ORLANDO, FL – MARCH 25: Tiger Woods of the United States plays his third shot at the par 4, 18th hole during the final round of the 2013 Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard at Bay Hill Golf and Country Club on March 25, 2013 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

By Christopher Powers
The PGA Tour makes its second-to-last stop of the season in Florida this week for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, held at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando. Tiger Woods is back in action for a second straight week, making his first start at Bay Hill since 2013 when he won the event for a remarkable eighth time. The combination of that past history and a strong showing at the Valspar Championship has made Woods an overwhelming favourite to win the tournament for a ninth time.

To do it, he’ll have to take down one of the stronger fields this season, featuring 10 of the top 20 players in the world, including fellow countrymen Jason Day and Marc Leishman, the last two winners at Bay Hill. It’s difficult to think of either player as a “darkhorse”, but with all the attention on Woods, the Aussie duo cannot be ignored this week. In five starts this year, Day has a victory at Torrey Pines, a T-2 at Pebble Beach and a pair T-11s at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges and the WGC-HSBC Champions. As for Leishman, he’s made seven of his eight cuts, including a solo second at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges and a T-8 at Torrey Pines.

Also in the field this week is Rory McIlroy, whose struggles on the PGA Tour have carried over into 2018 despite a strong start to his European Tour campaign. Perhaps this could be the week he gets back on the right track. In his three starts at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, McIlroy has finished T-11, T-27 and T-4.

TV Coverage

In the UAE, OSN Sports 3 HD will carry live coverage each day, Thursday through Sunday, from 9pm.

Leaderboard

Follow all the action from Orlando on the Golf Digest PGA Tour leaderboard.

Thursday Tee Times (all times ET). NOTE: UAE time is 8 hours ahead of Orlando time. 

No. 1 Tee

7:35 a.m. (3.35pm UAE time) — Nick Taylor, Beau Hossler, Satoshi Kodaira

7:47 a.m. — Hunter Mahan, Sung Kang, Sam Saunders

7:59 a.m. — Kevin Streelman, John Huh, Whee Kim

8:11 a.m. — Ted Potter, Jr., Kyle Stanley, Padraig Harrington

8:23 a.m. — Mackenzie Hughes, Jimmy Walker, William McGirt

8:35 a.m. — Patton Kizzire, Kevin Kisner, Brian Gay

8:47 a.m. — Grayson Murray, Brian Stuard, Vaughn Taylor

8:59 a.m. — Ryan Moore, Charley Hoffman, Shane Lowry

9:11 a.m. — Chesson Hadley, Martin Laird, Sean O’Hair

9:23 a.m. — Jason Kokrak, Anirban Lahiri, Tom Hoge

12:20 p.m. — Keegan Bradley, Francesco Molinari, Kevin Tway

12:32 p.m. — Kevin Na, Martin Piller, Yuta Ikeda

12:44 p.m. — Camilo Villegas, Louis Oosthuizen, Jamie Lovemark

12:56 p.m. — Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Tommy Fleetwood

1:08 p.m. — Marc Leishman, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy

1:20 p.m. — Charl Schwartzel, Emiliano Grillo, Ernie Els

1:32 p.m. — Austin Cook, Hudson Swafford, Danny Willett

1:44 p.m. — Brian Harman, Davis Love III, Tyrrell Hatton

1:56 p.m. — Scott Brown, Bud Cauley, Peter Uihlein

2:08 p.m. — Aaron Wise, Sam Horsfield, Doc Redman

No. 10 Tee

7:35 a.m. — Robert Gamez, Brandon Harkins, Matthew Fitzpatrick

7:47 a.m. — Danny Lee, Alex Cejka, Tyrone Van Aswegen

7:59 a.m. — Scott Piercy, Ian Poulter, HaoTong Li

8:11 a.m. — Bubba Watson, Justin Rose, Patrick Reed

8:23 a.m. (4.23pm UAE time) — Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama, Tiger Woods

8:35 a.m. — Brandt Snedeker, Graeme McDowell, Zach Johnson

8:47 a.m. — Ryan Armour, Si Woo Kim, Cameron Smith

8:59 a.m. — Russell Knox, Billy Hurley III, Alex Noren

9:11 a.m. — Ben Martin, Patrick Rodgers, Byeong Hun An

9:23 a.m. — Donny Lee, Curtis Luck, A.J. McInerney

12:20 p.m. — Paul Goydos, C.T. Pan, Kiradech Aphibarnrat

12:32 p.m. — Robert Streb, Scott Stallings, Tim Herron

12:44 p.m. — Harris English, Stuart Appleby, Ollie Schniederjans

12:56 p.m. — James Hahn, Smylie Kaufman, Chris Kirk

1:08 p.m. — D.A. Points, Matt Every, Charles Howell III

1:20 p.m. — Bryson DeChambeau, Luke Donald, Vijay Singh

1:32 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Cody Gribble, Sang-moon Bae

1:44 p.m. — Kevin Chappell David Lingmerth, Stewart Cink

1:56 p.m. — J.B. Holmes, Lucas Glover, Luke List

2:08 p.m. — Talor Gooch, Sam Burns, Collin Morikawa