Another week, another marquee pairing on the US PGA Tour featuring Tiger Woods. We could get used to this.
Woods will play the first two rounds of the Arnold Palmer Invitational with Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama. The star-studded trio tees off Bay Hill’s 10th hole at 8:23am on Thursday (local time) and off No.1 at 1:08pm on Friday.
Fresh off a runner-up finish at the Valspar Championship, Woods returns to the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the first time since winning the event for a record eighth time in 2013. According to Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, Woods is an overwhelming favourite to win for a ninth time. His 6-to-1 odds are the best in the field, followed by Day, the 2016 API champ, at 12/1.
Matsuyama is making an anticipated return of his own. The five-time US PGA Tour winner withdrew before the second round of last month’s Waste Management Phoenix Open with a wrist injury and hasn’t played since.
Woods’ Thursday-Friday playing partners haven’t played well in his last two starts. Brandt Snedeker and Patton Kizzire both missed the cut at the Honda Classic and Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson also failed to make the weekend at last week’s Valspar Championship. Woods and Matsuyama played together in the fourth round of the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year with Matsuyama shooting 69 at Torrey Pines to Tiger’s 72.
