Arnold Palmer Invitational odds, picks: Scheffler a large favourite

The most effective gamers on the PGA Tour have descended upon Central Florida for the illustrious Arnold Palmer Invitational, the fourth Signature Occasion of the yr.

This yr’s subject options 72 gamers, together with current PGA Tour winners Joe Highsmith and Brian Campbell. World No. 3 Xander Schauffele, who has had a rib damage for the previous few months, may also return to competitors at Bay Hill. He performed by means of the ache on the season-opening occasion at The Sentry in Maui and tied for thirtieth, a far cry from what many have come to count on from the 2024 PGA Championship winner and present Champion Golfer of the 12 months.

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy additionally headline the sphere, with each gamers arriving at Bay Hill with the perfect odds to win. Different notables embody Genesis Invitational winner Ludvig Åberg, two-time main winner Collin Morikawa, and Hideki Matsuyama, who set a PGA Tour scoring file at The Sentry.

But, two of the sport’s hottest gamers will watch this week from the sideline. Jordan Spieth didn’t obtain one of many 4 sponsor’s exemptions and Rickie Fowler didn’t get the nod both. Each gamers will play in The Gamers Championship subsequent week.

Just like the Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational will institute a 36-hole reduce on the halfway level. The highest 50 gamers and ties and any participant inside 10 pictures of the lead will qualify for the ultimate 36 holes.

Arnold Palmer Invitational Odds:

Listed below are the newest odds for gamers to win the 2025 Cognizant Traditional, courtesy of FanDuel:

Scottie Scheffler +320

Rory McIlroy +750

Ludvig Åberg +1600

Xander Schauffele +1600

Collin Morikawa +2200

Hideki Matsuyama +2500

Justin Thomas +2800

Patrick Cantlay +3000

Tommy Fleetwood +3000

Sungjae Im +4500

Will Zalatoris +5000

Russell Henley +5000

Keegan Bradley +5500

Sam Burns +5500

Matt Fitzpatrick +5500

Shane Lowry +5500

Viktor Hovland +5500

Maverick McNealy +5500

Wyndham Clark +6000

Robert MacIntyre +6000

Tony Finau +6000

Taylor Pendrith +6000

Daniel Berger +6500

Sepp Straka +7000

Corey Conners +7000

Tom Kim +7500

Michael Kim +8000

Jason Day +8000

Si Woo Kim +8000

Ben Griffin +8000

Akshay Bhatia +8000

Denny McCarthy +9000

Adam Scott +9000

Min Woo Lee +9000

Davis Thompson +9000

Picture by David Cannon/Getty Pictures

Taking part in By means of’s Picks:

Jack Milko — Employees Author, Golf

Historical past will repeat itself at Arnie’s Place, as World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will choose up his first victory of 2025 at Bay Hill — simply as he did a yr in the past.

After slicing his hand on Christmas Day, the reigning Masters champion missed the month of January and made his season debut on the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am in early February. He tied for ninth there however then posted a T-25 the next week in Phoenix. That consequence at TPC Scottsdale would have been significantly better if not for a back-nine 41 on Sunday — Scheffler made three bogies and by some means doubled the benign par-4 18th. Comparable sentiments may very well be stated about his play the next week at Torrey Pines, the place he tied for third regardless of firing a 4-over 76 on day three. Scheffler seemed out of types throughout that third spherical, however rallied into competition on Sunday with a 6-under 66. He turned it round at Torrey, and now appears able to enter the winner’s circle once more.

Another excuse why I like Scheffler this week has to do along with his largest weak point.

Final yr at Bay Hill, Scheffler switched from a mallet putter to a spider putter, hoping that will finish his struggles on the greens. It did. The transfer paid off in historic style, as Scheffler went on a Tiger-like tear for the next 5 months.

However this yr, Scheffler, along with his spider putter and newly adopted claw grip, ranks thirtieth on the PGA Tour in strokes gained placing. He’s additionally eleventh in total placing common, needing simply 27.92 putts per spherical to date. Contemplating Scheffler continues to hit the ball on a string from tee-to-green, his enchancment on the greens ought to yield terrific outcomes — particularly on a course the place he has had loads of success. He’s gained right here twice earlier than, so what stops him from successful a 3rd cardigan sweater?

FanDuel Odds: Scheffler to win at +320

RJ Ochoa — Senior Producer, Running a blog the Boys

It is a large week for the PGA Tour as it’s the penultimate one earlier than The Gamers. Clearly we’re nonetheless a bit away from the most important season getting absolutely off and operating, however anybody who has been watching golf is aware of that once we attain Bay Hill… it’s severe.

Final yr was The 12 months of Scottie Scheffler in additional methods than one, together with on the API, and whereas I’m not attempting to foretell a decline there, I feel we’re about to see one other star on Tour attain a brand new stage.

For this week I’m going in a chalk-ish kind of course, however to not the complete extent. Wyndham Clark completed behind solely Scottie on this event final yr and I feel that we’re on the verge of seeing a fantastic run from him within the coming months. Clark is fairly excessive on the OWGR record which is actually not one thing we must always draw severe conclusions off of as of late… in the end I like his odds to repeat with a powerful exhibiting right here and take off into 2025.

FanDuel Odds: Clark to win at +6000

Picture by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Pictures

Mark Schofield — Employees Author, NFL and Formulation 1

If you’re going to rating nicely at Bay Hill, it’s worthwhile to be correct together with your irons.

Enter Patrick Cantlay.

Heading into the Arnold Palmer Invitational Cantlay ranks third on the tour in Greens in Regulation with 76.39%, behind solely Nicolai Højgaard and Sepp Straka. Cantlay has hit 220 of 288 greens in regulation this yr, a really spectacular fee. He’s additionally second in birdie common, behind solely Collin Morikawa with a mean of 5.56 birdies per spherical.

He additionally shook off a troublesome begin at The Genesis the final day trip to complete tied for fifth at -8 underneath. That got here after an opening-round 74 that had him 2 over par heading into Friday. Cantlay went 70, 68 and 68 over his last three days to cost up the leaderboard, and had been it not for some unlucky bogeys on his last two rounds, he may need threatened for the lead.

He’ll do exactly that this week.

FanDuel Odds: Cantlay to win at +3000

Picture by Carmen Mandato/TGL/TGL through Getty Pictures

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By means of. Comply with him on X @jack_milko.