2017 Arnold Palmer Invitational

http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/arnold-palmer-invitational-presented-by-mastercard.html

Bay Hill, Florida

Purse: US$ 8.7 million

Notable players:

• Americans: Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka, Brandt Snedeker, Ryan Moore, Kevin Chappell, Zach Johnson, Kevin Kisner, Kevin Na, William McGirt, Webb Simpson, Charles Howell III, Pat Perez, Tony Finau, Charley Hoffman, Wesley Bryan, Billy Horschel, Jim Herman, James Hahn, Sean O'Hair, Roberto Castro, Daniel Summerhays, Chris Kirk. Stewart Cink, Matt Every.
  
• Europeans: Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Danny Willett, Paul Casey, Tyrrell Hatton, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson, Alex Noren, Thomas Pieters, Francesco Molinari, Martin Kaymer, Thorbjorn Olesen, David Lingmerth, Martin Laird, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter.
  
• Aus / NZ: Jason Day, Marc Leishman, Danny Lee, Cameron Smith, Rod Pampling, Aaron Baddeley, Geoff Ogilvy, Greg Chalmers, Steven Bowditch
  
• Asians: Hideki Matsuyama, Jeunghun Wang, Byeong Hun An, Siwoo Kim, Seungyul Noh, Anirban Lahiri, C.T. Pan.
  
• South Africans: Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman.
  
• Other notable players: Emiliano Grillo, Fabián Gómez, Camilo Villegas, Vijay Singh, Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes, Graham Delaet, David Hearn.
  

Without Arnie this will become another middling event.

And without Tiger, golf will be terrible.

Yet, here we are.

Arnie had such a wonderful inspiring impact on golf.

One of my favorite tournaments on one of my favorite tournament courses. Strong field, and the weather forecast looks great. Should be a fun week.

Seems like a decent filed, no better or no worse than it has been in the last few years and given how crowded the schedule is these days, that is not meant to disparage the event or anything like that.

It should be a special week to remember Arnie. Hopefully it will be won by some swashbuckling golf just the way that Palmer would have liked it.

Without Arnie this will become another middling event.

I am especially excited to watch this year as I will be playing Bay Hill in June, also to see the things honoring Mr Palmer

Arnie's show...........where's JD, Spieth, JT, Phil, Kucher, Cantly, Hardin and the list can go on............. What the :censored2:

Any reason Rahm is not playing?

Funny when Greg Norman initially pitched the WGC idea, didn't the commissioner shoot him down saying it would hurt the fields of other tour events? And now years later that is exactly what is happening.

Arnie's show...........where's JD, Spieth, JT, Phil, Kucher, Cantly, Hardin and the list can go on............. What the :censored2:

JD? J Day? - He's playing.

Spieth - Normally doesn't play this event.

JT - Had a friend's wedding and expressed his regrets.

Kucher - Kuchar? - No idea.

Cantly - Cantlay? - Probably didn't expect an invite since he had no status.

Hardin - Hadwin? - He's playing.

Funny when Greg Norman initially pitched the WGC idea, didn't the commissioner shoot him down saying it would hurt the fields of other tour events? And now years later that is exactly what is happening.

Also the Fed-Ex Cup, if the September schedule wasn't so stacked then we'd see more in this one I'm sure.

Hopefully it will be won by some swashbuckling golf just the way that Palmer would have liked it.

I just hope they show some of it and coverage on the weekend isn't simply a series of set pieces on Arnie and the golf as an afterthought.

JD? J Day? - He's playing.------------------...............................................................My bad, I meant DJ

Spieth - Normally doesn't play this event...............................................................But it's Arnie's - should show up just to pay respects (just IMO)

JT - Had a friend's wedding and expressed his regrets.........................................Should have specified "Only if it rains"

Kucher - Kuchar? - No idea....................................................................................Maybe his new shoes are to tight

Cantly - Cantlay? - Probably didn't expect an invite since he had no status..........Thought coming in 2nd was automatic for the next tourney

Hardin - Hadwin? - He's playing.............................................................................Just noticed him under "other notables"......Heck of a thing to call a Canadian

No Rahm, JF and Fluff..............

With the WGC match play next week and the Masters in 3 weeks, this time of the season is so packed guys have to try to be ready for Augusta. I think they should move one of the WGCs to later in the year like may. Having two before the Masters makes scheduling a nightmare.

Funny to see the course getting some love as I always felt it was pretty lackluster.

Like Stenson for the week, Sam Saunders for the sentiment.

When you have the 4 majors, the TPC, 3-4 WGC events and the FedEx Cup, that's 11-12 events without playing any regular events or playing any European events to prep for the Open Championship. The front half of the season is to busy. Guys can't play 4-5 weeks in a row and stay healthy and play well. Something has to give

And without Tiger, golf will be terrible.

 

 

Yet, here we are.

Ha

With the WGC match play next week and the Masters in 3 weeks, this time of the season is so packed guys have to try to be ready for Augusta. I think they should move one of the WGCs to later in the year like may. Having two before the Masters makes scheduling a nightmare.

They could skip the WGC match play in favor of honoring Arnie if its otherwise too much golf before the Masters. Its not like Phil / Spieth / DJ need the money or world ranking points. But easy for me to sit back and judge. They may have already honored Arnie privately. It would be really cool to see a few of the guys not playing to show up anyway for the ceremonies.

This event is probably gonna end up like the Nelson.

STP tweeting about how great of a week its been so far....yet Adam Scott isn't in the field!

do my eyes deceive me?? JRose has "ALREADY" taken out the 750's, AND he has a Black DJ spider??

do my eyes deceive me?? JRose has "ALREADY" taken out the 750's, AND he has a Black DJ spider??

I swear TM is pushing that putter to their pros...everybody is gaming one!

Justin Rose has a new putter every week; getting around to the spider was inevitable.

do my eyes deceive me?? JRose has "ALREADY" taken out the 750's, AND he has a Black DJ spider??

 

I swear TM is pushing that putter to their pros...everybody is gaming one!

Who else other than DJ, Schwartzel and Rose use it???

do my eyes deceive me?? JRose has "ALREADY" taken out the 750's, AND he has a Black DJ spider??

 

I swear TM is pushing that putter to their pros...everybody is gaming one!

 

Who else other than DJ, Schwartzel and Rose use it???

JDay. Brian Harman I think. Maybe Rahm?

do my eyes deceive me?? JRose has "ALREADY" taken out the 750's, AND he has a Black DJ spider??

 

I swear TM is pushing that putter to their pros...everybody is gaming one!

 

Who else other than DJ, Schwartzel and Rose use it???

 

JDay. Brian Hartman I think. Maybe Rahm?

Yeah Rahm is gaming it, I swear I've seen others with it too...

Funny to see the course getting some love as I always felt it was pretty lackluster.

I think Bay Hill is a fantastic tournament course. It offers the chance for scoring, but you have to challenge its defenses. The guys with nerve and skill rise to the top.

The water holes all have safe bailouts, but the timid just won't contend. The course challenges you to be heroic, a hallmark of its (re)designer.

You can tell a lot about a course from looking at its past champions and tournament history. Few tournaments on the PGA TOUR have a richer history of drama and excitement than the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Far out. I didn't realise the match play was next week . No wonder some guys are skipping this event. You would think they would put the match play between the Masters and the US Open.

I'm looking forward to watching this week though.

Bay Hill, well someone said "lackluster", and I can agree with that. The other courses on the Florida swing has more zing, more spectacular och easily recognizable holes. I cannot say that I remember a single hole since last year.

Arnie was kind of the thing earlier years. Sad that he is gone, and obviously there will be kind words said, fittingly, but hope it will not be TOO much, floods of tears and nostalgia.

As for the tournament I was a little surprised that Cantlay do not show up, together with Rahm the most interesting player at the moment. Otherwise, maybe Stenson can fine tune his swing, to get it in Master's shape. His putting has been stable for a while now, earlier years it was the other way around.

But my money is on Rory this week if he's fit.