2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational: TV schedule, predictions, tee times and more

By Breven Honda

·Updated: March 1, 2023

The PGA Tour continues the Florida swing with a couple of elevated events for the next two weeks. This week, the Arnold Palmer Invitational is taking place at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Fla. where many of the game’s best players will once again be on hand.

Last week, Chris Kirk won the Honda Classic in a playoff over Eric Cole at PGA National. This was Kirk’s first win on the PGA Tour in eight years as he jumped to No. 6 in the FedEx Cup Standings.

Kirk is in the Arnold Palmer Invitational field this week as the Puerto Rico Open is also taking place this week on the PGA Tour.

For some of the top golfers, the month of March is where the schedule starts to ramp up, with THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass is next week. Some will play the Valspar Championship in a few weeks before ending the month competing in the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play event.

As a result, this week, next week’s PLAYERS Championship and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event make three elevated events for the top PGA Tour players to compete in this month.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational is also a time to remember Arnold Palmer and the history behind this tournament. Palmer, who won 62 times on the PGA Tour, good for fifth-best all time, became the catalyst for captivating fans in the early stages of golf television as he collected trophy after trophy.

Of Tiger Woods’ 82 PGA Tour victories, he won Palmer’s event a Tour-record eight times, highlighted by his winning putts with emphatic fist pumps and a hat throw down.

Although Woods is not in the field this week, 44 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are teeing it up, making it the strongest field in the event’s history.

What channel is the Arnold Palmer Invitational on?

The Arnold Palmer Invitational will be televised between NBC and the Golf Channel.

Television schedule for the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Round	Date	Time (ET)	TV
1	Thursday, March 2	2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.	Golf Channel
2	Friday, March 3	2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.	Golf Channel
3	Saturday, March 4	12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.	Golf Channel NBC
4	Sunday, March 5	12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.	Golf Channel NBC

Other coverage for the Arnold Palmer Invitational

In addition to NBC and the Golf Channel, the Arnold Palmer Invitational will also be broadcast on ESPN+ and Peacock. PGA Tour Live for the marquee and featured groups can be exclusively found on ESPN+. The featured holes on ESPN+ will be the par-3 2^nd, par-5 6^th, par-3 14^th and the par-3 17^th.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational will also be on the airwaves of Sirius XM.

Thursday, March 2 (Round 1)

ESPN+: 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET

Peacock: 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET

Sirius XM: 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET

Friday, March 3 (Round 2)

ESPN+: 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET

Peacock: 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET

Sirius XM: 12 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET

Saturday, March 4 (Round 3)

ESPN+: 7:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET

Peacock: 12:30 P.m. – 6 p.m. ET

Sirius XM: 1 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET

Sunday, March 5 (Round 4)

ESPN+: 7:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET

Peacock: 12:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET

Sirius XM: 1 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET

How much are tickets for the Arnold Palmer Invitational?

Tickets to walk the grounds for the Arnold Palmer Invitational begin at $65. The White Claw Fan Deck, which is sold out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (unless resale tickets are available), costs $115 and has access to get close up to players as the reach the finals holes on the course to go along with food truck options, only to those with White Claw Fan Deck tickets.

Payout for the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational

The total purse for the event is set for $20 million and the winner will receive $3.6 million.

Who are some of the top golfers in the Arnold Palmer Invitational?

All of the top names on the PGA Tour are present, including the trio who continue to mix around the top spot in the OWGR from Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and current World No. 1 Jon Rahm.

Scheffler, who is also No. 5 in the FedEx Cup standings, is the reigning champion for this event in what was his second career PGA Tour win last year. Including Scheffler, the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings are teeing it up at Bay Hill.

World No. 9 Justin Thomas is playing the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the first time since 2015, while World Nos. 6 and 10, respectively, Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa are teeing it up for the first time at Bay Hill since 2020.

5 players who can hoist the Arnold Palmer Invitational trophy on Sunday

Scottie Scheffler

Scheffler won last year’s event at just 5-under par, the highest winning total since 1983. Despite mother nature getting in the way of double digit scores, the key to winning this week will be the mid-range game with the irons. Last year, Scheffler was first in strokes gained approach the green.

This is Scheffler’s second opportunity to continue his perfect stretch of defending a PGA Tour title at a stacked field, which he did a couple weeks ago at the WM Phoenix Open.

Jon Rahm

In seven events this season for Rahm, he has finished no worse than eighth. Adding a fourth title to an already hot season for the Spaniard would continue to put him on pace for a season comparable to Palmer in the early 60s when he won eight times in both 1960 and 1962.

Rahm, who is looking for his second win in as many starts following his Genesis Invitational title, is currently sixth in strokes gained approach the green and atop the PGA Tour in strokes gained total.

Tony Finau

Tony Finau, who is one of the 13 PGA Tour winners from this season in the field, enters this week looking to get things going through a challenging course. Finau has two top 10s in his last five starts but has finished no worse than 20^th since his victory at the Cadence Bank Houston Open in November.

The string of picking ball striking players continue as Finau is fifth in strokes gained approach the green. Finau is also second in strokes gained total (only behind Rahm) and within the top 25 in strokes gained putting, which will be an added bonus if he can get the putter going.

Jason Day

Jason Day has been able to rejuvenate himself back into contention week in and week out. Day has four top-10s in his last five starts, including a T9 at The Genesis Invitational, a solo fifth at the WM Phoenix Open and a T7 at the Farmers Insurance Open for his last three.

The former World No. 1, who won five events during the 2014-15 season, including the PGA Championship, won the 2016 Arnold Palmer Invitational. His trajectory is leading closer and closer to winning for the first time since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship.

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy won the Dubai Desert Classic in January, but the results have not gone his way since coming back to the United States. Luckily for McIlroy (and others), he is back to working on Bermuda greens, compared to the Kikuyu and Poa greens over his last few tournaments.

McIlroy won this event in 2018 and has finished better than 13^th in seven of eight opportunities. He wants to return as one of the top faces on the PGA Tour alongside Rahm and Scheffler.

Arnold Palmer Invitational pairings

Round 1 tee times (Thursday; all times ET)

7:00 a.m.

Tee #1: Callum Tarren, Justin Lower, Tyson Alexander

7:05 a.m.

Tee #10: Sam Ryder, Adam Schenk, Min Woo Lee

7:11 a.m.

Tee #1: Patton Kizzire, Joseph Bramlett, S.H. Kim

7:16 a.m.

Tee #10: Byeong Hun An, Alex Noren, Sahith Theegala

7:22 a.m.

Tee #1: Andrew Putnam, Wyndham Clark, Lee Hodges

7:27 a.m.

Tee #10: Taylor Moore, Alex Smalley, Thomas Detry

7:33 a.m.

Tee #1: K.H. Lee, Stewart Cink, Aaron Wise

7:38 a.m.

Tee #10: Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas (Marquee Group)

7:44 a.m.

Tee #1: Si Woo Kim, Ryan Brehm, Cam Davis

7:49 a.m.

Tee #10: Chris Kirk, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth (Featured Group)

7:55 a.m.

Tee #1: Tom Hoge, Harris English, Zach Johnson

8:00 a.m.

Tee #10: Will Zalatoris, Viktor Hovland, Jason Day (Featured Group)

8:06 a.m.

Tee #1: Adam Svensson, Luke List, Nick Taylor

8:11 a.m.

Tee #10: Seamus Power, Sungjae Im, Cameron Young

8:17 a.m.

Tee #1: Russell Henley, Lucas Herbert, Luke Donald

8:22 a.m.

Tee #10: Trey Mullinax, J.J. Spaun, Lucas Glover

8:28 a.m.

Tee #1: Ryan Palmer, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Ryan Fox

8:33 a.m.

Tee #10: Aaron Baddeley, Scott Stallings, David Lipsky

8:39 a.m.

Tee #1: Justin Suh, Cole Hammer, Greg Koch

8:44 a.m.

Tee #10: Aaron Rai, Thriston Lawrence, Pierceson Coody

11:50 a.m.

Tee #1: Brian Harman, David Lingmerth, Davis Thompson

11:55 a.m.

Tee #10: Troy Merritt, Davis Riley, Taylor Montgomery

12:01 p.m.

Tee #1: Keith Mitchell, Patrick Rodgers, Hayden Buckley

12:06 p.m.

Tee #10: Danny Willett, Padraig Harrington, Ben Taylor

12:12 p.m.

Tee #1: Taylor Pendrith, Greyson Sigg, Ben Griffin

12:17 p.m.

Tee #10: Matthew NeSmith, Robby Shelton, Will Gordon

12:23 p.m.

Tee #1: Sepp Straka, Kevin Kisner, Webb Simpson

12:28 p.m.

Tee #1: Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa (Featured Group)

12:34 p.m.

Tee #10: Tony Finau, Mackenzie Hughes, Chez Reavie

12:39 p.m.

Tee #1: Justin Rose, Patrick Cantlay, Rickie Fowler

12:45 p.m.

Tee #10: Garrick Higgo, Joel Dahmen, Shane Lowry

12:50 p.m.

Tee #1: Max Homa, Rory McIlroy, Tyrell Hatton (Featured Group)

12:56 p.m.

Tee #10: Billy Horschel, Martin Laird, Brendon Todd

1:01 p.m.

Tee #1: Tom Kim, Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott

1:07 p.m.

Tee #10: Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin, Tommy Fleetwood

1:12 p.m.

Tee #1: Keegan Bradley, Gary Woodland, Francesco Molinari

1:18 p.m.

Tee #10: Charley Hoffman, Emiliano Grillo, Kurt Kitayama

1:23 p.m.

Tee #1: Peter Malnati, Kevin Streelman, Beau Hossler

1:29 p.m.

Tee #10: Nick Hardy, Kyle Westmoreland, Kamaiu Johnson

1:34 p.m.

Tee #1: Eric Cole, Adrian Meronk, Ludvig Aberg

Round 2 tee times (Friday; all times PT)