PGA betting preview: Arnold Palmer Invitational

We have a second straight event in Florida this week and our second elevated status event with the Arnold Palmer Invitational. That means we have a bigger purse and longer tour exemption period for the winner. 

Last year Bryson Dechambeau took the event with a score of -11. He finished second to Rory McIlroy in 2018 too so he would have been a hot bet. Unfortunately, he will not be defending his title due to injury. 

The field does feature three past winners in McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton and Marc Leishman. World No. 1 Jon Rahm is in the field too so it should be a nice and competitive group tackling a challenging course. 

Tournament Info

Date: March 3–6, 2022
Course: Bay Hill Golf Course
Purse: $12,000,000
TV: Golf Channel/NBC

Top Odds

• Jon Rahm +850
• Rory McIlroy +1200
• Scottie Scheffler +1600
• Viktor Hovland +1600
• Hideki Matsuyama +2500
• Matt Fitzpatrick +2800
• Marc Leishman +3000
• Sungjae Im +3000
• Will Zalatoris +3300
• Tyrrell Hatton +3300
• Adam Scott +3300

Bets to Consider

Rory McIlroy Top 10 +150

McIlroy has not played a lot on the tour this season. His lone event was a 10th place at the Genesis Invitational. He has had success at this event, and positive value on a top 10 is too good to ignore. 

Keith Mitchell Top 10 +350

Mitchell is not a big name, but it is hard not to like the numbers for him coming into the event. He has three top 10 finished in 2022 (plus a 12th). He has also fared well in this event with two top 10s in three starts. You might even want to take a flier on him wining the whole thing. 

Viktor Hovland +1600

Hovland looks like a great value this weekend. He has been pushed down the odds board by Rory and Rahm but should probably be priced about the same. He has won three of his last seven events, with two of those wins coming in the PGA Tour. In two of those events he finished fourth too so he has not been far off the pace. Take advantage of some big names being in the field for the extra value. 

Hideki Matsuyama +2500

Similar to Hovland, this is a great price for a player with a lot of recent success. Matsuyama has two wins in this last six starts, plus one additional top 10. His all-around game should play very well on this challenging course.