Arnold Palmer Invitational Preview: Like the look of a Young pretender

This week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational looks a cracker with the PGA Tour once again playing centre stage. With 44 of the top 50 in the World Rankings teeing it up at Bay Hill, this is a stacked event and that’s unsurprising given its esteemed role of honour and history.

Whenever Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler all tee it up, it’s a tournament not to be missed and we look set for four days of cracking action, especially if the forecast wind gets up and makes the course a brutal test.

Here’s our preview ahead of Thursday’s opening round.

Xander could tame Bay Hill

As mentioned, tee times could play a crucial role this week with severe winds forecast for Friday afternoon, so it might be worth holding fire until we know who is playing when. However, we’ll do our best to find contenders who should go well regardless of the weather and the first port of call is Xander Schauffele at 20/1.

The American enjoyed a purple patch in the middle of last year when he won back-to-back, dispelling theories that he was one of those players who would win much less than he should. He’s always been one of the most consistent players in the world of golf with few weaknesses in his game, bar the fact that he wouldn’t win as much as he should.

Those wins seem to have made a real difference and by and large he’s kept his form really well since having finished outside of the top 25 on just two of his last 10 PGA Tour appearances. He had to withdraw from the Sentry Tournament of Champions due to injury but a tie for third at the American Express, tie for 13th at the Farmers Insurance Open and tie for 10th at the WM Phoenix Open have shown he’s right back to full strength.

He’s only played this event once – a 24th place finish in 2020 – but it’s a course that should suit as it tests all facets of one’s game with par often a good score. There aren’t many better grinders than Schauffele and the way his form has been projecting suggests a win isn’t far away. He could do with putting a bit better, but he’s ranked inside the top 35 in that category for the last three seasons, so it’s hardly like the putter is a weak link.

Young to come of age

The driver has always been a key club around Bay Hill and with that in mind, Cameron Young needs adding to the staking plan. He has shown his liking for tricky courses when inside the top-three at last year’s extremely difficult Wells Fargo, while he contended at both the PGA Championship and Open Championship showing he’s not afraid of mixing it on the big stage.

He was a good second to Abraham Ancer in Saudi Arabia earlier this month and the journey back was probably the reason he was below par in Phoenix. The long game was right back to its best at Riviera where a poor week on the greens cost him any chance.

He was a more than respectable 13th on debut here last year showing that a difficult par 72 is right up his street and if the wind does blow, his effort at St Andrews as well as in the Bahamas last year show he has the tools to deal with it.

He somehow still hasn’t won on the PGA Tour and this might just be the week that the Tour’s best rookie breaks his duck at 30/1.