Arnold Palmer Invitational Betting Preview

A stacked field of the PGA’s best will be on display at Bay Hill Club and Lodge this week for the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The field this week in the Arnold Palmer includes 44 of the top 50 players in the World Golf Ranking. At Bovada Sportsbook, the favorite is Jon Rahm at +700. After a red-hot start this year with five top-seven finishes, including three wins, Rahm is the No. 1 player in the world right now. Among those wins was a victory at the Genesis Invitational two weeks ago.

No. 1 Rahm favored in Arnold Palmer Invitational odds

Following Rahm on the odds list at Bovada are Rory McIlroy at +900 and Scottie Scheffler at +1000.

McIlroy, the No. 3-ranked player in the world, won the Arnold Palmer in 2018. It’s been a slow start to 2023 for McIlroy, who has played in only two PGA events so far, tying for 29th in the Genesis and 32nd in the Phoenix Open.

Scheffler is the defending champion of the Arnold Palmer. Last year, he shot 5 under par to beat Tyrrell Hatton, Billy Horschel and Viktor Hovland by one stroke. Scheffler has one triumph under his belt this season after winning the Phoenix Open and is currently ranked No. 2 in the world behind Rahm.

Kirk a +6600 underdog coming off Honda Classic win

Last week on the tour, Chris Kirk defeated Eric Cole in a playoff to win the Honda Classic. That was his fifth career PGA Tour victory and first since 2015. Kirk will be facing a much tougher field this week, which is why he’s a +6600 underdog to post back-to-back wins.

Other top-10 ranked players in the field this weekend include No. 4 Patrick Cantlay at +2500, No. 6 Xander Schauffele at +2500, No. 7 Will Zalatoris at +1600, No. 8 Max Homa at +2000, No. 9 Justin Thomas at +2500 and No. 10 Collin Morikawa at +2000.

Homa offers good value based on recent performance

From that group, Homa may be the best value at +2000. Homa finished second in the Genesis two weeks ago and won the Farmers Insurance Open against a tough field that included the likes of Rahm, Morikawa, Schauffele and Thomas.

Along with Scheffler and McIlroy, a few other former winners of the Arnold Palmer in the field this week include 2010 winner Hatton (+4000), 2019 winner Francesco Molinari (+20000) and 2016 winner Jason Day (+2800). Tiger Woods, an eight-time winner of this event, will not be in the field this week.