PGA Tour - Arnold Palmer Preview

The PGA Tour heads to Orlando, Florida for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. The top 3 ranked players highlight what should be a competitive tournament.

Defending Champion - The first time Vijay Singh played this tournament, it was called the Nestle Invitational. Looking at Singh's results during his 13 appearances (starting with his most recent - 1, 7, 2, 31, 20, 15, 4, 29, 11, 22, 35, 13, 20) this is clearly a course he enjoys playing. Having already won over 1 million dollars this year, Singh is clearly on top of his game. There is no reason to expect a drop off. Expect a fourth straight Top 10 at this event.

Highest Ranked Player - Tiger Woods has played 2 PGA Tour events this year. Tiger Woods has won two PGA Tour events this year. Can he make it three in a row? Having won at Bay Hill each year from 2000-2003, clearly it's a course he's had success. That said, he hasn't finished higher than 20^th since 2004 and if you were looking at his recent PGA Tour schedule, this would be one of few (very few) events where you might be inclined to pick someone else.

Pick to Win - Sergio Garcia. Not off to a great start in 2008, this is a course Sergio plays well having finished in the Top 10 each year since 2005. This June will mark the 3 year anniversary of Garcia's last PGA Tour win. For a player with his talent, that's too long a gap and he ends the drought this week at one of the courses he always seems to play well.

The Long Shot - Fred Couples - This week's winner will receive $990,000. In 1992, Fred Couples took home a first place prize of $180,000 at this event. The last time Couples played this event (2005) he came in 8^th place and won $109,545. You never know if Couples will remain healthy enough to last an entire four rounds, but we'll take a flyer that he'll be in contention on Sunday.

5 to Watch

Bart Bryant - Last week's first round leader returns to a course where he has carded 3 straight top 20's at Bay Hill. No reason to expect him to fare much worse than that this week. 5 for 6 in cuts made in 2008, Bryant will continue his good start to the season.

Jim Furyk - Since the turn of the century, Furyk has only made one appearance (2006) at Bay Hill, where he finished in 20^th place. He's off to a decent start to this year, but not as strong a start as he's had overall the past couple of years which may explain why he's decided to add this to his schedule in 2008. His results this week will provide a good gauge of where his game is in preparation for some of the PGA Tour's big springtime events.

Lee Westwood - Westwood is off to a terrific start to the European Tour season, as he current sits second on the Order of Merit. Furthermore, Westwood is 8 for 9 in cuts made at Bay Hill over the last 10 years. While he didn't make the trip in 2007, expect him to continue his strong play this week.

Phil Mickelson - After a 4 year layoff, Mickelson returned to Bay Hill last year and finished in 36^th position, not quite the success he had in the early part of the decade (1999 - 2002) when he had 3 top 5 finishes in 4 years. Look for him to play better this week and to be in contention on Sunday.

Steve Marino - In his sophomore season, Steve Marino is 8 for 8 in cuts made. He has 6 top 30 finished and two top 10's - although one was a runner-up in the reduced field Mayakoba Golf classic. Even though he finished 62^nd last year, look for Marino's strong play to continue as one of the "new" names towards the top of the leaderboard on Sunday.