2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational standings, scores: Jon Rahm scores 65 in Round 1 to lead at Bay Hill
There’s been a lot of chatter over the past few days about who’s going to be on the PGA Tour’s designated events in 2024 and beyond. Honestly, it looks like it won’t matter since Jon Rahm is going to win it all.
Rahm, who has won 5 of the last 9 matches and is vying for his spot the third day advanced win (in four tries) this season, shooting 65 on Thursday in Round 1 of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which is his 18th round in the 60s out of a total of 21 rounds through 2023.
This has truly been an extraordinary run for the world No 1, and he has the opportunity to make it even more special over the next three days at Bay Hill. Take a deep dive into his first 18 holes and see how the rest of the tournament is going.
Leader
1. Jon Rahm (-7)
Rahm somehow missed the tee shot – arguably his strongest statistical category, and still racked up a total of seven best-of-the-year points. At this point, it gets so ridiculous that it’s virtually impossible to know which direction to go when trying to contextualize what Rahm is doing.
How about we do it like this?
Rahm played 21 rounds on the PGA Tour this year. He made it to the top 7 on the chart after 19 (!) of them. Oh and there’s this one too.
Regardless of how you judge it, Rahm is having the best season of all time and it doesn’t look like that will slow down any time soon. The question for him — perhaps the biggest question of this golfing year — is whether he can maintain this dominance until (and throughout) masters. A lot of golf fans won’t necessarily care that Rahm wins the biggest events of the year – even though it’s a big deal – if it doesn’t translate into a major championship in April, May Year, June or July.
other candidates
3. Kurt Kitayama (-6)
T3. Chris Kirk, Cameron Young (-5)
T5. Adam Schenk, Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Aaron Rai, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley (-4)
With all due respect to Kitayama, the players other than him — especially the two in the background — represent some intriguing storylines. Scheffler will attend the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the second time in a row as well as defend a second title in a row following a win over Phoenix last month. Spieth is trying to find something before April. Fowler is trying to really assert that he is back as a top player. Young will win his first. Oh and Schauffele and Cantlay are looking to break into that top three in the Official World Golf Ranking from just outside it.
Edema.
If it weren’t for what Rahm did, we would be talking more about how crazy Scheffler has been this season. Phoenix and Bay Hill’s wins two years in a row would be huge, but Scheffler insists he’s just trying to keep going.
“This is a golf course, I would say it is very difficult to bring a lot of confidence because like no hole is really easy,” says Scheffler. “It’s a weird golf course when it comes to that.
“I appreciate the fact that this golf course is so challenging and I feel like it’s a place where I can try and stick with it. That’s what I did last year. I didn’t play brilliantly for four years. One of the two players I played a round of scrims with this week, they asked me what I did so well last year and I just told them I survived. This place is brutal and it’s only going to get harder next week. This is Thursday morning. This is usually the easiest condition. So we’ll see what happens. out when next week.”
Don’t let Spieth find his shot
Spieth (68) is one of only two players in the top 22 to lose a stroke on grass. That’s not good, but it’s part of a small trend so far in the worst season of Spieth’s career on the PGA Tour. There’s plenty of time to fix that, but Spieth has lost strokes in his last three tournaments and is worse than the Tour average overall. The flip side to that is that if he starts to indulge in some lines in Augusta, the rest of the pitch can get silly.
Genesis Invitational 2023 Odds and Picks updated
Odds via Caesars Sportsbook
- Jon Rahm: 7/5
- Scottie Scheffler: 2/15
- Xander Schauffele: 12-1
- Patrick Cantlay: 12-1
- Cameron Young: 16-1
- Rickie Fowler: 24-1
What a strange table. When the world No. 2 golfer and the reigning champion of this golf tournament hit 68 on the first round and placed T5, you can certainly expect something shorter than +750. That shows how dominant Rahm was in the early part of the year. I’ll go deeper, get through all of this, and tackle Spieth at 30-1. I’m not entirely sure why he took longer than Fowler, but check out my thoughts above on how he turns the tide to a potential win this weekend or someday. early.
