March 10, 2024; Orlando, Florida, USA; Scottie Scheffler holds the championship trophy after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Image Scottie Scheffler will look to record a historic streak of top-10 finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week.
Schaeffler, who won the 2022 and 2024 tournaments held at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida, joins Tiger Woods as the only players to win the PGA Tour’s signature event more than once.
Woods has won the tournament an astonishing eight times. Other two-time champions are Jerry Heard, Gary Koch, Tom Kite, Loren Roberts, Ernie Els and Matt Every.
Scheffler, 29, is making his sixth start at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and has never finished worse than a tie for 15th. He finished tied for 11th last year with four rounds in the 70s, seven strokes behind winner Russell Henley.
“It’s a place I always enjoy coming back and playing,” Scheffler told reporters Wednesday. “Obviously with Mr. Palmer’s legacy and the way the golf course is, it’s very difficult. So I think that’s always a fun test for us as players. So, yeah, it’s definitely good to come back.”
A four-time major winner in his most recent tournament, he tied for 12th at The Genesis Invitational last month. This marks his 18th consecutive top-10 streak, and the longest streak since the PGA Tour began keeping official statistics in 1983. Even in his prime, Woods never entered more than 11 times in a row.
Scheffler got off to a rough start with a first-round 74 at Riviera Country Club, followed by a first-round 72 at Pebble Beach and a 73 at the WM Phoenix Open.
Asked about his “slow start,” Scheffler said it was too early to call it a pattern.
“I mean, last year… I led the tour in first-round, second-round, third-round, fourth-round scoring, so I’m not too worried about the sample size being very small,” he said. “If you look at my work this year, I’ve played four tournaments, so I’m 16 rounds. And I’ve always been a really good guy at staying present and doing what I need to do to go out and play well. So 13 rounds of 16 have been really solid and 3 not so good. So I’m still hitting at a pretty good rate.”
Scheffler certainly knows how to deliver a solid round at Bay Hill, known for its firm greens and treacherous rough.
“When you look at this golf course, you have to be on the fairway,” he said. “If you hit the bunker, you’re fine, but if you start hitting the rough, you’re screwed.”
–Field level media
