The Magic Kingdom may be down the road a few miles, but Scottie Scheffler (+320) has turned Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge into his personal amusement park. Securing a T15 on his debut in the 2020 edition at the 7,466-yard, par-72 layout, he cracked the code on his second visit in 2022, earning his second career TOUR title.

Defending in the 2023 edition, the Texan sat just one shot off the 54-hole lead before a final round of 73 knocked him into a share of fourth place. Undaunted, he lifted the trophy for a second time in three seasons last March after posting 15-under 273 and boat-racing the field by five shots, matching the largest winning margin since Tiger Woods in 2012. His worst score over the last 12 loops is 73, twice.

Before Scheffler’s recent dominance, Rory McIlroy (+750) was the man circled for the top spot at Arnold Palmer’s place. Hot, breezy conditions rarely bothered the now-Jupiter resident. With blistering tee shots and long irons, the 2018 champion shot 18-under in perfect conditions, the lowest total since the course installed TifEagle Bermuda greens for 2016. Cashing T13 in 2022, he ended a run of five consecutive paydays inside the top 10 but shared second place in the 2023 event to add his sixth top-10 paycheck in seven starts. Never missing the cut in a decade of starts, all 10 appearances resulted in T27 or better.

Key stat for Bay Hill? SG: Scoring Average

Since 2019, Bay Hill has ranked annually among the top 10 hardest courses played on TOUR. The 2025 edition includes an additional challenge of an extra inch of overseeded rough, now 4 inches off the fairways, which will not make this layout easier. Difficult driving conditions combined with lightning-quick TifEagle Bermuda greens will provide a thorough examination against an elite field.

Players listed below are competing this week.Minimum eight rounds.

One of only three past champions in the field, 2016 winner Jason Day (+8000) is the last player to win here wire-to-wire. He picked up another top-10 result in 2023 with a T10. The short-game magician saves tons of strokes on and around the greens and cashed T36-T10-T31 in his last three appearances.

Keegan Bradley (+5500) fell short of the weekend in his first attempt during his 2011 rookie season. Returning for the 2013 event, he owns 12 consecutive seasons playing on the weekend and cashing checks. A three-year streak of T10-T11-T10 was interrupted by T36 in 2024, one of his nine results of T36 or better.

Making his 11th start at Bay Hill, Matt Fitzpatrick (+6000) has cashed T14 or better in six of his last eight. Running second in 2019 kicked off a streak of four consecutive top-10 results before settling for a T14 in 2023 and missing the cut in 2024. Enduring some of the nastiest conditions during the 2022 edition, the Englishman was the only player to record fewer than 10 bogeys for the week (eight).

Ranking No. 10 on the all-time money list at Bay Hill, Harris English (+17000) only squared four bogeys during the 2023 edition. Settling for T2, he enjoyed his second top-10 payday in three seasons. The Sea Island resident has cashed in his last six visits with five results of T26 or better.

It took Corey Conners (+7000) a pair of starts to find his footing, but the Canadian has proven to be a quick study. The 2021 event saw him hit the podium in third place, and over his last three appearances, he’s cashed a T11, T21 and T18. Pounding fairways and greens is a fantastic elixir at Bay Hill.

Notable stats

• Adam Scott (+8000) is the only player since 1985 to post a 62 (2014) and is one of four players to share the course record.
• Tiger Woods (not entered) has won this event eight times, the most in history. Scheffler is the only multiple-time champion in the field.
• The fairways are 30 yards wide, 2 yards wider on average than last week at PGA National, and overseeded.
• TifEagle Bermudagrass greens average 7,500 square feet and will run 13 feet and up on the Stimpmeter.
• Eighty-four (84) bunkers, 4 inches of rough and nine holes with water penalty areas. The beach-like bunker fronting the par-3 17th hole has notably been removed and replaced by a bank of thick rough.
• None of the par-5 holes play longer than 590 yards.
• Since 2016, only Scheffler in 2024 ranked OUTSIDE the top six in par-3 scoring. All four par-3 holes extend to 199 yards or longer.
• The last six winners have ranked in the top 10 in greens in regulation.
• After adding TifEagle greens for 2016, six of the last nine winners have ranked in the top six in SG: Putting and all were T21 or better. No weaknesses allowed in the bag this week!

Oddsmaker’s extras

Wyndham Clark (+5500) won the B Flight last year, finishing five shots adrift of Scheffler. The 2023 U.S. Open champion posted seven of his last eight rounds at par or better, including five consecutive loops in red figures.

Shane Lowry (+5000) needed four tries to figure it out, five to cash, and on the sixth try, he hit the podium, cashing solo third in 2024. Like Clark, he posted seven of his last eight rounds at par or better, including his final four of five loops in red figures.

On debut in 2019, Sungjae Im (+3900) posted four rounds under par and shared third place. Six years later, he owns 16 of 24 loops in red figures, played every weekend, and never cashed a check for worse than T21.

Viktor Hovland (+5500), like Im, has not missed a weekend in the last six years and owns a pair of top-10 paydays. Half of his 24 rounds are par or better, but only three loops have been on the weekend.

Max Homa (+17000) has feasted on the biggest, toughest ballparks the TOUR offers (Torrey Pines, Quail Hollow), and Bay Hill qualifies. Qualifying for the sixth consecutive season, the Californian produced his best result, a T8, in 2024 and has racked up T24 or better in all five starts.

With a pair of top-10 results from four starts, Will Zalatoris (+5000) is a perfect four-for-four at Bay Hill. Making his fifth consecutive tee time, he is one of the few to have a career scoring average under par (71.88), and his T4 payday from 2024 is the best on his ledger.

Justin Thomas (+2500) has posted nine of 12 loops at par or better but has never cracked the top 10 in three visits (T12, 2024).

A debutant for the 2023 edition, Patrick Cantlay (+2800) posted three rounds in the red and shared fourth; finished T36 in 2024.

Russell Henley (+4400) is on a streak of four consecutive years playing the weekend. In 16 loops during that run, he racked up 12 rounds at par or better and produced his best payday, a T4, last year.

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