2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational Odds, Picks: 3 Targets at Bay Hill, Including Viktor Hovland, Scottie Scheffler

It was not the finish I expected on Sunday at the Honda Classic.

I had written that round off to Daniel Berger and fully expected him to cruise to victory. Instead, he blew his five-shot lead within the first five holes as a double-bogey at the easy par-5 3rd brought the field back into the tournament. Shane Lowry would catch him on the front, but Sepp Straka caught them both and posted a birdie on the par-5 18th to capture his first TOUR win.

The TOUR will now turn to another iconic Florida event as players head to Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Many of the stars of the game are set to tee it up in pursuit of the red cardigan sweater awarded to the champion on Sunday evening, including last year's champion Bryson DeChambeau.

Bryson will make his first appearance since injuring himself at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, which led to a withdrawal on the course at the Saudi Invitational. World No. 1 Jon Rahm will make his first appearance at Bay Hill, while Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland will once again play the API.

This is a tournament where scoring conditions are tough, and there are already images of lengthy rough being spread around social media. It will make for another grind of a week similar to last week's Honda, but this week is flush with star power. We'll look to dial in on the players coming in with the best form as we wait for odds to be released on Monday morning.

Who's Hot

Viktor Hovland

One of the first names I'll be looking for when odds are released on Monday is Viktor Hovland. He was on my card at the Genesis a couple of weeks ago, and I expect he or my next player will be on this one too. It will come down to numbers with several really solid players in this field that should fit well around Bay Hill. I am hopeful that Hovland may get overlooked a bit with his lackluster finishes at this event, none of which are inside the top 40, as he has struggled to find his game on the greens.

We know he has made big strides on and around the greens in his game over the past year, which will be needed this week. Hovland has shown some of those changes over his last several events on TOUR and overseas as he comes in off of a fourth-place finish at the Genesis.

I'm giving him a pass from his missed cut at the Waste Management, especially being that he won on the DP World Tour prior to that start. He is one of the top players in this field on approaches from 200 yard or more, which is going to be a key factor this week. I'll be surprised if we don't see him turn his history around this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

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Scottie Scheffler

There aren't many players in the world right now playing better or with more confidence than Scottie Scheffler. He finally got the monkey off his back with his first win a few weeks ago at the Waste Management, but there was no hangover the following week at Riviera as he posted another top-10 finish.

Scottie comes into this week off of consecutive top-10 finishes and gets set for the Florida Swing at a course he posted a T15 two years ago. He is certainly a class above the player he was at that time, and his game seems to be a great fit for all of the challenges that Bay Hill presents. I'll be looking for odds early on the Texas Longhorn with the hopes he gets placed at odds down the board with the more established star power up top.

Keith Mitchell

I wrote up Keith Mitchell in this spot last week, but it turned out to be another Georgia Bulldog closing out the win. I'll go right back to Mitchell here at another Florida course that is a great fit to his game. He has two top-six finishes in the last three years at Bay Hill, and he's in great form coming into the week.

Mitchell posted another top-10 finish at the Honda, which makes it three consecutive top-12 finishes on TOUR. The most encouraging part is how he improved throughout the week and finally put things together in a way on Sunday to move into another top finish. I expect that form and confidence to roll into this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and with the field strength much higher, we should be in store for a better number when odds open.

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