Tiger (65) tied with Fowler at Tour Championship

This week features 18 of the top 30 in the FedExCup for the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, and will mark the 40th playing of the tournament at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Rickie Fowler, Peter Jacobsen and Nancy Lopez will share hosting duties at Orlando’s Bay Hill for the second API since the passing of the great man himself, Arnold Palmer. Another man will also be top of mind at Bay Hill: Tiger Woods, the only man to win the FedExCup twice. It’s been five years since he won a record eighth API title in 2013, and he returns to Bay Hill on the heels of his T2 finish at the Valspar Championship. Although Woods no longer lives in Orlando’s Isleworth neighborhood, having moved south to Jupiter, Florida, he is one of several players in the field this week with Orlando ties. Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell and Stuart Appleby are among those with a short commute this week. Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Justin Rose, Anirban Lahiri and defending champion Marc Leishman head up a stellar international field, while Patrick Reed, who tied Woods for second place at the Valspar, tries to win for the first time since 2016. Hideki Matsuyama (wrist) will return to competition for the first time since injuries knocked him out of action at the Waste Management Phoenix Open last month. Bay Hill Club & Lodge is a 7,419-yard, par-72 track with plenty of water. Palmer played an exhibition there in 1965 and proclaimed it “the best course in Florida� before he eventually bought the club and made it his winter base.     PGA TOUR LIVE on Thursday/Friday is scheduled to air from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET (Featured Groups) and 3-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Featured Holes consist of the par-3 14th and the risk-reward, par-5 16th, where players can reach the green in two but a greenside water hazard lurks to punish short misses. Radio on Thursday/Friday can be heard from noon to 6 p.m.; Saturday/Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio and Sirius XM and PGA TOUR.com) (Note: All times Eastern; FedExCup ranking in parentheses.) MORE: Tee times, Rounds 1&2 THURSDAY Bubba Watson (18), Justin Rose (15), Patrick Reed (33) After a lackluster 2017, Watson has returned with authority this season, winning the Genesis Open and finishing T9 at the WGC-Mexico Championship. Rose, who notched 10 straight top-10s, including two wins, in late 2017 and early 2018, took a four-week break and was rusty at the WGC-Mexico Championship before getting back on form with a T5 at the Valspar last weekend. And Reed, who went winless last season, is also on the rebound. He’s coming off a T2 at the Valspar at Innisbrook, where he led the field in strokes gained: approaches. Tee time: 8:11 a.m. off 10th tee Jason Day (10), Hideki Matsuyama (62), Tiger Woods (43) After falling largely off the map last season, 2016 API champ Day has come back strong this season with a win at the Farmers Insurance Open followed by a runner-up at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Japan’s superstar, Matsuyama, is making his first start since a wrist injury derailed his attempt at a third straight title at the Waste Management Phoenix Open last month. And the entire sports universe is abuzz over eight-time API champ Woods’ runner-up finish at the Valspar. Tee time: 8:23 a.m. off 10th tee FRIDAY Henrik Stenson (88), Adam Scott (110), Tommy Fleetwood (68) Stenson, the 2013 FedExCup champion, got off to a solid start this season with a T2 at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions but is trying to bounce back after a missed cut (74-74) at the Valspar Championship. Scott, a 13-time PGA TOUR winner, is finally trending in the right direction again after a T16 at the Valspar and a T13 at The Honda Classic. And up-and-comer Fleetwood, who finished T10 at Bay Hill a year ago, is coming off weekend rounds of 67-66 and a T14 at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship two weeks ago. This is his first year of eligibility to play for the FedExCup. Tee time: 8:11 a.m. off 10th tee Marc Leishman (23), Rickie Fowler (26), Rory McIlroy (178) Defending champion Leishman hasn’t been on form with a T37 at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship and a missed cut at the Genesis Open. But sometimes API winners just keep right on winning, most recently evidenced by Matt Every (2014, ’15) and eight-time API champion Tiger Woods (four straight from 2000 to ’03). Fowler got off to a nice start this season, finishing second at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, but he’s been quiet since a final-round 73 dropped him to a T11 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. And no star has been quieter than McIlroy, who has two missed cuts in four TOUR starts this season. Tee time: 8:23 a.m. off 10th tee

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The PGA TOUR regained traction on the 2022-23 season with last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, but with only 39 golfers competing in the exclusive invitational on Maui, the rubber doesn’t meet the road in earnest until this week’s Sony Open in Hawaii. RELATED: The First Look | Five Things to Know The 144-man competition at Waialae County Club in Honolulu represents the first sizable gathering since The RSM Classic in the week before Thanksgiving. However, as Jimi Hendrix crooned, are you experienced? For why that matters so much and more, continue reading beneath the ranking of projected contenders. POWER RANKINGS: SONY OPEN IN HAWAII Billy Horschel, Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar and Emiliano Grillo will be among the notables review in Draws and Fades. The soft reopen (and hard close … sigh) at Kapalua personified the undisputed claim that Hawaii is a remote land of extremes no matter the pursuit. Unsurprisingly, it also applies to the experience on the southeastern shore of Oahu. This is the 58th edition of the Sony Open in Hawaii. All have been staged at Waialae. Throughout the FedExCup era (2007-present), it’s been a par 70 capable of ranging to 7,044 yards, and it will again this week. Save a bunker that has been split in two beside the green on the par-4 first hole and bermuda greens allowed to stretch another foot to 12 on the Stimpmeter, the course is the same. So, sans surprises that could even the playing field, literally or figuratively, a pair of strong trends has reason to continue. Although Kapalua and Waialae never will be confused as twins, the objectives on each are the same – hit greens and sink putts. Despite vastly different topographies – Kapalua is on the side of a mountain; Waialae is flat and at sea level – wind really is the only challenge on either, and like last week, it isn’t forecast to be that at all again once the Sony starts on Thursday. With all other elements cooperating, the field will have a great chance to copy last year’s scoring average of 67.998. So, as of midday Monday, the 18 who teed it up at Kapalua and have made the short trip to Waialae have the edge to win. They are warm and arrive with the knowledge that eight of the last nine champions of the Sony played the Sentry the previous week. The other almost unbelievable fact of the matter is that, since Gay Brewer prevailed in the inaugural edition of the Sony in 1965, Russell Henley is the only winner in his tournament debut. Fitting for the phenomenon of extremes, Henley was in his first-ever PGA TOUR start as a member in 2013. The moral of the matter, then, is that first-timers who didn’t peg it at Kapalua last week are facing headwinds of trends times two. For the sixth consecutive year, all Korn Ferry Tour graduates who have committed are in the field. So, even the slowest starters aren’t penalized this opportunity after the first reorder of their category at the conclusion of the fall portion of the last wraparound season. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws & Fades SUNDAY: Payouts and Points, Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Rookie Ranking * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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