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Tournament Stats:
Arnold Palmer InvitationalMarch 15 - 18, 2007
Bay Hill Club & Lodge
Orlando, Florida
Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,207
Purse: $5 million with $900,000 going to the winner
Defending Champions: Rod Pampling
List of Champions & Scores
Results & Scores 2006 Arnold Palmer
Box Score of 2006 Arnold Palmer
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:264 (Payne Stewart in 1987)
54-Hole Record:
197 (Andy Bean in 1981)
36-Hole Record:
130 (Andy Bean & Tom Watson in '81)
Low round of tournament:
62 (Andy Bean, 2nd round in 1981 & Greg Norman, 2nd round, 1984)
Tournament information:
According to the PGA Tour, this will be the 42nd Arnold Palmer Invitational, which got its start in 1966 as the Florida Citrus Open. But if you ask Arnold Palmer, he will tell you that this is the 29th Bay Hill Invitational. The actual event did start in 1996 as the Florida Citrus Open and it was barely surviving when Arnold Palmer and his associates took over in 1978. They breathed new life into the event by moving it to Bay Hill and talking the elite of the PGA Tour to include Bay Hill onto their schedules. In its 28 years since it changed to the Bay Hill Club, the tournament has elevated to a level that it's considered one of the premier stops on tour, as rated by the pros who vote it each year one of the five most enjoyed stops on the PGA Tour.Course information:
Course was originally designed and built by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee in 1960.It's funny how Arnold Palmer got associated with it. In the early 1960s when Bay Hill was first opened, Palmer and Jack Nicklaus played an exhibition tournament at the course and the King was so attracted to Bay Hill that he got together a group of investors and leased the club with an option to buy it. In January of 1976, the group bought the course and ever since Palmer spends most of the winter in a condomimium behind the course. Palmer loves to tinker with the course, the last couple of years he has spent a lot of time making changes, probably the biggest coming this year when he takes the par 5, 4th and 16th holes and converts them into par 4s.
The average green size at Bay Hill is 6,500 square feet, which is a little over the average on the PGA Tour. Course has 103 bunkers and water comes into play on nine of the 18 holes. Bay Hill has been the host of the tournament since 1979. According to the touring pros, it's on their top five for most enjoyed stops on the PGA Tour.
For a more comprehensive look at the course, look at this Course Overview done by PGA Tour.Com
The Buzz:
Over the last couple of years, Bay Hill owner Arnold Palmer has been tinkering a lot with the Bay Hill course. In a way Palmer loves a man-size test and has done some small changes her and small changes there to make it tough. The biggest changes came a couple of years ago when he overseeded the rough and allowed it to get longer and narrowed down the fairways. In some respects this is the reason that after winning four straight years (2000-'03) that starting in 2004 Tiger Woods finished T46th, T23rd and T20th last year. This was the period of time that Woods was redoing his game and he wasn't very straight off the tee, thus the high scores.But this year Palmer is doing something different, yes it's not going to change the actual score of the tournament but he has changed the 4th and 16th holes from par 5s to par 4s. This is the way the USGA toughest courses, making birdies harder to get. With this change par will be 70 and the course will play at 7,137 yards, 130 yards shorter than it played last year.
Another thing that Palmer has made sure is that the rough is still tough with 4 to 6 inch rough, another side that the course will be tough. One thing that Palmer can't control is the weather and what he was hoping for was dry conditions over the week, which over the course of the last ten days has cooperated making the course play firm and fast. But come Thursday and going into Friday rain will prevent that from happening.
| How Bay Hill has gotten tougher over the years: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Scoring Average / Tour Rank | Winning score | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 71.686 (-0.314) ranked 32nd | Win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | 72.693 (+0.693) ranked 16th) | T2nd | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | 72.327 (+0.327) ranked 25th | T5th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | 72.129 (+0.129) ranked 25th | Win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | 72.467 (+0.467) ranked 13th | T8th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | 72.687 (+0.687) ranked 15th | T10th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | 72.955 (+0.955) ranked 15th | Win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | 72.238 (+0.238) ranked 27th | T4th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | 73.243 (+1.243) ranked 10th | T3rd | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | 72.225 (+0.225) ranked 29th | Win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Now what is the ramifications of all this. First, by changing the 16th to a par 4, it will create the hardest closing holes on the PGA Tour. Last year as an example the 17th hole was the 2nd hardest hole with an average of 3.21 and the 18 the hardest with an average of 4.32. The 16th as a par 5 played to a 4.595 average so if it was easiest in relation to it's par but if it played as a par 4 it would of been the hardest hole.
This is a different strategy for Palmer this change because in the early years of the tournament the 16th was a par 4. But in 1990, in the interest of making for a fun finish, Palmer reconfigured the lake in front of the green, moved the tees 35 yards back and made it into a 481 yards risk/reward par 5. Some may think that this will make it too hard for the pro's and take away the challenge and excitement of going for the green in two.
In another strange move, Palmer is changing the 4th hole back into a par 4. In the first couple of years of the event the 4th was a 468 yard par 4th and was always one of the harder holes. But he 70 yards to the hole and Made it into a par 5. Last year of the 30 eagles made on the course, 20 were made on the 16th hole.
So for the third week in row, a Florida swing course will look a lot like a U.S. Open test. Now for many, this week and next will be prep work for the Masters. This week will have a great field as seven of the top-ten in the world rankings are playing and all the PGA Tour winners except for Fred Funk, whose back is bothering him will be in the field.
Unfortunely Jim Furyk has a sore left wrist from too much practicing and decided to take the week off. Also last minute scratch's is Thomas Bjorn who was sick over the weekend and John Daly, whose went to see Dr. Steve Whitely in Arkansas, who told Daly he had dislocated a rib and his right shoulder from a incident at the Honda Classic and he needed a couple of days for the injury to get better. He will be back for the Shell Houston Open.
This will also be the first time that some of the players that have been critical of Woods AT&T National being a limited field event to voice there opinion. It would be interesting to see how a player like Rich Beem would do that but since Beem isn't in the event it will have to wait.
Here are some things to look for this week:
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The major season is about to heat up, just a week before the WGC-Ca Championship and three weeks before the Masters. With that the interest level will increase as we get ready for the first major of the year. 2007 has been a different type of year, not only because the Florida swing has taken on a different look and style, with scores going high at both the Honda Classic and PODS Championship.
With scores going high this has brought on unexpected winners like John Wilson and Mark Calcavecchia. Will this trend continue could be a topic of conversation. In many tournaments experience seems to be important, but not at Bay Hill. Since 1979, ten of the winners either became first time winners or only won once before, just like with Rod Pampling last year and Chad Campbell in 2004. But on the other side of the fence, the tournament has had some great players winning like Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Ben Crenshaw, Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Paul Azinger, Payne Stewart, Fuzzy Zoeller and Tiger Woods. In the past players that drove it long never seemed to win but that trend has changed. Just look at the last eight winners, Phil Mickelson in '97, Ernie Els in '98, Tim Herron in '99 and Tiger in 2000, 2001, 2002 & 2003, Chad Campbell in 2004 and Chad Campbell last year, they all can hit the ball a long way. Here are some of the secrets that it will take to play well this week at the Arnold Palmer Inviational:
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Key stat for the winner:
There has been a bit of controversy that ball-striking is becoming a dinosaur on the PGA Tour but that isn't the case this week. Bay Hill is a ball striking haven in which hitting lost of greens is important. Since 1997 there has been no winner that has been over 17th in greens hit for the week and three of the winners including 2005 champion Kenny Perry led the category. Last year's winner Rod Pampling was T8th. - Unimportant stat: Patience is important, on most courses the norm is making lots of birdies to keep pace but at Bay Hill pars are just as important.
- Kenny Perry had a perfect combination of being ranked 4th in both driving distance and accuracy in 2005. Look for accuracy to again prevail and look for another player like Perry that combines straight driving with a bit of length. Even though Luke Donald doesn't hit it far, he gets it in the fairway which is important. Also Charles Howell III hits it far and straight Be sure to look at the leaders this year in Total Driving, guys like Greg Owen who is second has done very well at Bay Hill.
- All the par 5s are within reach of the average player and even though the course is over 7,200 yards this won't present much of a problem, look for lots of greens to be hit.
- One thing for certain the odds are quite good that the winner will be from either Florida and the Orlando area. Of the 127 in the field this week, 35 live in Florida with 18 having ties in the Orlando area.
