PGA Tour Arrives at Arnie’s House

Thirty years ago, Arnold Palmer purchased the Bay Hill Club and Lodge. Today Bay Hill has become one of the premier stops on the PGA Tour as the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The top two golfers in the world, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will both be in the field for the first time since the WGC Accenture Match Play. Vijay Singh will be looking to defend his title and capitalize on swing changes he has made in the offseason. Although Singh finished third on last year’s money list, he has slipped to 11th in the World Golf Rankings. However Singh isn’t pressuring himself to win, "I just think it’s playing the right golf at the right time. You can be playing well and not win. Some good breaks, good shots at the right time, making the right putt at the right time makes all the difference."

Ernie Els, the third ranked golfer in the world withdrew from the field to spend time with his family before his run to The Masters. "For some reason last week I could deal with it. This week I couldn’t. Maybe I was a little mentally tired and maybe I needed a little bit of a break. We’ll regroup and see what happens," said Els.

Tiger Woods looks to continue his winning streak and capture his fifth title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. With his victory at the Match Play, Tiger Woods passed Arnold Palmer on the all-time wins list with sixty-three wins. Gracious as ever, Mr. Palmer commented, "It’s no surprise to me. I anticipated that he would pass that record and I can’t see him doing anything but continuing to pass other people’s records in the future."

Early press about the tournament focused on the condition of Bay Hill’s greens. A recent nematode invasion had killed much of the grass and had tournament organizers worried about the condition of the greens for the tournament. However, many of the fears seem to have been allayed now, "Right now, I feel that we are in good shape. The greens are not, let’s say the top, top of the board, but they are very puttable, very good, and they will be on Thursday morning, they will be a speed of somewhere around 10 to 12, and they will be very smooth. So they will be very playable, and I don’t see a problem," said Mr. Palmer.

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