Arnold Palmer Invitational odds, picks: Scottie Scheffler returns as massive favorite

The best players on the PGA Tour have descended to Central Florida for the illustrious Arnold Palmer Invitational, the fourth signing event of the year.

This year's field has 72 players, including recent PGA Tour winners Joe High Smith and Brian Campbell. Xander Schauffele, the third world No. 3, who has suffered a rib injury for the past few months, will also return to the competition at Bay Hill. He suffered from pain at the opening season event that opened at Maui's Sentry, finishing in 30th. This is the winner of the 2024 PGA Championship and is far from what many current Champion Golfer of the Year would expect.

Scotty Schaeffler and Rory McIlroy are also headlines on the field, with both players reaching Bayhill and having the best odds to win. Other notables include Genesis invitee winner Rudig Åberg, two-time major winners Morikawa and Matsuyama Hideki.

But the two most popular players in the game will be watching from a side job this week. Jordan Spieth had not received one of four sponsor exemptions and Ricky Fowler nodded any more. Both players will play at the players championships next week.

Like Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational establishes a 36-hole cut along the way. Top 50 players within 10 shots of the lead and any player with tie and qualifies for the final 36 holes.

Arnold Palmer Invitational Odds:

This is the latest The chances of the player winning 2025 Cognizant Classic, provided by Fan Duell:

Scotty Schaeffler +320

Rory McIlroy +750

LudvigÅberg+1600

Xander Schauffele +1600

Colin Morikawa +2200

Matsuyama Hideki +2500

Justin Thomas +2800

Patrick Cantlay +3000

Tommy Fleetwood +3000

Sungjae IM +4500

It's Zalatoris +5000

Russell Henry +5000

Keegan Bradley +5500

Sam Burns +5500

Matt Fitzpatrick +5500

Shane Laurie +5500

Viktor Hovland +5500

Maverick McNerry +5500

Wyndham Clark +6000

Robert Macintyre +6000

Tony Finau +6000

Taylor Pendris +6000

Daniel Berger +6500

Sepp Straka +7000

Corey Conners +7000

Tom Kim +7500

Michael Kim +8000

Jason Day +8000

Si Woo Kim +8000

Ben Griffin +8000

Akshay Bhatia +8000

Denny McCarthy +9000

Adam Scott +9000

Min Woo Lee +9000

Davis Stompson +9000

Play Through Picks:

Jack Mirco – Staff Writer, Golf

History repeats itself at Ernie's location as the number one in the world Scotty Scheffler Just like he did a year ago, he picks up his first victory in 2025 at Bay Hill.

After getting into Christmas Day, the real-life Masters champion missed January and made his season debut at AT&T Pebble Beach Proam in early February. He tied for the ninth place, but posted a T-25 in Phoenix the following week. The results at TPC Scottsdale would have been much better if it wasn't back nine 41 on Sunday. Similar feelings can be made about his play at Tory Pines the following week. Schaeffler saw some sort of outside during that third round, but came into competition on Sunday at a 6-under 66. He looks back at it in Tory and now looks ready to re-enter the winner's circle.

Another reason I like Schaeffler this week has to do with his biggest weakness.

Last year in Bay Hill, Schaeffler switched from a mallet putter to a spider putter, hoping that would end the struggle with the Greens. I did it. The move paid off in a historic way as Schaeffler shed Tiger-like tears for the next five months.

However, this year, Schaeffler ranks 30th on the Stroke PGA Tour with his spider putter and newly adopted claw grips. He also ranks 11th on overall putting average, requiring just 27.92 putts per round so far. Considering Schaeffler hits the ball with the tee-to-green string, his improvement over the green should bring great results, especially on courses where he has had many successful successes. He's won here twice before, so what will stop him from winning the third cardigan sweater?

Funder Elds: Schaeffler won with +320

RJ OCHOA – Senior Producer, Boy's Blog

This is a big week as the PGA Tour is two weeks from the last of the players before. Obviously, we're still a bit off from running with major seasons completely off, but anyone watching golf, when they get to Bay Hill… that's serious.

Last year was Scottie Scheffler's year, and although we're not trying to predict decline there in one or more ways, including APIs, we think we're trying to see another star reach a new level on the tour.

This week we're heading in a chalky direction, but not entirely so. Wyndham Clark He finished behind Scotty alone in this tournament last year, but I think he's going to see a great run from him in the coming months. Clark is pretty expensive on the OWGR list. This is certainly something we shouldn't draw serious conclusions from these days… Ultimately, I like his odds being repeated here on a strong show and taking off in 2025.

Funderel Odds: Clark wins with +6000

Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Mark Schofield – Staff Writer, NFL, F1

If you score well on Bay Hill, you need to be accurate with your irons.

Please enter Patrick Cantlay.

Heading towards Kantray, Arnold Palmer's invitation, behind only Nikolai Hodzigard and Cep Straca, he ranks third in the Greens Tour regulations at 76.39%. Cantray has hit 220 of the 288 greens under regulations this year, a truly impressive percentage. He is also second on birdies average, lagging behind only the Morikawa River River River, which averages 5.56 birdies per round.

He also shook a tough start in Genesis in the final hour tied to the fifth at -8 under. It came after opening round 74, where he headed over two or more on Friday. Cantrey went 70, 68, 68 in the last three days, charging his leaderboard. Without the unfortunate bogey in the final two rounds, he could have threatened the lead.

He'll just do that this week.

Fan Duel Odds: Cantrey wins with +3000

Photos by Carmen Mandato/TGL/TGL via Getty Images

Jack Mirco is a golf staff writer who plays SB Nation. Follow him with x @jack_milko.