Large-Field GPP Breakdown: Arnold Palmer Invitational

Hello, my fellow golf enthusiasts! Golf is in full gear right now as the NBA creeps its way to the playoffs, and we are just a couple of weeks away from The Players, which the PGA Tour is dubbing as the fifth major. I’m excited for that, as we’ll get our first Milly Maker contest of the year, but my bankroll has to get there first. Shout-out to Discord gossip king, fade me.

Cognizant Classic – Recap 

My week actually started decently at the Cognizant, and I ended up overweight the winner, Nico Echavarria. However, that was not enough to bring me over the profit line, as I was underweight on Shane Lowry, Ricky Castillo, and Austin Smotherman. I actually thought I’d do a little bit better with my player pool, but I didn’t really notch too many top-1% finishes. Kind of disappointing, and I’m definitely going to put in extra work to make sure my combinations are what they should be. Let’s take a look at the winning lineup: 

• It was a lineup that included Rasmus Hojgaard, Lowry, AND Nico Hojgaard, meaning it took mega-chalk and dropped into the $7K range for the rest of the lineup. Officially, it ended up as a 9/9/9/7/6/6, and triple $9K ended up taking down the flagship this week. In the words of Discord troll Stones: “Super sharp, love it.” 
• The lineup ended with a cumulative ownership of a crazy 118%, driven by the high individual ownership of the top three players. The two Hojgaards + Lowry ended up with almost 100% ownership combined, and I simply wasn’t going to get to that type of lineup given the immense amount of ownership that this lineup took on. Oh well.

I thought it would be a week that was so wide open that the top players would be over-owned, and I still believe that to be the case. Unfortunately, that didn’t end up happening, as the top players outside of Ryan Gerard put up winning scores. It was a missed opportunity, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.

Arnold Palmer Invitational – Preview 

Off to another signature event on the PGA Tour, as the best of the best are about to warm up for The Players next week at the famous Bay Hill Club and Lodge for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. One of the biggest draws of the PGA Tour is the venues and history of the events these guys play, and the API has to be counted as one of those events. Bay Hill is almost always a tough challenge, even for the best of the best, and to win here, you really have to be playing your best golf in all facets of the game. Here are the winning scores from the past five years at Bay Hill: 

• 2025: Russell Henley (-11) def. Collin Morikawa by one stroke

• 2024: Scottie Scheffler (-15) def. Wyndham Clark by five strokes

• 2023: Kurt Kitayama (-9) def. Harris English and Rory McIlroy by one stroke

• 2022: Scottie Scheffler (-5) def. Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, and Billy Horschel by one stroke

• 2021: Bryson DeChambeau (-11) def. Lee Westwood by one stroke