For the second event of the Florida swing, the PGA TOUR is hosting the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week. The Arnold Palmer Invitational will be played at Bay Hill Club and Lodge (par 72, 7,466 yards, Bermuda greens) in Orlando, which has been the home of this tournament since 1979. Last year, Scottie Scheffler (-15) won the Arnold Palmer Invitational by five shots. As a Signature Event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational features the PGA TOUR’s best players competing for a purse of $20 million. The Arnold Palmer Invitational is one of only three Signature Events that features a cut, with the top-50 and ties and any player within 10 shots of the lead advancing after the first two rounds.
Bay Hill is a challenging parkland course that features narrow fairways, thick rough, large greens, 84 bunkers, and water in play on nine holes. At this difficult par 71, the average winning score has only been 12.1 strokes under par over the last 10 years. Like most Florida venues, Bay Hill is a less-than-driver course where being accurate is far more important than being long. Catching fire with both your irons and putter is a must at this tough venue, as four of the last five winners at Bay Hill have finished the week top-16 in both SG APP and SGP. With the four par fives at Bay Hill being far and away the best scoring opportunities at the course, strong par five scorers need to be the priority this week. Scheffler led his field in par five efficiency during his dominant win at Bay Hill a year ago, making him the third Arnold Palmer Invitational winner over the last four years to finish top-three in the stat.
Below, I dive into three of my favorite DraftKings bargain plays for the Arnold Palmer Invitational that all cost less than $7.5K.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here:
PGA TOUR $1M Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
Si Woo Kim ($7,400): Kim has finished T12th, T21st, and T24th in his last three starts, and two of these finishes impressively came at Signature Events. The veteran gained strokes on approach at all three of these tournaments and shot under par in nine of these 12 rounds. Kim now returns to Bay Hill, where he has finished T39th or better for three years in a row.
Kim’s +6500 odds to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational on DraftKings Sportsbook are the best among all players priced under $7.5K in DFS. He is a steal at this cheap price tag.
Sahith Theegala ($7,400): Theegala has handled the difficult conditions of Bay Hill very well over the last two years, finishing T14th in 2023 and then T6th last year. The 27-year-old has been disappointing by his standards in 2025, but Theegala is coming off his best finish of the season and showed some serious signs of life in that start.
Theegala finished T17th at the Genesis Invitational his last time out, which like the Arnold Palmer Invitational, is a Signature Event that features the top players on the PGA TOUR. Plus, the Genesis Invitational was played at another challenging venue, the South Course of Torrey Pines — Theegala closed this event with rounds of 69 and 68, the fourth-best weekend score of the world class field. Theegala’s game is clearly trending in the right direction. If he can carry this momentum over to Bay Hill, Theegala is a threat for a top-10 finish this week and shouldn’t come with much ownership in GPPs.
J.J. Spaun ($7,000): Spaun is in outstanding form. The 34-year-old has finished inside the top-35 in six straight starts, most notably with a runner-up at the Cognizant Classic last week in which he gained strokes in every major category. Spaun opened this event with a 7-under 64 and has shot under par in 20 of his 25 rounds this season. Spaun’s ball striking has been immaculate, ranking ninth in SG APP this season, and he has gained strokes on approach at an eye-popping 22 events in a row.
It’s been almost a year since Spaun last failed to gain strokes on approach and he currently sits at a career-best No. 54 in the world golf rankings. Spaun has made three of four cuts at Bay Hill, but he has never finished better than T49th at the track. Playing the best golf of his career this time around, Spaun should have his best showing to date at Bay Hill, possibly with a top-20 result.
