ORLANDO, Fla. — It was a perfectly Bay Hill day at the Arnold Palmer Invitational with winds that gusted to 30 mph, thick rough and firm greens that rejected all but the most perfectly played shots.
It’s the kind of day Scottie Scheffler is accustomed to at Arnie’s Place, where he’s won twice.
“You pick your poison out here,” Scheffler said following a first-round 71 that left him tied for 11th and four back of leader Wyndham Clark. “You can probably create a story with whatever it is. The greens are tough, the rough is high, and the wind is up.”
Scheffler’s 1-under round was roughly 3 ½ shots better than the field average (74.57) and one of just 14 sub-par rounds on the day. His performance should have been no surprise given his record at Bay Hill, where he won in 2022 and again in ’24.
When he won last year he closed with a 70, which was three shots better than the field average. And in ’22, in similarly blustery conditions, his 72 was 3 ½ shots better than the field average.
“I checked the scores from the last couple years and we were able to shoot some decent rounds, get it under par a little bit,” he recalled. “But I remember my first couple years coming here it was we had a lot of conditions that were similar to today. Maybe not the cooler temperatures, but definitely the wind.”
