of this lineup gives it a lot of firepower this week.
JAKE KNAPP ($7,600): Is Jake Knapp for real? He finished 3rd at Torrey Pines, won the Mexico Open and finished 4th last week at the Cognizant Classic. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…. Well, you know the rest. I am not going to get fooled again. Knap is playing some of the best golf on the PGA Tour. He ranks No. 4 in SG Tee-to-Green, No. 4 in Shots Gained Approach, No. 4 in Scrambling and No. 4 overall in the key stats. I doubt he will be highly owned since this is his first trip to Bay Hill.
ADAM SCOTT ($7,500): Some of the players are upset that Scott got into the field on a player’s exemption and he is part of the Players Council that determines the player’s exemptions. I think the players are upset because they do not want to compete against Scott this week. He has made the cut in 8 of his last 9 trips to Bay Hill and he has made 8 of his last 9 cuts on the PGA Tour. Scott ranks No. 6 in the key stats this week. We will see him rolling in a lot of long putts with that long putter this week.
HARRIS ENGLISH ($7,300): There is a lot to like about English this week. He finished 2nd in this tournament last year and he has made five cuts in a row at Bay Hill. He also finished 7th in the last signature event at Riviera. English ranks No. 13 in the key stats this week. He is at his best on tough courses. This is one of the toughest on the PGA Tour.
TAYLOR MOORE ($6,300): Moore will be my “punt play” in my Tournament Contest lineup. I wanted to use Min Woo Lee, but I couldn’t make him fit with Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay. Instead, I will pivot to Moore. He has played this tournament the last two seasons and made the cut in both. He has also made every cut on the PGA Tour this year (6 for 6). I just need Moore to make the cut and finish in the top 40. I think he can do that this week.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (Multi Entry Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the last tournament in Segment 1. There is no need to save your golfers this week. The allocations reset and Segment 2 starts at THE PLAYERS next.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER (ARNOLD PALMER)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Russell Henley (41st), Tony Finau (13TH), Sahith Theegala (37th), Sam Burns (3rd), Max Homa (66th), Jason Day (MC), Taylor Montgomery (61st), Corey Conners (57th)
SEASON-LONG ONE & DONE PICK: MATTHEW FITZPATRICK (ARNOLD PALMER)
– One & Done picks used so far this season: Eric Cole (MC), Nicolai Hojgaard (52nd), Adam Scott (19th), J.T. Poston (MC), Jordan Spieth (39th), Keegan Bradley (43rd), Andrew Putnam (47th), Russell Henley (4th), Sungae Im (5th), Alex Noran (Won), Beau Hossler (15TH), Min Woo Lee (6th), Adam Schenk (MC), Eric Cole (35TH), Sahith Theegala (Won)
BEST BETS ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL
PATRICK CANTLAY (16-1)
CAMERON YOUNG (25-1)
WILL ZALATORIS (28-1)
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK (28-1)
COREY CONNERS (50-1)
HARRIS ENGLISH (50-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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